Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2008
Successful GP intervention with frequent attenders in primary care: randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Can Patient-Provider Interpersonal Interventions Achieve the Quadruple Aim of Healthcare? A Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Effectiveness of quality improvement strategies for coordination of care to reduce use of health care services: a systematic review and meta-analysis.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2014Pooled it
- Frequent attenders in primary health care in Finland: use of primary care services and patient characteristics.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Reducing patients' rate of frequent attendance through a training intervention for physicians.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Patients with severe mental illness and their carers' expectations for GPs' communication skills: a qualitative approach in Spain.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Consultation frequency and general practitioners' and practices' characteristics.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Health-related quality of life among frequent attenders in Swedish primary care: a cross-sectional observational study.BMJ open · 2019Observational
- A consultation-level intervention to improve care of frequently attending patients: a cluster randomised controlled feasibility trial.BJGP open · 2019Article
- Effect of administrative information on visit rate of frequent attenders in primary health care: ten-year follow-up study.BMC family practice · 2018Article
- A Patient-Centered Approach to a Rural General Practice in Distress and the Search for a Solution.The Permanente journal · 2018Article
- Association of general psychological factors with frequent attendance in primary care: a population-based cross-sectional observational study.BMC family practice · 2017Observational
- Cognitive behaviour therapy for long-term frequent attenders in primary care: a feasibility case series and treatment development study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Article
- Overutilization of ambulatory medical care in the elderly German population?--An empirical study based on national insurance claims data and a review of foreign studies.BMC health services research · 2016Article
- Clinical characteristics of persistent frequent attenders in primary care: case-control study.Family practice · 2015Article
- Managing the consultation with patients with medically unexplained symptoms: a grounded theory study of supervisors and registrars in general practice.BMC family practice · 2014Article
- The inter-contact interval: a new measure to define frequent attenders in primary care.BMC family practice · 2013Observational
- Predictability of persistent frequent attendance in primary care: a temporal and geographical validation study.PloS one · 2013Article
- Health service use among patients with chronic or multiple illnesses, and frequent attenders: secondary analysis of routine primary care data from 1996 to 2006.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2012Article
- Persistent frequent attenders in primary care: costs, reasons for attendance, organisation of care and potential for cognitive behavioural therapeutic intervention.BMC family practice · 2012Article
- [Organizational procedures and health care management. A point of view from primary care centres].Atencion primaria · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFrequent attenders to GP clinics can place an unnecessary burden on primary care. Interventions to reduce frequent attendance have had mixed results.
aimTo assess the effectiveness of a GP intervention to reduce frequent-attender consultations. DESIGN OF STUDY: Randomised controlled trial with frequent attenders divided into an intervention group and two control groups (one control group was seen by GPs also providing care to patients undergoing the intervention).
settingA health centre in southern Spain.
methodSix GPs and 209 randomly-selected frequent attenders participated. Three GPs were randomly allocated to perform the new intervention: of the 137 frequent attenders registered with these three GPs, 66 were randomly allocated to receive the intervention (IG) and 71 to a usual care control group (CG2). The other three GPs offered usual care to the other 72 frequent attenders (CG1). The main outcome measure was the total number of consultations 1 year post-intervention. Baseline measurements were recorded of sociodemographic characteristics, provider-user interface, chronic illnesses, and psychosocial variables. GPs allocated to the new intervention received 15 hours' training which incorporated biopsychosocial, organisational, and relational approaches. After 1 year of follow-up frequent attenders were contacted. An intention-to-treat analysis was used.
resultsA multilevel model was built with three factors: time, patient, and doctor. After adjusting for covariates, the mean number of visits at 1 year in IG was 13.10 (95% confidence interval [CI]=11.39 to 14.94); in the CG1 group was 19.37 (95% CI=17.31 to 21.55); and in the CG2 group this was 16.72 (95% CI=4.84 to 18.72).
conclusionThe new intervention with GPs resulted in a significant and relevant reduction in frequent-attender consultations. Although further trials are needed, this intervention is recommended to GPs interested in reducing consultations by their frequent attenders.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.