Summarizing evidence: how far should we go?

摘要

In this issue of The European Journal of General Practice, the connecting thread is undoubtedly quality improvement. The paper by Addink et al. evaluates a scheme with financial incentives for improving access to primary care practice in the UK. A Swedish study by Bjorkelund et al., investigates whether electronic patient records are sufficiently accurate to evaluate and improve daily practice. The study of Borrell et al., looks at the quality of the physical examination by studying how well GPs perform in recognizing an important clinical sign such as hepatomegaly. Overbeck et al., wanted to know how patients with chronic Hepatitis C are treated in Swiss general practices and whether there is room for improvement. Jan-Joost Rethans comment on the importance of communication, especially motivation, in medical education and research. They discuss how interventions aimed at improving the quality of care can best be studied.The study ofVan derWouden et al., explores a large general practice database to look whether children with asthma are adequately treated. An interesting clinical lesson advises us how to avoid complications while administering intra-articular corticosteroids in the knee joint for osteo-arthritis.