ArticleScandinavian journal of primary health care2025
What makes patients in primary care complex? A scoping review combined with a focus group analysis.
Article in Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- "I don't know whether I really have choices": a multiperspective and longitudinal exploration of healthcare choices of older adults with multimorbidity.The Gerontologist · 2026Article
- HealthCare Complexity Index (HCIn): A Clinical Decision-Making Tool for Primary Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundConsultations can be challenging because of patient complexity, affecting care quality. Patient complexity involves factors related to the patient, healthcare professional, organization, and healthcare system. A comprehensive overview of these factors and their significance to healthcare providers is lacking. The aim of this study was to create a literature overview and to examine how the results relate to the experiences of primary care providers.
methodsThe PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched (2018-2023) to conduct a scoping review. In addition, a focus group was organized with healthcare providers from general practices (a) to discuss the results of the review, and (b) to explore its meaning in daily consultation, based on the real-life patient cases they presented.
resultsThe review (171 unique studies) mainly revealed patient-related factors (medical, social and behavioural aspects). Complexity arises when multiple aspects are present and mutually interact. Factors related to the expertise of healthcare professionals, the organization (care coordination) and the system (availability of resources, navigation problems) were also identified. The focus group recognized the factors that influenced patient complexity and their interdependence. They noted a need for support in identifying and treating the patient population in question across disciplines.
conclusionsA comprehensive overview of factors influencing patient complexity at four different levels (patient, professional, organization, system) is provided. The primary care providers suggested disseminating these results to customize treatment to the needs of patients, which is likely to require coordination across disciplines and integrated care.
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