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Background: Diagnoses entered by general practitioners into electronic medical records have great potential for research and practice, but unfortunately, diagnoses are often in uncoded format, making them of little use. Natural language processing (NLP) could assist in coding free-text diagnoses, but NLP models require local training data to unlock their potential. The aim of this study was to develop a framework of research-relevant diagnostic codes, to test the framework using free-text diagnoses from a Swiss primary care database and to generate training data for NLP modelling., Methods: The framework of diagnostic codes was developed based on input from local stakeholders and consideration of epidemiological data. After pre-testing, the framework contained 105 diagnostic codes, which were then applied by two raters who independently coded randomly drawn lines of free text (LoFT) from diagnosis lists extracted from the electronic medical records of 3000 patients of 27 general practitioners. Coding frequency and mean occurrence rates (n and %) and inter-rater reliability (IRR) of coding were calculated using Cohen's kappa (Κ)., Results: The sample consisted of 26,980 LoFT and in 56.3% no code could be assigned because it was not a specific diagnosis. The most common diagnostic codes were, 'dorsopathies' (3.9%, a code covering all types of back problems, including non-specific lower back pain, scoliosis, and others) and 'other diseases of the circulatory system' (3.1%). Raters were in almost perfect agreement (Κ ≥ 0.81) for 69 of the 105 diagnostic codes, and 28 codes showed a substantial agreement (K between 0.61 and 0.80). Both high coding frequency and almost perfect agreement were found in 37 codes, including codes that are particularly difficult to identify from components of the electronic medical record, such as musculoskeletal conditions, cancer or tobacco use., Conclusion: The coding framework was characterised by a subset of very frequent and highly reliable diagnostic codes, which will be the most valuable targets for training NLP models for automated disease classification based on free-text diagnoses from Swiss general practice., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: To investigate general practitioners' course of action after detection of elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels regarding repeat testing, direct levothyroxine replacement, or neither., Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of adults without prior evidence of thyroid disease and with a first detection of elevated TSH levels from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2020, using data from electronic medical records of a Swiss primary care database. We determined the occurrence of either repeat TSH testing or direct levothyroxine initiation in primary care during 12-month follow-up and determined associations with demographic and clinical factors., Results: Of the 1 591 patients included (median age 65 years, 64.4% female, median TSH 5.7 mIU/L), 34.3% received repeat TSH testing and 12.4% received direct levothyroxine replacement in primary care during follow-up. Repeat TSH testing showed the strongest association with overt hypothyroidism and was more common among patients with high primary care utilization and among patients aged 40-64 years compared to patients aged <40 years. Direct levothyroxine initiation was more likely for TSH levels >7 mIU/L, overt hypothyroidism, female patients, and nonurban practices., Conclusions: While the degree of thyroid dysfunction was the main driver of follow-up, we identified important gaps in the primary care-based monitoring of elevated TSH levels in young patients and in patients with infrequent consultations. We also observed potential overtreatment of women and patients in nonurban areas. Our findings highlight the need for standardization and dissemination of guidelines for the management of elevated TSH levels among general practitioners., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest Statement The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 AACE. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In early 2020, when the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Switzerland, the federal government started implementing measures such as national stay-at-home recommendations and a strict limitation of health care services use. General practitioners (GPs) and their at-risk patients faced similar uncertainties and grappled with subsequent sensemaking of the unprecedented situation. Qualitative interviews with 24 GPs and 37 at-risk patients were conducted which were analyzed using thematic analysis. Weick's (1993) four sources of -resilience - improvisation, virtual role systems, attitudes of wisdom and respectful interaction - heuristically guide the exploration of on-the-ground experiences and informal ways GPs and their at-risk patients sought to ensure continuity of primary care. GPs used their metaphorical Swiss army knives of learned tools as well as existing knowledge and relationships to adapt to the extenuating circumstances. Through improvisation, GPs and patients found pragmatic solutions, such as using local farmer apple brandy as disinfectant or at-home treatments of clavicle fractures. Through virtual role systems , GPs and patients came to terms with new and shifting roles, such as "good soldier" and "at-risk patient" categorizations. Both parties adopted attitudes of wisdom by accepting that they could not know everything. They also diversified their sources of information through personal relationships, formal networks, and the internet. The GP-patient relationship grew in importance through respectful interaction , and intersubjective reflection helped make sense of shifting roles and ambiguous guidelines. The empirical analysis of this paper contributes to theoretical considerations of sensemaking, resilience, crisis settings and health systems.

Introduction: Due to their advantageous benefit-risk-profile, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are preferred over vitamin-K-antagonists for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation as well as therapy and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism. This guideline provides information on the practical use of DOACs, their advantages and disadvantages and limitations. It is based on recommendations from international guidelines (ESC, EHRA, DGA) and adapts them for the general practitioner setting in Switzerland., Competing Interests: Es bestehen keine Interessenskonflikte., (© 2023 Aerzteverlag medinfo AG.)

Background: As most countries, Switzerland is experiencing a shortage of physicians especially in general practice and new medical education tracks with respective focusses have been started in response. This study investigated Swiss medical students' career openness and attractiveness of different medical disciplines as well as the concordance of students' career intentions with assigned medical education tracks., Methods: Cross-sectional study surveying first year medical students assigned to four different Swiss medical education tracks with distinctive additional education focuses (ETH Zurich: medical technology and engineering, University of St. Gallen and University of Lucerne: primary healthcare and University of Zurich: no distinctive focus)., Results: We surveyed 354 medical students (response rate across all included medical education tracks 71.1%), 64.8% female, mean age 20 years. Regarding career openness, we found that 52.8% of medical students had neither a strong commitment nor a strong reservation for any of the proposed career options and 17.0% had a strong commitment. Among medical disciplines, medical subspecialties were attractive to the largest part of students (inpatient subspecialties attractive for 71%, outpatient for 58%), attractiveness of general practice was moderate (30%), academic (22%) and industrial sector (17%) careers were least attractive. Proportions of medical students attracted to general practice were similar at medical education tracks with focus on primary healthcare compared to other medical education tracks (32.2% vs. 25.8%, p = 0.391). Conversely, proportions of medical students attracted to academic or industry careers were significantly higher at the ETH Zurich compared to other medical education tracks (37.2%, vs. 13.1%, p < 0.001 and 31.9%, vs. 8.8%, p < 0.001 respectively)., Conclusion: While most first-year medical students were open to careers in many medical disciplines, attractiveness of disciplines varied strongly. Students attracted to academic or industrial careers accumulated at the medical education track with concordant teaching focus but students attracted to general practice did not accumulate at medical education tracks focused on primary healthcare. For medical education tracks with primary care teaching focus this is both a challenge and an opportunity to specifically counteract the shortage of general practitioners in Switzerland., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

What Is Known on the Subject, and What the Study Adds: The number of home visits by general practitioners (GPs) has decreased in recent years, in contrast to the increasing number of frail and older patients in western countries. Current data on GP home visit numbers and rates are lacking for Switzerland. Our study provides new data on GP home visit numbers and rates, and their associations with patient characteristics., Aim: Our study aimed at investigating the time trend of GP home visits to older patients from 2014 to 2018 in Switzerland, and associations between GP home visits and patient characteristics including healthcare utilisation and living situation., Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study of insurance claims data from 2014 to 2018 among patients aged &ge;65 years (Nextrapolated = 2,095,102; Nraw = 339,301). We compared patient characteristics between patients with and without GP home visits using descriptive statistics. We performed logistic regression analyses to detect associations between patient characteristics and GP home visits, including subgroups of patients aged &ge;80 and patients living in a nursing home. Regression models were adjusted for age and sex., Results: The yearly GP home visit rate declined from 10.7% to 9.3% from 2014 to 2018 (p &lt;0.0001). Among patients aged &ge;80, the rate declined from 26.1% to 23.1% (p &lt;0.0001), and among patients living in a nursing home from 68.7% to 65.8% (p &lt;0.0001). Regression analyses revealed increased health care utilisation and a higher burden of morbidity and mortality in patients receiving GP home visits., Conclusion: There is an ongoing decline of GP home visits over the past years, with a potentially negative impact on the quality of care for older and frail patients.

Background: High demands create pressure on acute care services, such as emergency medical services (EMS), emergency departments (ED) and out-of-hours primary care (OOH-PC) services. A variety of patient- and organisational factors have been discussed as reasons why especially non-western migrants more frequently contact an ED or OOH-PC service than native born. We aim to investigate whether persons with a non-western and western migrant background more often contact an acute care service than native born and how this relates to the number of contacts with their general practitioners (GPs). In addition, we aim to explore how possible differences in acute care use by migrants can be explained., Methods: We performed secondary analysis of data collected for the EurOOHnet survey on OOH help-seeking behaviour in Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Differences in self-reported acute care use (sum of number of contacts with OOH-PC, the ED and 1-1-2/1-4-4) between non-western and western migrants and native born were tested with a quasi Poisson regression analysis. Mediation analyses were performed to examine the impact of factors related to help-seeking on the relation between self-reported acute care use and migrant background., Results: Non-western migrants had more acute care contacts than native born (adjusted IRR 1.74, 95% CI 1.33-2.25), whereas no differences were found between western migrants and native born. Migrants who regularly contacted OOH-PC or the ED also regularly contacted their GP. Mediation analyses showed that the factors employment, anxiety, attitude towards use of OOH-PC and problems in accessing the own GP could partly explain the higher acute care use of non-western migrants., Conclusion: The higher use of acute care services by non-western migrants compared with native born could partly be explained by feeling fewer barriers to contact these services, feeling more anxiety, more unemployment and problems making an appointment with the GP. Increasing awareness and improving GP access could help migrants in navigating the healthcare system.

Background: To address low-value interventions in healthcare, &ldquo;Choosing Wisely&rdquo; campaigns provide recommendations of interventions to avoid (RIAs). These are usually developed by expert panels rather than general practitioners (GPs). The aim of our study was to develop RIAs for ambulatory general medicine based on the suggestions of GPs, with their involvement from the very beginning., Methods: This was a nationwide online Delphi survey among Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine members. In round one, each participant suggested two interventions perceived as particularly inappropriate. In round two, the 16 most frequent RIAs were rated by importance on a 0&ndash;100 scale and compared with &ldquo;Choosing Wisely&rdquo; lists. We calculated descriptive statistics for suggestions and importance ratings, and used regression models to search for associations with GP characteristics., Results: Response rates were 7.4% (538/7318) for round one and 18.2% (1357/7468) for round two. GPs provided 1074 suggestions. Out of the 16 most frequent RIAs, 13 corresponded to existing &ldquo;Choosing Wisely&rdquo; lists. The RIAs rated most important were: antibiotics in viral infections, unnecessarily duplicated tests and imaging in unspecific low back pain (means 88.5&ndash;91.7, standard deviations 18.6&ndash;19.9). None of the GPs&rsquo; characteristics were associated with any of the five highest rated RIAs except for working in a hospital setting., Conclusion: Most RIA suggestions from GPs were concordant with previously published recommendations of interventions to avoid, independently of GPs knowledge of these and reflecting their high clinical relevance. In addition, our study revealed some more relevant topics and may help to develop future &ldquo;Choosing Wisely&rdquo; recommendations, with the final goal to reduce low-value care.

Introduction: In Switzerland, mandatory health insurance plans (standard) offer free access to secondary and emergency care. However, in return for a lower premium, individuals can choose alternative healthcare plans (HCPs), with either a general practitioner (GP) or a medical call centre (Telmed) acting as gatekeeper., Aim: To examine the impact of alternative HCPs on patients' intended help-seeking behaviour out-of-hours (OOH) in Switzerland., Methods: A secondary analysis of the Swiss data collected for the EurOOHnet survey on help-seeking behaviour in Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland was made. The survey used hypothetical scenarios for measuring two outcome measures: intended help-seeking for (1) OOH care and (2) OOH face-to-face care. Binomial regression analyses were used to test the influence of HCPs on intended OOH help-seeking, adjusted for other (population) characteristics., Results: Telmed-insured persons were more inclined to OOH help-seeking than persons with a standard HCP (odds ratio [OR] 2.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.91-2.72; controlled for other population factors), mainly driven by contact with the medical call centre (31 vs 5%), and were less inclined to have an OOH face-to-face contact (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.55-0.87). Persons with a GP HCP had a lower intended use of face-to-face OOH care contacts than persons with a standard plan (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.63-0.86)., Conclusion: Alternative HCPs on a voluntary basis seem to influence the use of OOH care. These results could be relevant for policy makers, especially from non-gatekeeping countries, to reduce irrelevant use and subsequent costs of emergency and OOH care services.

Aim: As part of the "Choosing wisely" campaign expert-driven recommendations of inappropriate interventions which lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment are being published. The aim of our work was to describe an innovative method for developing recommendations together with general practitioners (GPs) and to compare the results with the "Choosing wisely" campaign lists as well as with the Swiss "Smarter medicine" shortlist., Methods: We asked 109 GPs who attended a medical education conference to form groups (of 5 to 7 GPs each) and develop three interventions that are relevant to their work and should be avoided. We then compared the most frequently suggested interventions with those of the "Choosing wisely" campaign list and the "Smarter medicine" campaign shortlist. Finally, we asked the Swiss Young GPs Association (JHaS) members for additional suggestions., Results: Five groups suggested avoidance of check-up examinations, especially in younger or asymptomatic individuals. Further unnecessary interventions, which were mentioned with similar frequency, included resting or exercise electrocardiography in asymptomatic individuals and cholesterol analysis in individuals older than 75 years, or statin therapy in primary prevention and/or high age. Four groups suggested avoiding arthroscopy or magnetic resonance imaging of the knee joint after an injury (in the absence of joint instability or blockade), and three groups recommended to avoid imaging diagnostic procedures in patients with unspecific headache (in the absence of red flags). There was no consistency between interventions of the GPs' list and the list of the Swiss "Smarter medicine" official campaign. The interventions that were most frequently mentioned by the GPs are also present on the lists issued by are present on lists of medical societies that have joined the "Choosing wisely" campaign. The response rate from the Swiss Young GPs association members was impressively low., Conclusion: The perspective of users (GPs) is crucial for the development of lists of potentially inappropriate interventions. In order to enhance the degree of identification with and adherence to the recommendations. The interventions suggested in our study could lead to further recommendations on interventions to be avoided in primary care, ideally in collaboration with the "Smarter medicine" campaign. Empathic communication with patients about harms and benefits of potentially inappropriate interventions is crucial for the implementation of this policy., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Rationale, Aim and Objective: To test feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of dermatologist's feedback based on digital images of skin lesions collected in Swiss primary care., Methods: This was a process analysis of a randomized controlled trial, conducted in 2011/2012. 30 of 78 general practitioners (GPs) were randomized to an intervention, which included dermatologist's feedback on digital images of skin lesions. Feedback was categorized into four categories: (1) no further investigation; (2) clinical observation; (3) biopsy; and (4) other. Histologic findings were allocated to the same categories. Feasibility was measured in the perspective of GPs concerning technical handling and of dermatologists as proportion of images usable for feedback. Diagnostic accuracy was measured as proportion of malignant histology of the first three feedback groups. No long-term data was collected., Results: 981 images of skin lesions were collected, two were not eligible due to low quality of images. The majority of GPs (77.8%) reported no problem with the procedure. 207 images were in feedback category 1, 353 in 2, 360 in 3 and 59 in 4. A total of 236 histologic tests were collected. Three cases in category 1 indicated malignancy (1 melanoma). 201 of category 3 received a biopsy, where in 91 (45.3%) malignancy was confirmed., Conclusion: Teledermatology with digital images taken in primary care was feasible from a GP and from a specialist perspective. However, diagnostic appropriateness regarding avoidance of specialist care and possible missed skin cancer raises concerns. These results therefore question a promotion of teledermatology in clinical routine., (© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Switzerland lacks of national guidelines for the initial treatment of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). ACS is not as frequent in an outpatient setting as in an emergency department; nevertheless, missing an ACS is associated with high morbidity and mortality. We wanted to observe actual infrastructure and performance based on case vignettes in outpatient general practitioners (GPs) and cardiologists (CAs); as a second outcome, we wanted to compare GPs to CAs., Methods: We conducted a postal vignette-based survey to investigate the management of outpatients presenting with acute chest pain by doctors in private practice. The use of troponin and cardiac stress testing for the evaluation of acute chest pain as well as referral practice and use of antiplatelet agents were assessed and compared between GPs and CAs., Results: There were 507 of the 571 respondents (response rate 39.7%) who were CAs (36) or GPs (471) and were included in the analysis. Whereas all CAs were equipped with electrocardiogram (ECG), cardiac stress testing and troponin assays, the majority of GPs had an ECG (97.8%) and applied troponin testing (76.3%), and 38.7% performed cardiac stress testing. The vast majority responded to directly refer a STEMI to the next catheter lab (87.7%), or in the case of a troponin-positive NSTEMI, to an inpatient ward (94.1%) with no difference between GPs and CAs. A majority of the GPs responded to use antiplatelet agents in the case of a STEMI (89.6%) and reported further workup with cardiac stress testing in the case of a troponin-negative acute chest pain (78.7%), which was lower compared to CAs who applied antiplatelet agents and cardiac stress testing in 100% and 97.0%., Conclusions: We could show that international guideline adherence in ACS of GPs is high and GPs perform as well as CAs. Nevertheless there is room for optimization in the antiplatelet therapy and the use of cardiac stress testing in a low-risk population. National guidelines for treatment of an ACS in an outpatient setting are indicated., (© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Emergency Departments (ED) in Switzerland are faced with increasing numbers of patients seeking non-urgent treatment. The high rate of walks-ins with conditions that may be treated in primary care has led to suggestions that those patients would best cared for in a community setting rather than in a hospital. Efficient reorganisation of emergency care tailored to patients needs requires information on the patient populations using the various emergency services currently available. The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences between the characteristics of walk-in patients seeking treatment at an ED and those of patients who use traditional out-of-hours GP (General Practitioner) services provided by a GP-Cooperative (GP-C)., Methods: In 2007 and 2009 data was collected covering all consecutive patient-doctor encounters at the ED of a hospital and all those occurring as a result of contacting a GP-C over two evaluation periods of one month each. Comparison was made between a GP-C and the ED of the Waid City Hospital in Zurich. Patient characteristics, time and source of referral, diagnostic interventions and mode of discharge were evaluated. Medical problems were classified according to the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2). Patient characteristics were compared using non-parametric tests and multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate independent determinants for contacting a GP-C or an ED., Results: Overall a total of 2974 patient encounters were recorded. 1901 encounters were walk-ins and underwent further analysis (ED 1133, GP-C 768). Patients consulting the GP-C were significantly older (58.9 vs. 43.8 years), more often female (63.5 vs. 46.9%) and presented with non-injury related medical problems (93 vs. 55.6%) in comparison with patients at the ED. Independent determining factors for ED consultation were injury, male gender and younger age. Walk-in distribution in both settings was equal over a period of 24 hours and most common during daytime hours (65%).Outpatient care was predominant in both settings but significantly more so at the GP-C (79.9 vs. 85.7%)., Conclusions: We observed substantial differences between the two emergency settings in a non gate-keeping health care system. Knowledge of the distribution of diagnoses, their therapy, of diagnostic measures and of the factors which determine the patients' choice of the ED or the GP-C is essential for the efficient allocation of resources and the reduction of costs.

Background General practitioners ( GPs) play crucial roles in early detection of skin cancer. A pilot-study found a positive short-term effect of a 1-day dermatologic education programme on GPs' diagnostic competence. Objective To determine effects of a multifaceted intervention, including technical equipment and continuing feedback by a dermatologist, on GPs' diagnostic skills regarding skin cancer. Methods Randomized controlled trial with 78 GPs of the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Intervention: GPs in intervention group received a 1-day training, a Lumio© (magnifying glass with polarized light, 3Gen), a Nikon digital camera and - during 1 year - feedback on skin lesion pictures sent to the dermatologist. GPs in control group only received the 1-day training. Main outcome and measures: Primary outcome: structured assessment of GP's diagnostic skills in correctly diagnosing images of skin lesions regarding skin cancer. At baseline prior to intervention (T0), after the full-day training course in both groups (T1), and after 1 year of continuing feedback (T2) to the intervention group. Measures: Non-parametric unpaired (Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney) tests were used to compare numbers of correctly classified skin lesions between both groups at T2 and for the change between T1 and T2. Results At T0, both groups classified a median of 23 skin lesions of the 36 images correctly. This value rose to 28 for both groups at T1 and fell to 24 for both groups at T2. No difference between control and intervention group at T2. Furthermore, we compared differences in the sum scores per GP between T1 and T2 for each group. Also in this comparison, no difference between control and intervention group was found. Conclusion and relevance No long-term effect of the multifaceted intervention was found on the competence to diagnose skin cancer by GPs. The positive short-term effect of the 1-day dermatologic education programme did not persist over 12 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]