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Healthcare research emphasises involvement of patients in the research process, recognizing that this can enhance the relevance, quality, and implementation of research. This article highlights the need for more systematic planning to successfully involve patients in research projects and provides guidance on key aspects that researchers should consider in the planning of involving patients in research. The article accentuates the importance of establishing clear frameworks and guidelines to promote transparency and facilitate implementation., (Published under Open Access CC-BY-NC-BD 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

Danish researchers have a unique possibility for producing high-quality observational studies through the Danish registers. The intention of this review is to provide an introduction to data sources, access and linkage of the Danish registers, primarily from Statistics Denmark, the Danish Health Data Authority and the Danish clinical quality databases. Authorisation to data access is given by each institution separately and requires permission by the Danish Data Protection Agency. Data can be linked by the unique Central Person Registry number. Known limitations and possibilities are discussed.

Quality improvement has been an important topic in Danish health care during the past 20 years. Health care services research indicates that implementation of quality improvement strategies can improve the quality of care. Establishment of a research tradition within quality improvement is needed in order to systematically evaluate quality improvement strategies.

Use of The Breakthrough Model is a complex intervention, which may support clinicians in implementing knowledge into clinical practice. It is targeted at small organisations and is based on a gradual change process in groups of clinical teams. Experts develop a change catalogue, which summarises previous experience, the clinical teams meet in three learning sessions to exchange experience and receive input from experts, and implementation is divided into smaller steps. Between learning sessions the teams conduct Plan-Do-Study-Act circles on small scale to test the feasibility of changes.

Disease prevention and health promotion performed by the health care sector may in general be characterised as adhering to a high-risk strategy, in which individuals with an elevated risk of falling ill or dying are identified and encouraged to change their behaviour and sometimes take preventive drugs. The approach thus has great similarities and fits well with the other activities in health care. Prevention in the health care sector rarely prevents people from ending up in high risk groups. Interventions therefore become never-ending stories. Public health ethics may turn out as an important future research field.

Equity in access is seen when needs determine access irrespective of population characteristics such as socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Equity in access is often investigated using indirect measures like utilisation as an equity proxy; however, disease stage and survival constitute alternative measures. Despite that equity in access to health care is a local and global political objective, inequities in access are still widespread even e.g. in Danish health care where equal and easy access are express political goals.

Introduction: Change of GP may imply that the patient is dissatisfied with the health service provided. The aim of this study was to investigate whether newly diagnosed cancer patients change their GP more often than other patient groups and the background population., Material and Methods: The investigation was conducted using data on inhabitants from the counties of Aarhus, Vejle and South Jutland. We included 900 Group 1 insured patients, aged 18-75 years, distributed into three groups: 1) frequent cancers, 2) rare cancers and 3) benign, but chronic or severe new diseases. The diagnoses included occurred for the first time at the time of inclusion. Three hundred controls were randomly selected from the regional health care registry in Aarhus. The study period was from March 1 to August 30 1994. A change of GP was defined as a change not caused by the patient's change of residence or the GP's change of practice registration number due to expansion, takeover or split up of practice., Results: In the three disease groups, 28 cases of change of GP were registered with a frequency of 5% (frequent cancers), 2.7% (rare cancers) and 1.7% (benign, but chronic or severe new diseases). The frequency in the background population was 2.7%. None of the differences were statistically significant., Discussion: During the first year following a cancer or chronic disease diagnosis, change of GP is rare, particularly among patients with rare cancers. We reject the hypothesis that change of GP is frequent among newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Introduction: The study presents the results of a questionnaire screening of 20-44-year-old patients as introduction to a preventive intervention study in general practice. The purpose was to identify those with most problems or lack of resources and unhealthy lifestyle., Material and Methods: In a cross-sectional study of the 20-44-year-old patients at 27 general practitioners, 2056 completed a questionnaire about resources, lifestyle, and family situation. The 30% with seven or more problems out of 33 possible (n = 625) were offered randomisation with a view to intervention. The answers are described and analysed comparing the two groups by OR and logistic regression., Results: The four most important answers to find persons with more than seven problems were in women: difficulties in finding solutions, lack of security, not good self rated health, and difficulties in handling children. In men the most important answers were: lack of security, no confidant in the family, feeling extremely stressed, and lack of exercise. A little more than two thirds of the persons with many problems could be found among those with problems in two out of the four questions., Discussion: Important characteristics among the 30% with most problems or lack of resources were low self-esteem, personal strain, and lack of security. These uncovered basic needs are considered essential barriers to health promoting self-care behaviour. By focusing on this, general practice might contribute to bridge the gap between the healthy and unhealthy.

Patients' evaluations have several functions as quality measurements: A general judgement of the quality of the health care system and a direct assessment of defined aspects of service and care. In this article the concept of patient satisfaction and the application of patients' evaluations on quality improvement in the health care system is discussed. Despite many attempts to formulate an explanatory theory about the matter, a useful theoretical basis for the concept of satisfaction is still missing. This does not imply the exclusion of patients' evaluation of the health system, and it is discussed why and in which areas of quality improvement patients should be involved and how their evaluations should be interpreted. Studies including patients' evaluations are referred to and discussed.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to estimate the health care costs of cancer patients for each separate year from the time of diagnosis., Materials and Methods: The data consist of a 20 per cent sample of the Danish population followed up from 1993 to 1997. Civil registration numbers were used to combine various computerised registers to describe the morbidity, mortality, and health care costs of each individual person in the sample. The calculation of the health care costs for the course of events for cancer patients was carried out as a cross-sectional study., Results: The first year since diagnosis of cancer was by far the most expensive. A cancer patient incurred, on average, costs of DKK 90,000 for the health care sector. In the second year the costs decreased to about one third, and after that they stabilised to between DKK 10,000 and 20,000., Discussion: Our study differs in the fact that health care costs are calculated for cancer patients as opposed to cancer treatment.

During 1984, the police registered 14,383 injured persons resulting from traffic accidents. A total of 7,093 of these could be found again in the National Patient Register. The National Patient Register had further information about 8,095 persons who had been injured in traffic accidents. The total number of persons injured in traffic accidents in 1984 increases thus by 56% when these two registers are combined. Traffic accidents in 1984 were responsible for at least 204,020 bed-days. This corresponds to occupation of 716 of the beds in Danish hospitals throughout the year by the victims of traffic accidents. One third of these beds are occupied by the drivers/passengers of private cars, vans etc. The average number of bed-days is 13.4. Pedestrians have the longest periods of hospitalization with 24.1 per accident and cyclists have the shortest periods of hospitalization with 8.3 days per accident.

By means of an interview investigation of a representative random sample of the adult Danish population of 16 years and more and comprising a total of 4,753 persons, blood pressure screening in the present Danish health service is illustrated. 6.7% stated that their blood pressure had never been measured. 48.3% had had blood pressure measurements within the past year and 71.4% had had blood pressure measurements within the past three years. The proportion of blood pressure measurements was significantly more frequent in men than in women and was greatest in the age group 16-24 years. 6.5% of those who stated that they had raised blood pressure had not had blood pressure measurements within the past year and this proportion was greatest among patients who did not receive medicinal treatment than those receiving medicinal treatment for raised blood pressure. Fewer risk factors for raised blood pressure were found among persons without blood pressure measurements than among others. 3.7% of those who had been in contact with their general practitioner within the past three months had never had their blood pressures measured. A number of suggestions are made to improve tracing of persons with raised blood pressures in the primary health service.