Background: Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) are increasingly being used to perform tasks that are conventionally performed by general practitioners (GPs), such as those involved in promoting health, preventing disease, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and support for health services. This raises an important question: can mobile apps replace GPs? This study aimed to systematically search for and identify mobile apps that can perform GP tasks. Methods: A scoping review was carried out. The Google Play Store and Apple App Store were searched for mobile apps, using search terms derived from the UK Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) guideline on GPs' core capabilities and competencies. A manual search was also performed to identify additional apps. Results: The final analysis included 17 apps from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, and 21 apps identified by the manual search. mHealth apps were found to have the potential to replace GPs for tasks such as recording medical history and making diagnoses; performing some physical examinations; supporting clinical decision making and management; assisting in urgent, long-term, and disease-specific care; and health promotion. In contrast, mHealth apps were unable to perform medical procedures, appropriately utilise other professionals, and coordinate a teambased approach. Conclusions: This scoping review highlights the functions of mHealth apps that can potentially replace GP tasks. Future research should focus on assessing the performance and quality of mHealth apps in comparison with that of real doctors.

Physical inactivity is a global health burden. Promoting physical activity in primary care through physical activity counseling is an effective intervention. This article provides an overview of and perspectives on physical activity counseling in primary care. The identification of physical inactivity as a health problem may increase the awareness of physical inactivity among patients and primary care providers, which will lead to an action plan. The contents of physical activity counseling should be based on evidence-based recommendations. Safety issues should be evaluated appropriately to optimize the utilization of primary care services. Physical activity counseling methods should be "tailored" for an individual using appropriate counseling methods and setting-specific resources. Multilevel barriers to physical activity counseling in primary care (i.e., healthcare providers, patients, and systems) must be addressed. Setting-specific strategies to overcome these barriers should be implemented to maximize the effectiveness of physical activity counseling in primary care.

Background Physical activity (PA) counselling is an effective approach to promote PA in primary health care (PHC). Barriers to PA counselling in PHC include time constraints, lack of knowledge and skills of providers, and systemic barriers. Using electronic health (eHealth) has the potential to promote PA. This scoping review aimed to identify usability and utility of eHealth for tailored PA counselling introduced in PHC settings. Methods A scoping review included primary research articles. The authors systematically searched six databases (Cochrane Library, CINAHL Complete, Embase, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) from the inception of the databases. The search terms consisted of three search components: intervention (PA counselling), platform (eHealth), and setting (PHC). Additional articles were included through reference lists. The inclusion criteria were research or original articles with any study designs in adult participants. Results Of 2501 articles after duplicate removal, 2471 articles were excluded based on the title and abstract screening and full text review. A total of 30 articles were included for synthesis. The eHealth tools had a wide range of counselling domains as a stand-alone PA domain and multiple health behaviours. The included articles presented mixed findings of usability and utility of eHealth for PA counselling among patients and providers in PHC settings. Technical problems and the complexity of the programmes were highlighted as barriers to usability. The majority of articles reported effective utility, however, several articles stated unfavourable outcomes. Conclusions eHealth has the potential to support PA counselling in PHC. Facilitators and barriers to eHealth usability should be considered and adapted to particular settings and contexts. The utility of eHealth for promoting PA among patients should be based on the pragmatic basis to optimise resources.

Purpose: Physical inactivity is a global health concern. Physical activity (PA) counselling is an effective intervention for promoting PA in primary health care (PHC) settings. The use of electronic health (eHealth) technology has the potential to support PA counselling. This study aimed to explore PHC providers' perspectives on the development of an eHealth tool to aid PA counselling in the resource-limited settings. Methods: This qualitative study employed interpretive phenomenology. The study was conducted at hospital-based PHC clinics among physicians and registered nurses. Data collection involved in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). An inductive thematic approach was used to analyze the data. Results: Three physicians participated in three IDIs and 12 nurses participated in four FGDs at three hospitals. The median age of the participants was 43 years. Participants saw 15-100 patients/day (median 40) and spent 2-20 min with each patient (median 5). Three themes emerged. Theme 1: requirements for PA counselling: the participants reflected the needs and characteristics of eHealth tool that may support PA counselling. Theme 2: enabling an eHealth tool for PA counselling: the eHealth should be easy to use, provide PA prescription function, and support follow-up PA counselling. Theme 3: reducing barriers to PA counselling: the eHealth tool was expected to help reduce service and workforce barriers and patients' limitations. Conclusion: A well-designed and practical eHealth tool has the potential to improve PA counselling practice in PHC settings. The eHealth tool may affect an indirect mechanism to reduce barriers to PA counselling. Future research should focus on the usability and utility as well as the process evaluation of the PA counselling eHealth tool that will be implemented in resource-limited settings.

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ObjectivesTo identify the essential content and approaches for developing a training programme in physical activity (PA) counselling for undergraduate medical curricula.DesignA three-round Delphi survey was conducted to investigate four key topics: (1) contents of PA counselling in medical education; (2) teaching and learning methods; (3) medical school collaboration and (4) educational policy implementation. Round 1 collected opinions from the participants. Round 2 focused on scoring the opinions. Round 3 summarised the expert opinions. A mean score of 4 or above identified as an important item.SettingAll 23 medical schools in Thailand.ParticipantsAcademic staff who were experts or in charge of medical schools in the fields of PA, health promotion or medical education.ResultsA total of 20 representatives from 18 of the 23 Thai medical schools participated in the study (for a response rate of 78.2%). The top three most important indicators of knowledge were (1) the definition and types of PA (4.75±0.55), (2) the FITT principle (frequency, intensity, time and type) (4.75±0.55) and (3) the benefits of PA (4.65±0.67). The most important component of the training involved general communication skills (4.55±0.60). An extracurricular module (4.05±0.76) was preferable to an intracurricular module (3.95±0.94). Collaborations with medical education centres and teaching hospitals (4.45±0.78) and supporting policies to increase medical students’ PA (4.40±0.73) were considered to be important.ConclusionKnowledge and counselling skills are important for PA counselling. Building collaborations between medical education and health institutions, as well as implementing effective educational policies, are key approaches to the integration of PA counselling into medical education. Future research should focus on investigating the effects of training in PA counselling on the learning outcomes of medical students and the clinical outcomes of patients.

Purple urine bag syndrome (PUBS) is a rare condition characterised by urine discolouration. The management of PUBS remains controversial. Four females (mean age 84.5±9.7 years) with palliative conditions (two cancer and two non-cancer cases) presenting PUBS were identified. Urine bags were changed in all cases. Urinary catheters were changed in three cases. Oral antibiotics were prescribed in two cases and used in one case. Urine discolouration was resolved in all cases. One patient (without antibiotic treatment) died on day 5 after presentation of PUBS. Three patients (one out of three cases used oral antibiotics) were clinically stable after the management of PUBS. There was no recurrence of PUBS. Caring for patients with PUBS should be based on clinical decisions, patient status and the goals of care. Palliative care teams should focus on the prevention of PUBS by shortening the duration of catheterisation and minimising modifiable risk factors for this condition.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic induced a sudden surge in COVID-19 related publications. This bibliometric analysis aimed to analyze literature on physical activity and COVID-19 published in the PubMed database. The search terms ((physical activity [MeSH Terms] OR physical inactivity [MeSH Terms]) AND COVID-19 [MeSH Terms]) were applied to obtain publications from the inception of PubMed to February 2022. The analyses included the year of publication, type of publication, and origin of publication by country, region, and country income. The research areas were analyzed for research articles and systematic reviews. Of 1268 articles, 143 articles were excluded, and 1125 articles were analyzed. A total of 709 articles (63.02%) were published in 2021. A majority of publications were research articles (n = 678, 60.27%). The USA (n = 176, 15.64%), countries in the European Region (n = 496, 44.09%), and high-income countries (n = 861, 76.53%) were dominant publishing countries. Of 699 research articles and systematic reviews, surveillance and trends of physical activity were the main research area, followed by health outcomes, and correlates and determinants of physical activity. There is a wide gap in publication productivity in the field of physical activity and health during the pandemic among different countries’ economic statuses.