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Background By comparison with other countries of the European Union Germany is only middle-ranking in terms of telemedicine usage. There is a relevant gap between the legal framework and the actual state of implementation. Healthcare providers play an important role in this implementation process as they are increasingly confronted with the application of telemedical scenarios. Therefore, the aim of this survey was to determine attitudes towards telemedicine of postgraduate trainees in Family Medicine (FM) in Germany. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted between July and October 2016 among postgraduate trainees in FM throughout Germany. The questionnaire covered four topics: attitudes towards telemedicine, barriers for the implementation of telemedicine, assessment of useful telemedical applications and telemedicine scenarios. A descriptive approach was used to analyze the data in order to derive determinants for the implementation of telemedicine. Results In total, 388 postgraduate trainees from 13 of the 16 federal states in Germany answered the survey. Seventy-eight percent were female. Participants’ mean age was 36 years. The majority of participants believed that only a fraction of the already existing technology in telemedicine is being used (70 %). The largest perceived barrier to telemedicine was data safety concerns. More than half of the participants (54 %) believed that telemedicine would change the doctor-patient relationship. 51 % of the participants were interested in training in telemedicine. In this respect, it is important to note that 27 % of the postgraduate trainees said their willingness to practice in rural areas might be facilitated through the availability of telemedical backup for family physicians. Conclusions Participating trainees in FM in Germany think that the potential for telemedicine is not yet fully exploited. Based on the results of this survey the next steps to be taken for the implementation of telemedicine applications can be addressed.

Background The treatment of multimorbid patients is one crucial task in general practice as multimorbidity is highly prevalent in this setting. However, there is little evidence how to treat these patients and consequently there are but a few guidelines that focus primarily on multimorbidity. Big data analytics are defined as a method that obtains results for high volume data with high variety generated at high velocity. Yet, the explanatory power of these results is not completely understood. Nevertheless, addressing multimorbidity as a complex condition might be a promising field for big data analytics. The aim of this scoping review was to evaluate whether applying big data analytics on patient data does already contribute to the treatment of multimorbid patients in general practice. Methods In January 2018, a review searching the databases PubMed, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science, using defined search terms for “big data analytics” and “multimorbidity”, supplemented by a search of grey literature with Google Scholar, was conducted. Studies were not filtered by type of study, publication year or language. Validity of studies was evaluated independently by two researchers. Results In total, 2392 records were identified for screening. After title and abstract screening, six articles were included in the full-text analysis. Of those articles, one reported on a model generated with big data techniques to help caring for one group of multimorbid patients. The other five articles dealt with the analysis of multimorbidity clusters. No article defined big data analytics explicitly. Conclusions Although the usage of the phrase “Big Data” is growing rapidly, there is nearly no practical use case for big data analysis techniques in the treatment of multimorbidity in general practice yet. Furthermore, in publications addressing big data analytics, the term is rarely defined. However, possible models and algorithms to address multimorbidity in the future are already published. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12875-019-0928-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

About 1.6 million rehabilitation applications are submitted to the German pension insurance annually. Physicians working in ambulatory care play an important role in the application process. Studies show that there is too little knowledge about medical rehabilitation in these groups of physicians, the detection of rehabilitation needs and the process of application for rehabilitation. Against this background, a website Information for Doctors on RehabilitationRetirement was developed which addresses especially these needs. The aim of the study was to evaluate the website within a practical test.The practical test was performed with a mixed Methods Approach: 1) Quantitative survey with respect to increased knowledge after using the homepage, 2) assessment of cases with regard to rehabilitation indication and 3) evaluation of the user friendliness of the homepage by participating doctors by means of think-aloud technique.A total of 79 postgraduate General Practice trainees participated. They had high information needs regarding different aspects of rehabilitation, which were partly satisfied by the use of the homepage. The correct assessment of rehabilitation cases improved with the aid of the website for general practitioners with experience with application for rehabilitation only. The homepage was evaluated as clear and helpful, but the texts were judged as too extensive.The homepage can support physicians working in ambulatory care with respect to rehabilitation. Some impulses for optimization of the content have been identified and can help to further increase the usefulness of the website.Jährlich werden bei der Deutschen Rentenversicherung ca. 1,6 Mio. Rehabilitationsanträge eingereicht. Niedergelassene Ärzte spielen bei der Antragstellung eine entscheidende Rolle. Studien zeigen, dass bei diesen unterschiedlichen Fachgruppen Wissensdefizite zu den Themen medizinische Rehabilitation, Erkennung von Rehabilitationsbedarf und dem Prozess der Antragstellung existieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde eine eigens an niedergelassene Ärzte adressierte Homepage Infos für Ärzte zu RehaRente entwickelt. Ziel der hier vorgestellten Studie war es, diese Homepage einem Praxistest zu unterziehen.Der Praxistest wurde mit einem Mixed-Methods-Ansatz durchgeführt: 1) Quantitative Erhebung zum Wissenszuwachs nach Nutzung der Homepage, 2) Beurteilung von Fällen hinsichtlich einer Reha-Indikation und 3) Beurteilung der Benutzerfreundlichkeit der Homepage durch die teilnehmenden Ärzte mittels Think-aloud-Technik.Am Praxistest beteiligten sich 79 Ärzte in Weiterbildung zum Facharzt für Allgemeinmedizin. Es bestand ein hoher reha-spezifischer Informationsbedarf, der z. T. durch die Nutzung der Homepage gedeckt werden konnte. Die korrekte Beurteilung von Reha-Fällen verbesserte sich unter Zuhilfenahme der Homepage für Ärzte mit Antragserfahrung. Die Homepage wurde als übersichtlich und hilfreich, die Texte als zu umfangreich erlebt.Die Homepage ist gut geeignet, um niedergelassene Ärzte im Gebiet medizinische Rehabilitation zu unterstützen. Einige Impulse für die Optimierung der Inhalte wurden identifiziert und können helfen, die Effektivität der Nutzung noch zu steigern.