Primary Healthcare Clinical Trial
Official title:
The (Cost-)Effectiveness of Physician Assistants Working at the Primary Out of Hours Emergency Service
The aim of this study is to explore the effect of substituting General Practitioners (GPs) by Physician Assistants (PAs) in out-of-hours primary care. Effects are measured in terms of the implication for the care model, quality of care delivered by PAs in comparison to GPs; the complaints treated by PAs in comparison to GPs; safety, efficiency and patient satisfaction. Lastly, this study will provide insight in the changes in costs of healthcare.
Out-of-hours care in the Netherlands is under pressure. Workload for general practitioners
(GPs) during out-of-hours care is high and there are concerns about maintaining the quality
of care. Since 80% of the complaints shown in out-of-hours care are low complex and not
urgent, not all patients necessarily have to be seen by a physician. Shifting care from GPs
to physician assistants (PAs) is considered to be a possible method to reduce workload while
maintaining high quality and safety of care.
Previous research, on PAs in primary care during office hours, has shown PAs were found to
be acceptable, effective and efficient in complementing the work of GPs.
We hypothesize that in a team of PAs and GPs working out-of-hours primary care, the PAs will
deliver care to less urgent and complex complaints, deliver quality of care comparable to
GPs and their implementation will lead to a reduction in cost of healthcare.
We compare care provided by a team of PAs and GPs with a team of only GPs. Within the team
of PAs and GPs we make a comparison between the two healthcare professionals.
;
Allocation: Non-Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
| Status | Clinical Trial | Phase | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed |
NCT02407847 -
The Effect of Substitution of Out-of-hours Care From General Practitioners to Nurse Practitioners
|
N/A | |
| Recruiting |
NCT06310148 -
Evaluation of the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme
|
N/A |