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Introduction: Patient and public involvement is vital for high-quality research. Integrating patients' and providers' perspectives early in research enhances the feasibility and relevance of study results. Within our family practice-based research network ForN, we established a standing patient advisory board (PAB) to include patients with diverse conditions and experiences. In this paper, we aim to describe the establishment and functioning of a standing PAB in family medicine research from patients' and researchers' perspectives., Methods: After each PAB meeting, patients and researchers were asked to name anonymously positive and challenging moments in a feedback form with open questions. Researchers were also asked to reflect on how they implemented the discussion content in their research projects. The responses from both groups were transferred to MAXQDA 2018 and analyzed separately using thematic analysis., Results: We analyzed 40 feedback forms from patients and 14 feedback forms from researchers. The dominant theme in the patients' feedback was 'exchange': They positively emphasized the 'exciting and open discussions' and the exchange of perspectives with one another and researchers. The clarity of the researchers' presentations and the research topics were appreciated. Researchers also positively highlighted the open atmosphere of the discussions. Presenting their research to the PAB helped most researchers reflect on their research topics from patients' perspectives and implement changes. However, researchers also mentioned several barriers to the implementation of PAB members' feedback., Conclusion: The establishment of a standing PAB in family practice research is feasible and productive both from patients' and researchers' perspectives., Patient or Public Contribution: This study reports the evaluation of the establishment of a standing PAB in family practice research. Board members are involved in the design of studies, the co-production of interventions and information material, and the interpretation of data., (© 2024 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: In the context of demographic changes and the shortage of family physicians in the primary care sector in Germany, the delegability of home visits to health care assistants is discussed. There is little information on the extent of home visits delegated. The aim of this article is to examine differences in the socio-demographic and organizational profile of delegating vs. non-delegating family doctors in Saxony and to describe the level of qualification of health care assistants., Methodology: This cross-sectional study is part of a series of epidemiological studies in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. All family doctors in Saxony were contacted in 2014 (n=2677), of whom 11,2% participated. In a period of 12 months, family practices documented home visits within a randomly assigned week. Socio-demographic characteristics of the family practice and the level of qualification of health care assistants were surveyed., Results: A total of 274 family practices participated; 52,9% of all participating family doctors declared their willingness to delegate home visits, but only 8,5% of home visits were made by health care assistants. There were non-significant trends between the willingness to delegate and self-employment vs. being employed (92,4 vs. 84,6%, p=0,06), establishment in a single vs. shared practice (35,2 vs. 31,4%, p=0,09) and higher patient numbers per 3 months (x̄+= 1183,08 vs. 1092,16, p=0,07). The 224 health care assistants that participated in the study were mostly trained in nursing (39,7%) or as medical assistants (50,8%). The vast majority of the health care assistants (82,5%) had no further training or additional qualification; 19,6% completed further training that qualified them to have home visits formally delegated to them., Conclusion: Among family doctors in Saxony there is a reported high willingness to delegate, which is not implemented sufficiently in practice. Delegation is based on personal confidence in health care assistants without formal qualification. Qualified delegation ensures high standards in patient care and this potential is not used in Saxony, particularly in rural areas with imminent shortages of medical care. More education about the opportunities of qualified delegation seems necessary., Competing Interests: Diese Studie wurde hauptsächlich aus eigenen Mitteln des Bereichs Allgemeinmedizin/Med Klinik III der Medizinischen Fakultät Dresden finanziert und erhielt zudem eine Teil-Förderung der Sächsischen Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin (SGAM), welche zugleich Co-Partner dieser Studie ist., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: Based on changes in pharmacokinetics and -dynamics in elderly patients, there are potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) that should be avoided in patients aged ≥ 65 years. Current studies showed prescription rates of PIM between 22.5 and 28.4 % in the primary care setting. The evidence concerning reasons for PIM prescription by FPs is limited., Methods: This mixed method study consisted of three research parts: 1) semi-standardized content analysis of patients' records, 2) qualitative interviews with FPs using a) open questions and b) selected patient-specific case vignettes and 3) qualitative interviews with FPs' medical assistants. The integration of qualitative interviews was used to explain the quantitative results (triangulation design). PIM were identified according to the German PRISCUS list. Descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis was done using SPSS 22.0. Qualitative content analysis of interviews was used to classify the content of the interviews for indicating pertinent categories. All data were pseudonymously recorded and analyzed., Results: Content analysis of 1846 patients' records and interviews with 7 related FPs were conducted. Elderly patients [n = 1241, mean age: 76, females: 56.6 %] were characterized in average by 8.3 documented chronic diagnosis. 23.9 % of elderly patients received at least one PIM prescription. Sedatives/hypnotics were the most frequent prescribed PIM-drugs (13.7 %). Mental disorders, gender and number of long-term medication were detected as predictors for the probability of a PIM prescription. Common reported reasons for PIM prescription by FPs concerned limited knowledge regarding PIM, limited applicability of PIM lists in daily practice, lack of time, having no alternatives in medication, stronger patient-related factors than age that influence prescription, own bad experiences regarding changes of medication or refusal of following prescriptions of sedative/hypnotics., Conclusions: It is essential to see FPs in a complex decision making situation with several influencing factors on their prescribing, including: patient-oriented prioritization, FPs' experiences in daily practice, FPs' knowledge regarding existing recommendations and their trust in it and organizational characteristics of FPs' daily medical practice. These pros and cons of PIM prescription in elderly patients should be considered in FPs' advanced training.

A debate on the application of quality indicators (QIs) arose among the members of the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (DEGAM) when two QI systems for ambulatory care (QISA and AQUIK) were published in a short time interval. A research question that emanated from this discussion was whether appropriate QI might be developed based on German general practice guidelines. In spring 2010, the DEGAM guideline committee (SLK) decided to conduct a project on guideline-based development of QIs using the DEGAM guidelines for dementia, neck pain and sore throat. All members of the SLK were invited to participate in the development process which comprised three face-to-face meetings and four paper-pencil ratings. Finally, 17 QIs for the three guidelines on dementia (n=8), neck pain (n=7) and sore throat (n=2) emerged. These QIs received different ratings in the dimensions relevance, practicability, and appropriateness for public reporting as well as for pay for performance. In this project, guideline authors themselves developed QIs based on German general practice guidelines for the first time ever. Not before practice administration systems facilitate the availability of data in the context of clinical documentation, the practicability of the new QIs can be proven in real every-day practice., (Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

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