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Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the fit of a two-piece pouching system with a concave-shaped skin barrier on people with an outward peristomal body profile and its effect on leakage, wear time, and quality of life (QoL) related to using an ostomy product., Design: Randomized, controlled, open-label, cross-over trial., Subjects and Settings: The sample comprised 53 subjects with outward peristomal body profiles and problems with leakage of ostomy effluent from their pouching system. Participants were randomized to the concave two-piece pouching system or a comparator (two-piece pouching system with a flat skin barrier) for 3 weeks. Subjects were then crossed over to the opposite skin barrier for an additional 3 weeks. The study was conducted in Denmark, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands; data were collected in multiple ambulatory clinics or during home visits., Methods: The primary end point was the ability of the skin barrier to fit body contours; secondary outcomes were leakage of effluent from the pouching system, wear time, and QoL related to using an ostomy product via the validated Ostomy-Q questionnaire. Primary comparisons between concave and comparator pouching systems were evaluated using proportional odds models and mixed models taking test period into account., Results: Analysis included randomized subjects who had been exposed to at least one product and with information on at least one end point (full-analysis-set, n = 52). The concave pouching system provided a better fit to body contours than the comparator (P< .001) and reduced the degree of leakage underneath the skin barrier (LS mean difference = -1.84, 95% CI -3.31 to -0.37; P = .016). Participants experienced fewer episodes of leakage outside the skin barrier when using concave versus comparator pouching system (13.0% vs. 26.7%, respectively). Participants reported significant improvements in QoL (LS mean difference = 14.3; 95% CI 9.4 to 19.2; P < .001). No significant difference in wear time between skin barrier shapes was reported., Conclusions: Study findings indicate that a pouching system with a concave skin barrier achieved a better body fit on people with an outward peristomal body profile and resulted in fewer leakage incidents and higher QoL compared to using a pouching system with a flat skin barrier., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society.)

Background: Little is known about variations in the provision of chronic care services in primary care., Aim: To describe the frequency of chronic care services provided by GPs and analyse the extent of non-random variation in service provision., Design and Setting: Nationwide cohort study undertaken in Denmark using data from 2016., Method: Information on chronic care services was obtained from national health registers, including annual chronic care consultations, chronic care procedures, outreach home visits, and talk therapy. The associations between services provided, patient morbidity, and socioeconomic factors were estimated. Service variations were analysed, and excess variation related to practice-specific factors was estimated while accounting for random variation., Results: Chronic care provision was associated with increasing patient age, increasing number of long-term conditions, and indicators of low socioeconomic status. Variation across practices ranged from 1.4 to 128 times more than expected after adjusting for differences in patient population and random variation. Variation related to practice-specific factors was present for all the chronic care services that were investigated. Older patients with lower socioeconomic status and multimorbidity were clustered in practices with low propensity to provide certain chronic care services., Conclusion: Chronic care was provided to patients typically in need of health care, that is, older adults, those with multimorbidity, and those with low socioeconomic status, but service provision varied more than expected across practices. GPs provided slightly fewer chronic care services than expected in practices where many patients with multimorbidity and low socioeconomic status were clustered, suggesting inverse care law mechanisms., (© The Authors.)