General Practitioner News and Research

RSS

Physiotherapists and pharmacists can help reduce knee pain and reliance on painkillers

Older people with knee pain who receive their main care from physiotherapists and pharmacists are more likely to experience improvements in pain levels and knee function, and are less likely to need NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, eg asprin and ibuprofen), according to a BMJ study.

23 Oct 2006

One-fourth of U.S. adults would purchase generic medications

About one-fourth of U.S. adults would purchase generic medications, rather than brand-name treatments, in all cases, according to a Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll released on last week, the Wall Street Journal reports.

16 Oct 2006

Health drugs recommended for depression lack sound scientific backing

According to a new study the majority of drugs recommended by health shops to treat depression have no sound scientific backing.

5 Oct 2006

Flu jab not available in the UK for those most vulnerable

There are fears in the UK that people who are vulnerable to flu infections may well have to wait for their annual injection this season.

2 Oct 2006

Researchers create roadmap to integrin activation

Calling it an important technical advance in the study of the complex receptors and pathways of the body's cellular system, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have reconstructed the signaling pathways that impact activation of a receptor that is critical to the control of bleeding and to the thrombosis that occurs in heart attacks and strokes.

18 Sep 2006

Validation of a tool for identifying women at high risk for hereditary breast cancer

A new screening tool for the general practitioner effectively identifies patients at risk for hereditary breast cancer, according to a new study.

11 Sep 2006

Effective method of multidimensional work sampling in nursing homes

A study to develop an effective method of multidimensional work sampling (MDWS) in nursing homes has found that, initially, the proportion of time pharmacists spend in non-professional or semi-professional activities compared with professional activities is 3:1.

4 Sep 2006

Remote Scottish isles may provide genetic clues to osteoporosis

A new study involving 2,000 people in Scotland will hopefully shed some light on why some people develop the bone-thinning condition osteoporosis.

28 Aug 2006

Legislation allowing conscientious objection for pharmacists introduced in about half of state legislatures this year; none were approved

Legislation that would have allowed pharmacists not to fill some prescriptions, such as emergency contraception, because of moral or religious objections were introduced in nearly half of the state legislatures in 2006, the Washington Times reports.

24 Aug 2006

Gene defects in young present serious risk from environmental tobacco smoke

The dangers of passive smoking are even more pronounced among young people carrying common gene defects, researchers at the University of Dundee have found.

7 Aug 2006

Doctors' bid to end bullying and harassment in the workplace

Doctors' leaders in Wales have unveiled new guidance designed to end the growing levels of bullying and harassment of Welsh GPs by local health boards and their staff.

21 Jul 2006

UK sexually transmitted infections on the rise

New figures released by the Health Protection Agency show that the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other conditions diagnosed in genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in the UK increased by 3% between 2004 and 2005.

5 Jul 2006

Australian Medical Association warns of looming medical training crisis

Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, has written to all Federal MPs and Senators warning them of a looming crisis in medical training.

5 Jul 2006

Enter hospital at your peril!

As many as two dozen patients at a British hospital have died after contracting the virulent stomach bug Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

3 Jul 2006

Few well performed studies address management of lymph node positive prostate cancer

Dr. Gregory Swanson and associates from the University of Texas, San Antonio Health Science Center reviews the data for various treatment options in patients with lymph node positive prostate cancer (CaP).

27 Jun 2006

Study links depression in women with chronic pain to greater incidence of disability

Women with higher levels of depression when suffering with long-term pain report greater disability than men in the same situation, according to new research published in the latest edition of the European Journal of Pain.

18 Jun 2006

Local clinical quality monitoring for detection of excess operative deaths

If convicted murderer Dr Harold Shipman had been working as a surgeon or anaesthetist at a specialist UK heart hospital in Cambridge, increased patient death rates would have alerted clinical audit staff after eight to ten months, according to research in the latest issue of Anaesthesia.

10 May 2006