EQuiP Activities at WONCA Europe Dublin 2024 Conference
EQuiP has contributed to the 29th WONCA Europe Dublin Conference scientific program by organizing a keynote session, two workshops and a symposium. Additionally, we have another ten presentations from EQuiP members in the scientific program.
We cordially invite you to join the below EQuiP sessions. EQuiP has a booth at the WONCA Village area. We invite you to visit us at the booth in Dublin.
EQuiP Workshops, Keynote Speaker and Symposium
Other Sessions from EQuiP Members
Thursday
26.09.2024, 08:30-09:45
Wicklow Meeting Room 2a
ID 944: Core Values are the essentials of good quality GP/FM. How do we practice Core Values in Europe?
Speakers: Dorien Zwart, Helen Alter, Anna Stadval
Background
General Practice/Family Medicine (GP/FM) is recognized as the cornerstone of healthcare systems worldwide. Yet, overload due to demographic trends, citizen’s consumerism, administration, digitalization, hyper specialization and rapid technological developments have burdened primary care practice. To keep our profession effective and quality of care optimally balanced in this changing world, we need to adapt and reconsider our processes while preserving our fundamentals as defined in core values WONCA EUROPE CORE VALUES
This EQuiP-workshop is part of a Global Core Values-project aiming to engage our European GP/FM community in impactful exchanges. A common, globally evolving narrative on FM/GP core values can support the sustainability and development of GP/FM worldwide. To achieve this in the context of good quality care, GPs all over the world need to input and have ownership of it.
To progress this global initiative, this workshop will facilitate European dialogue at a next level. Europe is very diverse. Do we have a common understanding of the core values underpinning our clinical work at national levels across Europe? And how is it implemented in daily practic.
Methods A plenary presentation followed by interactive small group work. Learning objectives and activities:
Conclusion / proposed conclusion
Collaborative actions that are proposed will contribute to the global project and will be followed up in 2025 WONCA World in Lisbon.
26.09.2024, 09:15-09:30
Auditorium
ID 808: Experiences of users regarding patient safety in primary healthcare centers in Spain: a cross-sectional study
Speaker: Maria Pilar Astier Pena
Background
Patient safety has been predominantly studied based on information provided by healthcare professionals, with little attention to the experiences and perspectives of the patients. The aim is to evaluate patient-perceived safety in primary care settings in Spain.
Methods
Cross-sectional study nested within clinical trial SinergiAPS-2. Baseline evaluation consisted of a survey of a sample of 100 users from 105 healthcare centers (HC) in eight autonomous communities. Validated PREOS-PC Compact questionnaire was administered (27 items into 6 scales evaluating patient safety in HC over the last 12 months). The data obtained were analyzed descriptively, calculating the frequency of patient safety problems and harm by patients, and patient safety average score.
Results
Between September 2023 and February 2024, a total of 11,238 users completed the survey (60.4% women; mean age = 54.1 years). 49.6% of respondents (n = 5,574) reported experiencing at least one patient safety error in the last 12 months. The most frequent problems were related to appointment scheduling (36.3%), doctor-patient communication problems (12.3%), communication problems between professionals from different areas (10.5%), and problems related to the diagnosis of their health issues (11.1%). And of them, 15.6% (1758), reported incidents with harm (physical 7.5%, mental health 6.6%, social inability 5.6%) and with increased health needs (7.9%), increased care (3.2%), and economic expenses (8.7%).
Conclusions
This study evaluates patient safety in healthcare centers in Spain through patients’ experiences. The results allow us to identify the critical areas of PHC healthcare processes and to promote the improvement of patients’ experiences.
26.09.2024, 11:15-12:30
Wicklow Meeting Room 1
ID 1420: HOW Can we beat burnout?
Speaker: Andree Rochfort, Maria Pilar Astier Pena, Jose-Miguel Bueno-Ortiz, Jelena Rakić Matić.
Introduction
Burnout is one of the factors that affects retention of GPs in the workforce and the maintenance of quality healthcare services. There is a growing international focus on the impact of increasing GP workloads and long hours of work. In this interactive workshop GPs from different healthcare systems and working environments will develop solutions together for individual and organisational approaches to beating burnout using proactive and reactive plans for medical education, continuing professional development (CPD) and advocacy.
Method
Introduction to causes and impact of burnout (5’)
Case scenarios of burnout will be distributed for participants to work together to create solutions. (a) design a practical plan to enable a doctor with burnout to regain job satisfaction (25’)
(b) brainstorm individual and system solutions for burnout in general practice (25’)
Plenary discussion including take home messages for representative organisations (20’)
Proposed results
The groups examine a range of approaches to manage work related distress and burnout in colleagues. Where system factors need to be addressed participants have the opportunity to create a range of proposals together to take to their representative organisations.
Conclusion
This workshop will facilitate developing solutions for work-life balance, job satisfaction and formal advocacy for job burnout in both proactive and reactive ways. The shared learning format gives the GP a voice to share with peers at the conference and to take home to their colleagues and representative organisations.
Friday
27.09.2024, 08:30-09:45
Wicklow Meeting Room 1
ID 447: Strategies for effective policy advocacy in family medicine: From national to global
Speakers: Nick Mamo, Raquel Gómez Bravo, Maria Pilar Astier Pena, Andrée Rochfort
Background
Policy advocacy is of central importance if we are to improve Family Medicine, and achieve our aim of universal health coverage. Understanding what is being done in this field, looking at our successes and challenges is essential to develop realistic strategies going forward. We aim to present past and ongoing policy advocacy in Family Medicine both within WONCA and beyond, and to develop proposals for the WONCA Europe Working Party on Policy Advocacy, so that we can improve the profile and impact of WONCA Europe in this sphere.
Objectives
27.09.2024, 11:45-12:00
Ecocem Room
ID 811: “What do individuals attending primary healthcare facilities in Spain perceive about patient safety?”
Speaker: Maria Pilar Astier Pena
Background
Ensuring high-quality and safe primary healthcare (PHC) stands as crucial objective for healthcare systems globally. We assessed patients' experiences concerning the safety of their healthcare process within PHC in Spain.
Methods
A pre-post randomized trial was performed. First step was to collect patients’ experiences in PHC Facilities (PHCF) the previous year (2022-2023) with a PREOS PC questionnaire (Patient Related Experiences and Outcomes on Safety-Primary Care). We did a descriptive analysis of the main items to get the initial picture of safety issues.
Results
11,239 patients participated from 8 Spanish regions (Andalucía, Aragón, Baleares, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Galicia, Madrid y Murcia). Participants’ Age: 8.5% up to 30 y.o.; 54.1% 30 to 60 y.o.; 27.3% 65 y.o. onwards. 6,228 (60,8%) were women. 8,710 (77.5%) belonged to the same PHCF for more than 5 years. 8,935 (79.6%) reported that PHC professionals were always or often available and most of the time took seriously their complaints, 9,878 (87.9%). Only 6,034 (53.7%) were routinely informed of possible side effects. 4,485 (43.5%) were often encouraged to talk about their problems. 3,959 (35.3%) indicated that they often or always informed professionals about problems in their healthcare and 3.217 (28.7%) gave suggestions for improvement. Despite this, overall assessment of the safety level of the healthcare center was good, with an average score of 80.9/100 points (standard deviation = 18.2).
Conclusion
Patients’ experiences with safety issues in the healthcare process in PHC will help PHCF to improve design, delivery, and communication to reduce harm related to healthcare.
27.09.2024, 13:45-14:30
Auditorium
Keynote Lecture 5: Your Health, Our Priority: Strengthening Care Continuity and Human Performance for Safety
Speakers: Dorien Zwart, María Pilar Astier-Peña
Dorien Zwart is Full Professor of General Practice/Family Medicine and Head of Department of General Practice &Nursing Science in the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at University Medical Center Utrecht. She also practices as a Family Physician at the Primary Health Care Center De Bilt. Zwart's research primarily focuses on patient safety and quality in general practice targeting the top 3 patient safety challenges in primary care: triage/diagnostic safety, transitional safety and medication safety.
Prof. María Pilar Astier-Peña is a specialist in Family and Community Medicine and Preventive Medicine and Public Health. She currently serves as a Family Doctor at a Primary Health Care Centre in Zaragoza, Spain. Alongside her clinical duties, she holds the position of Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Zaragoza, where she mentors medical students and actively participates in multi-professional teaching units focusing on family and community medicine, as well as family nursing residency programs. She is also mentor of family medicine residents.
Driven by her commitment to patient safety and healthcare quality, she holds leadership roles as the Chair of the Patient Safety Working Party at the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFYC), and as a member of various international bodies such as EQUIP (The Quality and Safety Network in WONCA Europe), and as vice-chair of the Policy Advocacy Working Party of Wonca Europe. Additionally, at WONCA World level she contributes her expertise as a member of the Quality and Safety Working Party and a Member-at-Large on the WONCA World Executive Committee for the term 2023-2025.
Her primary research focus lies in enhancing patient safety and healthcare quality, with a specific emphasis on primary healthcare, physicians' health and wellbeing, and the enhancement of clinical reasoning as a core competency among family doctors.
Date: 27.09.2024, 14:45-16:00
Liffey Meeting Room 2
ID 812: Cultivating a healthier future for doctors: family physicians supporting sick colleagues
Speakers: Maria Pilar Astier Pena, Andrée Rochfort, Margaret Kay
Background
When doctors become patients, they can suffer a role conflict. Being a patient can be challenging. Self-diagnosis and self-medication can further complicate care. Seeking informal care from colleagues, outside the usual care circuit, can carry the risk of delayed care and result in poor outcomes. Family doctors are key figures in the care of sick doctors. All doctors need independent, coordinated care, even after they retire. Family doctors need to understand the behavior of sick doctors to enable compassionate care while delivering high-quality and safe best-practice care.
Method
International experts will present three brief evidence-based lectures to stimulate discussion focused on:
Doctor's health and illness concepts, and impact on quality and safety of healthcare services.
Spanish Study on Doctors seeking help when they get sick.
Irish Study on Improving Healthcare for Doctors by Doctors.
Discussion
Experts will share learning that considers doctors’ role as patients, their challenges accessing care, and the vital role of family physicians in supporting sick colleagues.
They will help participants to identify pragmatic skills in being a doctor of doctors and advocating for a strategic vision to improve healthcare for doctors when cultivating the future.
Experts will provide additional educational tools to participants to promote training for medical residents and CME.
Conclusion
This symposium will enable family physicians to understand their role in caring for sick colleagues and to ensure they have the skills to deliver quality care with empathy while understanding that they will also need their family physician to keep them healthy.
Saturday
28.09.2024, 08:30 - 09:45
Wicklow Meeting Room 1
WS-07: Transforming Research into Real-World Impact: Strategies for primary care.
Speakers: Radost Assenova, Raquel Gómez Bravo, Ana Luisa Neves, Sara Ares-Blanco, Nick Mamo, Ileana Gefaell Larrondo, Eva Hummers, Thomas Frese, Pilar Astier Peña
Background
Sometimes research seems distant from the day-to-day reality of the family physician. On one hand, the usual workload discourages starting projects, and on the other hand, the lack of time or knowledge to put them into practice makes it difficult to take the step towards conducting research. This workshop will present practical examples of research in primary care that have improved medical care. It will also focus on sharing real-world data strategies at the European level to access public data sources for collaborative research studies using primary care data to enhance medical care from primary care. This workshop will explain ways to standardize methodology, define projects and concepts properly, collect data, and access data sources.
Didactic Method
An explanation will be provided on essential primary care research, followed by examples of open databases for research. Small groups will be formed to discuss open data sources in each country and share experiences with these data sources. Subsequently, the methodology for using these data sources and turning a research question into a study with published results useful in clinical practice will be explained.
Objectives
To learn about examples of primary care research that have been important for the development of primary care.
To become familiar with European real-world data databases that allow research at a European level.
To review strategies to improve data quality and to transform data into useful research.
28.09.2024, 09:20
Liffey A
ID 1372: Development of a Curriculum for Family Doctors to Improve Healthcare for Patients who are Doctors
Session name and time: GP Training and Medical Education, 08:30-09:45
Speaker: Andree Rochfort
Introduction
Doctors are part of the general population. As human beings they can experience any or all of the same range of acute and chronic medical conditions and mental health problems that other patients do. There is evidence that doctors experience mental health issues more than the general population.
Do GPs feel competent and comfortable to diagnose and treat patients who are doctors, and to provide quality care to them? There is a lack of medical education aimed at clinical care for this group of patients.
Method
A scoping review and a national survey of GPs and GP Trainees was conducted to identify topics that should be included in a proposed curriculum. A modified Delphi survey was conducted among a group with an interest in healthcare improvement and medical education. A priority list of topics for a framework curriculum was generated.
Results
Key results of the scoping review, national survey and modified Delphi study will be shared. These have been mapped onto a framework curriculum to assist GPs when providing medical care to doctors as patients.
Analysis
Specific topics have been recommended for a postgraduate medical education course for GPs and GP Trainees to improve healthcare for doctors as patients. These are topics that respondents felt would benefit them in providing healthcare to doctors.
Conclusion
It is hoped that addressing certain areas of knowledge, skills and attitudes for GPs who treat doctors, and for doctors as patients, that family doctors will help to improve healthcare for this group of patients.
28.09.2024, 12:15-12:30
Ecocem Room
ID 1281: How satisfied are GPs and Cardiologists with the non-face-to-face referrals in our Region?
Speaker: Jose-Miguel Bueno-Ortiz
Introduction
CarPriMur is an assistance project of Family Doctors (FD) and Cardiologists (C) in our Region (1,500 inhabitants), which started in 2017. CarPriMur includes different training activities (face-to-face and online courses) and care activities (high-resolution consultations, the availability of a teleconsulting system and the role of a consultant cardiologist). CarPriMur implementation implies using only non-face-to-face (telematic) referrals (TR) between Primary Health Care and Cardiology. The aim is to assess FD and C satisfaction with it.
Method
Cross-sectional descriptive study, an anonymous digital survey sent to C and FD in October 2023, with different items to assess their satisfaction with TR. Results are shown as median and interquartile range.
Results
213 FC (19%) y 54 C (100%) answered the survey. FD showed high global satisfaction with TR (9 [8-10]), even though they do not recommend it as the only method to refer patients to C (5 [0-7]). FD considered that there is room for improvement regarding the excessive workload to produce TR and to check the C’s reply. C showed high global satisfaction (9 [8-10]). C declared that increased workload to answer the TR (6 [3-8]) and the lack of information given by FD (6 [4-7]) could be improved
Conclusions
Global satisfaction with TR of CarPriMur is high for both FD and C. However, some improvable aspects have been detected and should be taken into account in future improvement cycles.
28.09.2024 12:45-13:05
Auditorium
WONCA awards and announcements
Speaker: Andree Rochfort
Background
Family medicine is a pillar of primary health care and the place of first contact with the health care system. This puts us as family doctors in a strong position to advocate in different spheres - from the individual patient up to the international arena. Far too often this important characteristic is threatened by decisions of healthcare managers under the illusion of pseudo-efficiency of the systems. Whether we see advocacy as a duty or a right for family doctors, it is important for us to raise our voices, and work to improve circumstances for our communities. The question then, is how do we advocate? What should we be doing, what are the challenges we are likely to face, and how are we going to deal with them?
Didactic Method
Following a short introduction on policy and advocacy, we will introduce case studies showing advocacy in different spheres - local, regional, national, and international. Following this, we will focus on group work whereby groups will create realistic actions that can be taken by family doctors to advocate for specific causes. Groups will be invited to consider the strengths and limitations of their positions, and the opportunities that may be available to them in achieving their aims.
Objectives
Published on 19 September 2024.