Jingyuan Yang, Yunjia Li, Rui Gao, Hui Chen, Zhihui Yang
Relationship between mental health literacy and professional psychological help-seeking attitudes in China: a chain mediation model
BMC psychiatry
symptom recognition timely referral primary care crucial early diagnosis cancer physician assistants associates pas introduced 18 healthcare systems across world numbers increasing cases address primary care physician shortages little known impact suspected cancer recognition referral review sought summarise findings observational studies conducted high income countries pas competence performance processes concerned quality recognition referral suspected cancer primary care rapid systematic review international peerreviewed literature performed searches undertaken ovid embase web science cinahl databases 20092019 studies eligible reported pa skills processes outcomes relevant suspected cancer recognition referral title abstract screening followed full paper review data extraction synthesis qualitative quantitative findings undertaken three themes deployment competence performance preliminary findings discussed expert advisory group inform interpretation 883 references 15 eligible papers identified 13 usa seven studies reported general clinical processes primary care would support cancer diagnosis commonly ordering diagnostic tests n 6 referrals specialists n 4 fewer papers reported consultation processes examinations history taking n 3 six papers considered pas competence performance cancer screening pas performed similarly primary care physicians rates diagnostic tests ordered referrals patient outcomes satisfaction malpractice emergency visits studies reported timeliness cancer diagnosis review peerreviewed literature combined advisory group interpretation suggests introduction pas primary care may maintain quality referrals diagnostic tests needed support cancer diagnosis also highlights lack research several aspects pas roles including outcomes diagnostic process