Solutions Not Problems: A New Era in After-Hours Care?
Authors: David Dunt, Rosemary McKenzie
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2017)

Editorials16 May 2017Solutions Not Problems: A New Era in After-Hours Care?David Dunt, MBBS, PhD and Rosemary McKenzie, PhD, MPHDavid Dunt, MBBS, PhDFrom The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.Search for more papers by this author and Rosemary McKenzie, PhD, MPHFrom The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M17-0821 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail In their article in Annals, Smits and colleagues (1) describe the arrival of a new era in the delivery of after-hours care in the Netherlands. The authors describe several features, both established and new. Established features include cooperatives of primary care physicians serving populations of 100 000 to 500 000 persons, extended clinical hours, telephone triage, and an administration controlled by the physicians who are cooperative members. Newer features include cooperatives located alongside hospital emergency departments to form Emergency Care Access Points, increased access to electronic health records and diagnostic testing, involvement of nurses, and emergency care training for primary care physicians. ...References1. Smits M, Rutten M, Keizer E, Wensing M, Westert G, Giesen P. The development and performance of after-hours primary care in the Netherlands. A narrative review. Ann Intern Med. 2017;166:737-42. doi:10.7326/M16-2776 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Jonckheer P, Borgemans L, Dubois C, Verhoeven E, Rinchard E, Baudewyns A, et al. Afters-Hours Primary Care: Which Solutions? Brussels: Health Services Research, Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre; 2011. Google Scholar3. 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Blank L, Coster J, O'Cathain A, Knowles E, Tosh J, Turner J, et al. The appropriateness of, and compliance with, telephone triage decisions: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. J Adv Nurs. 2012;68:2610-21. [PMID: 22676805] doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.06052.x CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Schoen C, Osborn R, Squires D, Doty M, Rasmussen P, Pierson R, et al. A survey of primary care doctors in ten countries shows progress in use of health information technology, less in other areas. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012;31:2805-16. [PMID: 23154997] doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2012.0884 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9. O'Malley AS, Samuel D, Bond AM, Carrier E. After-hours care and its coordination with primary care in the U.S. J Gen Intern Med. 2012;27:1406-15. [PMID: 22653379] doi:10.1007/s11606-012-2087-4 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar10. Broadway B, Kalb G, Li J, Scott A. Do financial incentives influence GPs' decisions to do after-hours work? A discrete choice labour supply model. Health Econ. 2017. [PMID: 28217847] doi:10.1002/hec.3476 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.Disclosures: Authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M17-0821.Corresponding Author: David Dunt, MBBS, PhD, Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; e-mail, d.[email protected]edu.au.Current Author Addresses: Drs. Dunt and McKenzie: Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.This article was published at Annals.org on 18 April 2017. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoThe Development and Performance of After-Hours Primary Care in the Netherlands Marleen Smits , Martijn Rutten , Ellen Keizer , Michel Wensing , Gert Westert , and Paul Giesen Metrics 16 May 2017Volume 166, Issue 10Page: 752-753KeywordsEmergency departmentGlobal healthHealth care quality assessmentHealth insuranceInformation technologyLiteracyPrimary care physiciansPublic policySafetyTriage ePublished: 18 April 2017 Issue Published: 16 May 2017 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2017 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...