After-hours Care — Differentiated Access to Out-of-hours Primary Care Through Emergency Access
Citation(s)
Bunn F, Byrne G, Kendall S Telephone consultation and triage: effects on health care use and patient satisfaction. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004 Oct 18;(4):CD004180. Review.
Christensen MB, Olesen F Out of hours service in Denmark: evaluation five years after reform. BMJ. 1998 May 16;316(7143):1502-5.
Giesen P, Smits M, Huibers L, Grol R, Wensing M Quality of after-hours primary care in the Netherlands: a narrative review. Ann Intern Med. 2011 Jul 19;155(2):108-13. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-155-2-201107190-00006. Review.
Murphy AW 'Inappropriate' attenders at accident and emergency departments I: definition, incidence and reasons for attendance. Fam Pract. 1998 Feb;15(1):23-32. Review.
Differentiated Access to Out-of-hours Primary Care Through Emergency Access
Interventional studies are often prospective and are specifically tailored to evaluate direct impacts of treatment or preventive measures on disease.
Observational studies are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.
Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat a patient(s) with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.
Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.
Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.
