For people requesting same-day appointments in primary care, does NHS Direct algorithm-based triage reduce consultation times and costs of care compared with triage by a practice nurse?
Better management of affective and somatoform disorders may reduce consultation rates in primary care.
Telephone consultation was shown not to be inferior to face-to-face consultation with regard to QOL scores, and did reduce consultation time and NHS costs.
We were unable to easily identify an intervention which works consistently to reduce consultation rates, to improve parents' knowledge, confidence or satisfaction.
However, although the longer consultation may mean that more detailed information was transmitted as a result of the models, it cannot be claimed that 3D models reduce consultation times by making communication more effective.
Nevertheless, interpretation of the results is unaffected by this, as it is the symptom rather than the 'illness' that instigates the consultation and any intervention designed to reduce consultation rates would need to target the symptom (cough).
To be used in practice, these instruments should not reduce consultation time, i.e., they should be simple and easy to score by the physician, and easily understood by the patients, who can answer the questionnaires in the waiting room without assistance.
The multiple possible explanations for stable prescription rates per consultation amid reduced consultations add to the present requirement for a whole-system examination of the main policy dilemmas around antibiotics in OM, separate from mere promotion of guidelines.
