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Biomedical subjects

R Westcott

Publications and source records attributed to R Westcott.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Significant event audit in practice: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: While well described and promoted as a useful activity, there remains a paucity of evidence on the process and experience of significant event audit (SEA) in primary care. To date, the most comprehensive evaluation of the process has been produced by comparing SEA with conventional audit. The current study intends to contribute to the debate by examining the attitudes and perceptions of a range of primary care staff who have been involved in the process. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify participants' perceptions of the benefits and problems associated with SEA in the context of primary care, and to derive suggestions which might improve the process of SEA. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews of 12 participants from a variety of primary care disciplines were conducted, using grounded theory to analyse the results. RESULTS: A set of six perceptions and seven recommendations for the facilitation of SEA were produced. CONCLUSIONS: SEA constitutes a powerful tool, which can contribute to team building, enhanced communication and improved patient care, and represents a vital contributor to the development of clinical governance in primary care. However, its implementation and sustenance require sensitive handling for optimal benefit and to minimize difficulties. Our research has enabled us to propose suggestions to facilitate these processes.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Improving continuing medical education and addressing the challenge of instituting reaccreditation.

The present postgraduate education allowance structure for general practitioners is unacceptable and inadequate on a number of counts. Improvements could be made in continuing medical education by involving learners more actively, through giving them greater ownership of their continuing medical education aims and by integrating it with the current moves towards reaccreditation. Current proposals for the implementation of reaccreditation are expensive, unacceptable to many in the general practice profession, and unconnected with present continuing medical education arrangements and the existing education structure. It would be more sensitive to current attitudes, more practical, a better use of existing facilities and more logical to improve continuing medical education by linking its improvement to the evaluation of reaccreditation in as acceptable and simple a way as possible. A framework is proposed, based on an annual educational general practitioner assessment visit in which a personal learning plan is developed as a focus for an individual's continuing medical education needs.

Accreditation↗
PubMed1977

The length of consultations in general practice.

FOUR CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WHICH MIGHT AFFECT THE LENGTH OF TIME SPENT IN CONSULTATIONS IN GENERAL PRACTICE WERE STUDIED: the sex, diagnosis, age, and social class of the patient. The sex of the patient was not shown to be significantly associated with any difference. The diagnosis of ;psychoneurotic' conditions was significantly associated with long consultations (p < 0.001) and this is discussed.The number of consultations lasting less than the median time for the whole series was significantly more common in the 15 to 29 age group.There have been few reports published on this topic, which seems important, and I hope further work will examine this aspect of the work patterns of established and trainee general practitioners.

Adolescent↗