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Biomedical subjects

Martin Butzlaff

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Butzlaff.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

German ambulatory care physicians' perspectives on clinical guidelines - a national survey.

BACKGROUND: There has been little systematic research about the extent to which German physicians accept or reject the concept and practice of a) clinical practice guidelines (CPG) and b) evidence based medicine (EBM)The aim of this study was to investigate German office-based physicians' perspective on CPGs and EBM and their application in medical practice. METHODS: Structured national telephone survey of ambulatory care physicians, four thematic blocks with 21 questions (5 point Likert scale). 511 office-based general practitioners and specialists. Main outcome measures were the application of Clinical Practice Guidelines in daily practice, preference for sources of guidelines and degree of knowledge and acceptance of EBM. In the data analysis Pearson's correlation coefficient was used for explorative analysis of correlations. The comparison of groups was performed by Student's t-test. Chi2 test was used to investigate distribution of two or more categorical variables. RESULTS: Of the total study population 55.3% of physicians reported already using guidelines in the treatment of patients. Physicians in group practices (GrP) as well as general practitioners (GP) agreed significantly more with the usefulness of guidelines as a basis for patient care than doctors in single practices (SP) or specialists (S) (Student's t-test mean GP 2.57, S 2.84, p < 0.01; mean GrP 2.55, SP 2.80, p < 0.05). 33.1% of the participants demonstrated a strong rejection to the application of guidelines in patient care. Acceptance of guidelines from a governmental institution was substantially lower than from physician networks or medical societies (36.2% vs. 53.4% vs. 62.0%). 73.8% of doctors interpret EBM as a combination of scientific research and individual medical knowledge; 80% regard EBM as the best basis for patient care. CONCLUSION: Despite a majority of physicians accepting and applying CPGs a large group remains that is critical and opposed to the utilization of CPGs in daily practice and to the concept of EBM in general. Doctors in single practice and specialists appear to be more critical than physicians in group practices and GPs. Future research is needed to evaluate the willingness to acquire necessary knowledge and skills for the promotion and routine application of CPGs.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

[The future is chronic: German primary care and the Chronic Care Model--The comprehensive principles in the proactive treatment of the chronically ill].

BACKGROUND: In Germany, primary healthcare for patients with chronic diseases needs to be improved. Taking the example of depression, congestive heart failure, diabetes and diseases of the musculoskeletal system we analyzed to which extent the 'Chronic Care Model' allows for improvements. METHODS: Diagnosis-specific health assessment; adaptation of the 'Chronic Care Model' to the German healthcare system; peer reviewed discussions of the potentials for improving primary care of the chronically ill. RESULTS/DISCUSSION OF THE HEALTHCARE SITUATION: 1) Diagnosis and therapy of chronic diseases comply insufficiently with the evidence. 2) Patients are too passive and/or receive only little effective support. 3) Treatments are often uncoordinated and fragmented. 4) The follow-up of treatment results is often neglected. 5) Approaches to indicated diseases are promising. CONCLUSIONS: The'Chronic Care Model' could improve chronic care in Germany. Disease Management Programs (DMP) should amend multimorbidity and individual healthcare and/or facilitate implementation in general practice.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2006

[EbM and patient perspective--a 5-step approach].

OBJECTIVES: Shared decision making describes a way of involving patients in the planning and management of their individual healing process. Doing this effectively seems to be quite a challenge for both physicians and patients. The mutual transfer of information appears to be one of the main steps of this process. Clinical patient information or patient guidelines can help to explain complex medical processes in a non-specialist way and thus improve communication and self-management. In order to develop an "evidence-based asthma patient guideline" we tried to focus on both evidence-based recommendations and patients' perspectives. Patients were asked about their individual needs and knowledge and took part in the subsequent review. METHODS: In order to explore patients' perspectives and needs we implemented two additional steps to our existing concept of guideline development: (1) a questionnaire for asthma patients with 10 items dealing with patients' knowledge about asthma and a personal grading of 16 "asthma-related questions", and (2) patients joining the actual guideline review panel. RESULTS: By evaluating the results of the questionnaire we discovered a gap between what patients consider to be interesting and/or important and what is necessary from the point of view of medicine and health policy. Although the patients showed a great interest in an autonomous approach to life with asthma [important items: "what can I do by myself" (68%); "how can I prevent an asthma attack" (86%); "how can I live a better life with asthma" (77%)], they were less interested in topics that would give them more autonomy ["structured educational programs" (41%); "how to use inhaling devices" (64%) or "peak flow measurement" (36%)]. Patients participating in the review panel emphasized the need for more or better information about pollution (i.e. ozone), complementary/alternative methods and the administration of cortisone during the asthma attack--topics that were not mentioned in the physicians' guideline. CONCLUSIONS: To acquire an "implementable" evidence-based patient guideline it is not sufficient to "translate" existing asthma guidelines into lay language. We should focus on the needs of individual asthma patients and the problems they encounter every day. Therefore patients should be asked what they want to know and what they do not know, and they should review the results and include their own views into the guideline. We applied this concept to the above mentioned evidence-based patient guideline and received a thematic ranking focused on patients' daily needs as well as a to-do list of topics that require increased attention (like peak flow measurement and structured education programs). The patients' perspectives changed our perspective on our patient guideline more than we expected.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗
PubMed2006

[How to change physicians' practice--health services research with the knowledge-performance gap on focus].

How can the knowledge-performance gap be bridged? The discrepancy between our scientific knowledge on the one hand and its inadequate application in everyday practice on the other remains a major challenge for implementation research. Looking back on ten years of Health Services Research and acknowledging the achievements of educational research we have gained access to a variety of research findings and tools describing how physicians'--and other health professionals'--behavior and performance in medical care may be influenced. The time has come for testing and evaluating them.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2004

[Shared decision making. The perspective of practicing physicians].

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: More and more, patients want to participate in medical decision making. They expect a patient-centered communication as well as adequate information. However, little is known about the physicians' perspective and skills regarding shared decision making (SDM). This paper presents data about the physicians' perspective and allows focused comparison with the patients' views. METHODS: Standardized survey of 502 physicians from ambulatory care practices and of 1,512 German-speaking people, aged 18-79 years. Patient data were collected from a population-based random sample of an access panel. The following topics were included in this survey: medical decision making in daily practice, communication skills and behavior of physicians from the perspectives of physicians and patients. RESULTS: A majority of physicians approve the concept of SDM. Especially younger physicians favor the concept of SDM. Overall, physicians underestimate their patients' preference to participate in medical decision making. Physicians also tend to overestimate their information and communication skills. CONCLUSION: Not only in the general public, but also among physicians, a model of SDM is widely accepted. The communication skills necessary for this process appear to exist. However, they need to be promoted and extended. Learning to communicate adequately should receive a greater focus in medical education and postgraduate training.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Looking back on back pain: trial and error of diagnoses in the 20th century.

CONTEXT: The societal costs of low back pain and associated disability are immense. However, very little is known about the etiology of low back pain. Lumbar disc disease was discovered in the last century and became the predominant etiology for back pain. Today we know that for the majority of low back pain cases, a specific etiology cannot be determined. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the evolution of the "disc paradigm" and to compare our contemporary understanding to the scientific discussion in the beginning of the last century. DESIGN: Survey of the highest ranked German medical journal from 1900 to 1999. DATA EXTRACTION: The indexes of 5185 journal issues of the Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift were reviewed for articles about low back pain. DATA SYNTHESIS: For each article, the etiologies were identified, categorized, and counted per decade. In addition, each important etiology was described. CONCLUSIONS: In the beginning of the last century, many heterogeneous etiologies coexisted. In the second half of the century, the theory of disc degeneration took over almost the entire literature about low back pain. Pre-existing theories disappeared, but re-entered the discussion in the last decade. Two factors seemed to influence this development: 1) a tendency to prefer organic, visible abnormalities as etiologies; and 2) an inclination to trust technical diagnostic results more than clinical judgment.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed2003

[Evidence-based medicine in professional training and education in practice? The integrated evidence-based medicine curriculum at the Medical School at the University of Witten/Herdecke]].

Applying the principles of evidence-based medicine in clinical practice is becoming more and more important for healthcare professionals in Germany. In this context Witten/Herdecke University has implemented an EbM Curriculum for medical students that is closely related to problem-based learning and clinical rotations within the scope of the six-year medical reform curriculum. Starting with the first semester, students will be able to acquire the necessary skills to search medical databases, to critically review the information retrieved according to EbM standards, to gather evidence for answering diagnostic or therapeutic questions during their clinical education and to ultimately participate in the development of clinical guidelines during their last year.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2002

[Family physicians, the internet and new knowledge. Utilization and judgment of efficiency of continuing education media by general physicians and internists in family practice].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The application of new information technologies has a lasting impact on the physicians' working environment. Not only practice administration is undergoing substantial change, increasingly, individual learning preferences and continuing medical education are influenced by new media. This survey is designed to demonstrate current methods of and demand for continuing medical education by primary care physicians. METHODS: Standardized survey of 72 primary care physicians (21% female, 79% male) regarding three topics: medical knowledge acquired after medical school, current use of and expectations for continuing medical education tools. RESULTS: Primary care physicians estimate the fraction of their knowledge which was acquired after medical school at 60%. For their continuing medical education primary care physicians predominantly use scientific journals, colleagues and quality circles. The internet, scientific staff at research institutions and pharmaceutical representatives were less valued and less used. The most favored attributes for continuing medical education tools were: reliable, relevant for daily practice, and user-friendly. CONCLUSION: Continuing medical education is important and necessary. Thus far, new media still have a minor role among the relevant educational media for primary care physicians. The introduction of modern information technologies may become more successful if primary care physicians' preferences are better understood and education tools are designed according to these preferences.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

[www.evidence.de--assessment and utilization of clinical guidelines by primary care physicians and internists].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Compared to the generation of new scientific results, implementation and utilization of evidence based knowledge is lacking far behind. Strengths and weaknesses of evidence- and HTML-based guidelines were evaluated in an academic network of primary care physicians to better understand the expectations and information needs of GPs. METHODS: Standardized survey of 72 primary care physicians (21% female, 79% male) regarding three network based issues: "frequency of guideline use", "reasons to use/not to use guidelines", "evaluation and overall judgement of guidelines". RESULTS: 62.9% of participating had used net based guidelines at least once, the percentage of more frequent users (> 2 times in two months) was 40.3%. Curiosity and non-specific interest as well as a concrete medical question were the main reasons for utilization of guidelines. The overall judgement of the guidelines was positive, however, only a minority of participating physicians viewed them as a concrete help in daily practice. CONCLUSION: Transformation of new scientific medical knowledge into daily primary care practice is only insufficiently developed. Netbased instruments of continuing medical education may serve as catalysts and should be further developed as well as evaluated.

Family Practice↗