TY - JOUR
T1 - Danish GPs' and practice nurses' management of acute sore throat and adherence to guidelines
AU - Stuhr, Janni Katharina
AU - Lykkegaard, Jesper
AU - Kristensen, Jette Kolding
AU - Kornum, Jette Brommann
AU - Hansen, Malene Plejdrup
N1 - © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Background Sore throat is a frequent presentation of acute respiratory tract infections in general practice. Though these infections are often harmless and self-limiting, antibiotics are frequently prescribed. In Denmark, practice nurses manage an increasing part of patients with acute minor illnesses. Objectives We aimed (i) to investigate Danish practice nurses' and GPs' management of patients presenting with a sore throat and (ii) to explore to what extent management is according to current Danish guidelines. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted during winter 2017, involving GPs and practice nurses in Danish general practices. Patients with a sore throat were registered according to the Audit Project Odense method. Results A total of 44 practices participated with the registration of 1503 patients presenting with a sore throat. Most patients had a strep A test performed, especially when managed by a practice nurse (84.6% versus 61.8%, χ
2 = 90.1, P < 0.05). In total, 40.6% of performed strep A tests were not according to guideline recommendations. Antibiotics were prescribed for about one-third of patients, regardless whether managed by a practice nurse or a GP (χ
2 = 0.33, P = 0.57). However, 32.4% of these prescriptions were not in line with Danish guidelines. Conclusion Patients with acute sore throat were managed similarly by GPs and practice nurses, apart from a higher use of strep A tests in patients seen by practice nurses. Importantly, this study demonstrated that there is still room for improvement of the management of these patients in Danish general practice.
AB - Background Sore throat is a frequent presentation of acute respiratory tract infections in general practice. Though these infections are often harmless and self-limiting, antibiotics are frequently prescribed. In Denmark, practice nurses manage an increasing part of patients with acute minor illnesses. Objectives We aimed (i) to investigate Danish practice nurses' and GPs' management of patients presenting with a sore throat and (ii) to explore to what extent management is according to current Danish guidelines. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted during winter 2017, involving GPs and practice nurses in Danish general practices. Patients with a sore throat were registered according to the Audit Project Odense method. Results A total of 44 practices participated with the registration of 1503 patients presenting with a sore throat. Most patients had a strep A test performed, especially when managed by a practice nurse (84.6% versus 61.8%, χ
2 = 90.1, P < 0.05). In total, 40.6% of performed strep A tests were not according to guideline recommendations. Antibiotics were prescribed for about one-third of patients, regardless whether managed by a practice nurse or a GP (χ
2 = 0.33, P = 0.57). However, 32.4% of these prescriptions were not in line with Danish guidelines. Conclusion Patients with acute sore throat were managed similarly by GPs and practice nurses, apart from a higher use of strep A tests in patients seen by practice nurses. Importantly, this study demonstrated that there is still room for improvement of the management of these patients in Danish general practice.
KW - Antibacterial agents
KW - diagnostic tests
KW - general practice
KW - guideline adherence
KW - nurses
KW - sore throat
KW - Practice Patterns, Physicians'/statistics & numerical data
KW - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW - General Practitioners/statistics & numerical data
KW - Humans
KW - Nurses/statistics & numerical data
KW - Male
KW - Diagnostic Tests, Routine
KW - Pharyngitis/drug therapy
KW - Denmark
KW - Female
KW - Guideline Adherence/standards
KW - Disease Management
KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063276151&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/fampra/cmy059
DO - 10.1093/fampra/cmy059
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 29924311
SN - 0263-2136
VL - 36
SP - 192
EP - 198
JO - Family Practice
JF - Family Practice
IS - 2
ER -