Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23508603›Full record

Trial reportAnnals of family medicine

Enhanced communication skills and C-reactive protein point-of-care testing for respiratory tract infection: 3.5-year follow-up of a cluster randomized trial.

Jochen W L Cals, Leon de Bock, Pieter-Jan H W Beckers, Nick A Francis, Rogier M Hopstaken, Kerenza Hood, Eefje G P M de Bont, Christopher C Butler, Geert-Jan Dinant

Open access · diamondAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
56citing papers in PubMed, 12 pooled it
7.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

56 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 117 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Jochen W L CalsDepartment of General Practice, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands. j.cals@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Leon de Bock
Pieter-Jan H W Beckers
Nick A Francis
Rogier M Hopstaken
Kerenza Hood
Eefje G P M de Bont
Christopher C Butler
Geert-Jan Dinant
Maastricht University Medical Centre · NLCardiff University · GBMaastricht University · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe purpose of the study was to assess the long-term effect of family physicians' use of C-reactive protein (CRP) point-of-care testing and/or physician training in enhanced communication skills on office visit rates and antibiotic prescriptions for patients with respiratory tract infections.

methodsWe conducted a 3.5-year follow-up of a pragmatic, factorial, cluster-randomized controlled trial; 379 patients (20 family practices in the Netherlands) who visited their family physician for acute cough were enrolled in the trial and had follow-up data available (88% of original trial cohort). Main outcome measures were the average number of episodes of respiratory tract infections for which patients visited their family physician per patient per year (PPPY), and the percentage of the episodes for which patients were treated with antibiotics during follow-up.

resultsThe mean number of episodes of respiratory tract infections during follow-up was 0.40 PPPY in the CRP test group and 0.56 PPPY in the no CRP test group (P = .12). In the communication skills training group, there was a mean of 0.36 PPPY episodes of respiratory tract infections, and in the no training group the mean was 0.57 PPPY (P = .09). During follow-up 30.7% of all episodes of respiratory tract infection were treated with antibiotics in the CRP test group compared with 35.7% in the no test group (P = .36). Family physicians trained in communication skills treated 26.3% of all episodes of respiratory tract infection with antibiotics compared with 39.1% treated by family physicians without training in communication skills (P = .02)

conclusionsFamily physicians' use of CRP point-of-care testing and/or training in enhanced communication skills did not significantly affect office visit rates related to respiratory tract infections. Patients who saw a family physician trained in enhanced communication skills were prescribed significantly fewer antibiotics during episodes of respiratory tract infection in the subsequent 3.5 years.

Indexed as

C-Reactive ProteinPhysicians, FamilyPractice Patterns, Physicians'Acute DiseaseAnti-Bacterial AgentsCommunicationComorbidityDisease ProgressionDrug UtilizationFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedOffice VisitsPoint-of-Care SystemsAnti-Bacterial AgentsC-Reactive Protein

Identifiers

PMID23508603
PMCPMC3601394
OpenAlexW2150715133

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.