General Practice and Primary Care - Research Publications

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    Challenging the status quo: results of an acceptability and feasibility study of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) management pathways in Indonesian primary care
    Ekawati, FM ; Emilia, O ; Gunn, J ; Licqurish, S ; Lau, P (BMC, 2021-07-14)
    BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are the leading cause of maternal mortality in Indonesia. Focused HDP management pathways for Indonesian primary care practice have been developed from a consensus development process. However, the acceptability and feasibility of the pathways in practice have not been explored. This study reports on the implementation process of the pathways to determine their acceptability and feasibility in Indonesian practice. METHODS: The pathways were implemented in three public primary care clinics (Puskesmas) in Yogyakarta province for a month, guided by implementation science frameworks of Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM). The participating providers (general practitioners (GPs), midwives, and nurses) were asked to use recommendations in the pathways for a month. The pathway implementation evaluations were then conducted using clinical audits and a triangulation of observations, focus groups (FGs), and interviews with all of the participants. Clinical audit data were analysed descriptively, and qualitative data were analysed using a mix of the inductive-deductive approach of thematic analysis. RESULTS: A total of 50 primary care providers, four obstetricians, a maternal division officer in the local health office and 61 patients agreed to participate, and 48 of the recruited participants participated in evaluation FGs or interviews. All of the providers in the Puskesmas attempted to apply recommendations from the pathways to various degrees, mainly adopting preeclampsia risk factor screenings and HDP monitoring. The participants expressed that the recommendations empowered their practice when it came to HDP management. However, their practices were challenged by professional boundaries and hierarchical barriers among health care professionals, limited clinical resources, and regulations from the local health office. Suggestions for future scale-up studies were also mentioned, such as involving champion obstetricians and providing more patient education toolkits. CONCLUSION: The HDP management pathways are acceptable and feasible in Indonesian primary care. A further scale-up study is desired and can be initiated with investigations to minimise the implementation challenges and enhance the pathways' value in primary care practice.
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    Opportunities for improving hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) management in primary care settings: A review of international published guidelines in the context of pregnancy care in Indonesia
    Ekawati, FM ; Emilia, O ; Brennecke, S ; Gunn, J ; Licqurish, S ; Lau, P (Elsevier, 2020-01-01)
    Almost all of global maternal mortality caused by HDP occurs in low to middle-income countries (LMIC). However, limited guidance is available to local primary care practitioners who are usually the main health care providers. This review examined existing international practice guidelines to identify potential practices to improve HDP management in Indonesian primary care settings. We performed structured literature search strategies and snowballing searches in six databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane reviews and Google Scholar) for guidelines that were published between 2007 and 2018 using relevant keywords and phrases of ‘guidelines’, ‘hypertensive disorders of pregnancy’ or ‘preeclampsia’ and ‘primary care’. The AGREE II instrument was used to assess quality and reporting of the eligible guidelines. Thematic analysis was performed on all of the guidelines and the results were discussed among the project investigators. Sixteen international practice guidelines or similar management recommendations were reviewed. Almost all of them were partially applicable, with some managements potentially able to be adopted to Indonesian primary care settings. Three main themes for improving HDP management were identified, namely clinical management, care planning, and professional communication. These potential improvements in managing women with HDP in Indonesia may also be relevant in other LMIC. Further contextualisation is required to facilitate their adoption in practice settings.
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    Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) management pathways: results of a Delphi survey to contextualise international recommendations for Indonesian primary care settings
    Ekawati, FM ; Licqurish, S ; Gunn, J ; Brennecke, S ; Lau, P (BMC, 2021-04-01)
    BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are a significant contributor to the high maternal mortality rate in Indonesia. At the moment, limited guidelines are available to assist primary care providers in managing HDP cases. A previous review of 16 international HDP guidelines has identified opportunities for improving HDP management in Indonesian primary care, but it has not determined the suitability of the recommendations in practice. This study aims to achieve consensus among the experts regarding the recommendations suitability and to develop HDP pathways in Indonesian primary care. METHODS: Maternal health experts, including GPs, midwives, nurses, medical specialists and health policy researchers from Indonesia and overseas were recruited for the study. They participated in a consensus development process that applied a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions in three Delphi survey rounds. At the first and second-round survey, the participants were asked to rate their agreement on whether each of 125 statements about HDP and HDP management is appropriate for use in Indonesian primary care settings. The third-round survey presented the drafts of HDP pathways and sought participants' agreement and further suggestions. The participants' agreement scores were calculated with a statement needing a minimum of 70% agreement to be included in the HDP pathways. The participants' responses and suggestions to the free text questions were analysed thematically. RESULTS: A total of 52 participants were included, with 48, 45 and 37 of them completing the first, second and third round of the survey respectively. Consensus was reached for 115 of the 125 statements on HDP definition, screening, management and long-term follow-up. Agreement scores for the statements ranged from 70.8-100.0%, and potential implementation barriers of the pathways were identified. Drafts of HDP management pathways were also agreed upon and received suggestions from the participants. CONCLUSIONS: Most evidence-based management recommendations achieved consensus and were included in the developed HDP management pathways, which can potentially be implemented in Indonesian settings. Further investigations are needed to explore the acceptability and feasibility of the developed HDP pathways in primary care practice.
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    The elephant in the room: an exploratory study of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) management in Indonesian primary care settings
    Ekawati, FM ; Emilia, O ; Gunn, J ; Licqurish, S ; Lau, P (BMC, 2020-12-26)
    BACKGROUND: Indonesia has the highest maternal mortality rate in South East Asia, that a third of the mortality is caused by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including preeclampsia and eclampsia. Research suggests that maternal deaths from HDP are avoidable with appropriate initial management in primary care. However, little is known regarding the exact way HDP management is conducted in Indonesian primary care. This research aims to explore the way HDP management is provided, including its barriers and facilitators in Indonesian primary care settings. METHODS: This research applied a practical qualitative methodology using interviews with a topic guide. It is guided by the implementation science framework of the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework and Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM) to design and evaluate complex healthcare interventions. Primary care key stakeholders from Yogyakarta province were recruited from May-December 2018. The interviews were conducted in face-to-face, telephone, and teleconference interviews. Data from the interviews were analysed thematically using a mix of inductive and deductive approaches. RESULTS: A total of 24 participants were interviewed, consisting of four general practitioners, five midwives, three nurses, three obstetricians, a cardiologist, five policymakers and three women with a previous history of HDP. Referrals are the usual management performed for HDP women in primary care and the primary care providers' practice is challenged by three identified themes: (i) providers' limited confidence to perform HDP management, (ii) fragmented continuity of care, and (iii) community beliefs. Many participants also desired to have more focused guidance to improve HDP management in primary care practice. CONCLUSION: Even though Indonesian antenatal care and referrals are generally accessible, there are many challenges and fragmentation of HDP management. The most prominent challenge is the primary care providers' lack of confidence in performing the management and the 'elephant' of an urgent need of practice guidelines in primary care that has never been appropriately described in the literature. Further development of an evidence-based primary care-focused guidance will potentially improve primary care providers' skills to perform optimal HDP management and provide appropriate education to their patients.