Publications by staff affiliated to the Irish College of General Practitioners. We advise visitors to check the ICGP's website for the current versions of all documents.

Recent Submissions

  • Irish general practitioner (GP) perspectives on impact of direct access radiology on patient care in the community: results from a mixed-methods study.

    O'Callaghan, Michael Edmund; Fawsitt, Ronan; Gao, Jiaran; Broughan, John; McCombe, Geoff; Phelan, Amy; Quinlan, Diarmuid; Collins, Claire; Stanley, Fintan; Cullen, Walter (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2023-06-24)
  • Promoting physical health among people with enduring mental illness: a qualitative study of healthcare providers' perspectives.

    Collins, Claire; Finegan, Pearse; O'Shea, Marie; Larkin, James; Pericin, Ivana; Osborne, Brian (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2021-04-21)
  • The association between cervical cancer screening participation and the deprivation index of the location of the family doctor's office.

    Serman, Fanny; Favre, Jonathan; Deken, Valérie; Guittet, Lydia; Collins, Claire; Rochoy, Michaël; Messaadi, Nassir; Duhamel, Alain; Launay, Ludivine; Berkhout, Christophe; et al. (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2020-05-15)
  • Managing hypertension in frail oldest-old-The role of guideline use by general practitioners from 29 countries.

    Roulet, Céline; Rozsnyai, Zsofia; Jungo, Katharina Tabea; A van der Ploeg, Milly; Floriani, Carmen; Kurpas, Donata; Vinker, Shlomo; Kreitmayer Pestic, Sanda; Petrazzuoli, Ferdinando; Hoffmann, Kathryn; et al. (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2020-07-10)
  • A national model of remote care for assessing and providing opioid agonist treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic: a report.

    Crowley, Des; Delargy, Ide (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2020-07-17)
  • Minor surgery in general practice in Ireland- a report of workload and safety.

    Ní Riain, Ailís; Maguire, Niall; Collins, Claire (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2020-06-23)
  • Hepatitis C virus infection in Irish drug users and prisoners - a scoping review.

    Crowley, D; Murtagh, R; Cullen, W; Lambert, J S; McHugh, T; Van Hout, M C (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2019-08-08)
  • An online survey of Irish general practitioner experience of and attitude toward managing problem alcohol use.

    Collins, Claire; Finegan, Pearse; O'Riordan, Margaret (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2018-12-18)
    In the general practice setting screening, brief intervention and counselling have been shown to be effective in the reduction of problem alcohol use. This study aimed to explore Irish general practitioners' (GPs) current practice of and attitudes towards the management of problem alcohol use. An online survey was emailed, with one email reminder, to 1750 general/family practitioners who were members of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) and for whom an active email address was available. Overall, 476 completed questionnaires were received representing a 27.2% response rate. Two-thirds of the respondents reported that they have managed patients for problem alcohol use and related issues in the past year. The majority, 96%, of respondents indicated that they initiate conversations around alcohol even when the patient does not do so. Almost two thirds of GPs stated that they use structured brief intervention when talking to patients about their alcohol intake and circa 85% reported that they provide some form of counselling in relation to reducing alcohol consumption. While more than two out of three GPs felt prepared when counselling patients in relation to alcohol consumption, almost half considered they are ineffective in helping patients to reduce alcohol consumption. One third of GPs advised that they did not have access to an addiction counsellor. GPs in this survey reported widespread experience of screening and intervention, however, many still felt ineffective. In order to maximise the potential impact of GPs, a clearer understanding is required of what interventions are effective in different scenarios. Furthermore, GPs are only part of the solution in terms of addressing alcohol consumption. The services available in the broader health care system and Government alcohol related policy needs to further support GPs and patients.
  • Health system changes needed to support people consulting general practice out of hours services in Ireland.

    Collins, C; O'Shea, M T; Cunniffe, J; Finegan, P; Irish College of General Practitioners (International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 2018-01-01)
    Mental illness acts as a barrier to accessing and obtaining effective medical care. It has been shown that out of hours services are an important first stop for emergency care for people experiencing mental health difficulties. However, little is in fact known about the use of out of hours general practice services by people experiencing mental health difficulties. To establish the number and range of consultations that have a primary or related mental health issue attending general practitioner (GP) out of hours and to document adherence to their follow-up care referral. Descriptive study in one large out of hours primary care service in the South East of Ireland (Caredoc). An anonymous extraction of retrospective data from 1 year of the out of hours' electronic database was undertaken. Patients who attended the out of hours with a possible mental health issue and were referred to the psychiatric services or back to their own GP, were tracked via phone follow-up with hospitals and GPs over 6 months to establish if they attended for the recommend follow-up care.
  • Does patient self-management education of primary care professionals improve patient outcomes: a systematic review.

    Rochfort, Andree; Beirne, Sinead; Doran, Gillian; Patton, Patricia; Gensichen, Jochen; Kunnamo, Ilkka; Smith, Susan; Eriksson, Tina; Collins, Claire (BMC Family Practice, 2018-09-29)
    Patient self-management support is recognised as a key component of chronic care. Education and training for health professionals has been shown in the literature to be associated with better uptake, implementation and effectiveness of self-management programs, however, there is no clear evidence regarding whether this training results in improved health outcomes for patients with chronic conditions. A systematic review was undertaken using the PRISMA guidelines using the Cochrane Library, PubMEd, ERIC, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web searches, Hand searches and Bibliographies. Articles published from inception to September 1st, 2013 were included. Systematic reviews, Meta-analysis, Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), Controlled clinical trials, Interrupted time series and Controlled before and after studies, which reported on primary care health professionals' continuing education or evidence-based medicine/education on patient self-management for any chronic condition, were included. A minimum of two reviewers participated independently at each stage of review. From 7533 abstracts found, only two papers provided evidence on the effectiveness of self-management education for primary healthcare professionals in terms of measured outcomes in patients. These two articles show improvement in patient outcomes for chronic back pain and diabetes based on RCTs. The educational interventions with health professionals spanned a range of techniques and modalities but both RCTs included a motivational interviewing component. Before and up to 2 years after the incorporation of patient empowerment for self-management into the WONCA Europe definition of general practice, there was a scarcity of high quality evidence showing improved outcomes for patients as a result of educating health professionals in patient self-management of chronic conditions.
  • Optimising treatment in opioid dependency in primary care: results from a national key stakeholder and expert focus group in Ireland.

    Van Hout, Maire Claire; Crowley, Des; McBride, Aoife; Delargy, Ide (BMC family practice, 2018-06-30)
    Treatment for opioid dependence in Ireland is provided predominantly by general practitioners (GP) who have undergone additional training in opioid agonist treatment (OAT) and substance misuse. The National Methadone Treatment Programme (MTP) was introduced in 1998, and was designed to treat the opioid dependent population and to regulate the prescribing regimes at the time. The past two decades have seen the increased prescribing of methadone in primary care and changes in type of opioid abused, in particular, the increased use of over the counter (OTC) and prescription medications. Despite the scaling up of OAT in Ireland, drug related deaths however have increased and waiting lists for treatment exist in some areas outside the capital, Dublin. Two previous MTP reviews have made recommendations aimed at improving and scaling up of OAT in Ireland. This study updates these recommendations and is the first time that a group of national experts have engaged in structured research to identify barriers to OAT delivery in Ireland. The aim was to explore the views of national statutory and non-statutory stakeholders and experts on current barriers within the MTP and broader OAT delivery structures in order to inform their future design and implementation.
  • Cancer Survivorship in General Practice - Barriers Encountered by General Practitioners in Ireland

    O’Shea, Marie; Collins, Claire; Irish College of General Practitioners (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2018)
  • Working with Opiate Users in Community Based Primary Care

    Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2003)
  • Future career intentions of recent GP graduates in Ireland: a trend analysis study

    Pericin, Ivana; Mansfield, Gerard; Larkin, James; Collins, Claire; Irish College of General Practitioners (British Journal of General Practice Open, 2018-01)
  • ICGP Research and Audit Conference Abstracts 2015

    Collins, Claire; ICGP Research Department (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2016)
  • Case study: LARC for younger patients with migraine

    Lundy, Deirdre (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2016-05)
  • Irish general practice: working with deprivation

    Osborne, Brian (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2015)
  • Quality Improvement Award Winners 2007-2014

    O'Donnell, Patrick Dr.; ICGP Quality in Practice Committee (Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), 2014)

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