Currently accepted at: JMIR Medical Informatics
Date Submitted: Feb 14, 2025
Date Accepted: Mar 2, 2026
This paper has been accepted and is currently in production.
It will appear shortly on 10.2196/72655
The final accepted version (not copyedited yet) is in this tab.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Assessing the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a pilot pre-clinic vital signs assessment in primary care.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Vital signs assessment can be crucial. However, such assessments are time-consuming and so are not always prioritised. Measuring vital signs before doctor visits may therefore be an effective and efficient strategy.
Objective:
We piloted a pre-clinic vital signs assessment (PCVSA) within a primary care centre to determine its feasibility and acceptability.
Methods:
A mixed methods cross-sectional design was piloted. Study participants included adult patients and practice staff. Patients had vital signs assessed by a Primary Care Assistant before GP visits. Data collected concerned participants’ study engagement, the timings of PCVSA / GP visits, and surveys / interviews investigating participants’ experiences.
Results:
Sixteen patients and four staff participated. The mean PCVSA was 2mins23secs (SD = 38.8) and the mean GP visit was 9mins 21secs (SD = 252.4). Patients said the PCVSA was a ‘Positive experience’ (87%), ‘Helpful’ (81%), ‘Valuable’ (44%), and ‘Interesting’ (38%). The GP said the PCVSA was either ‘Helpful’ (n=8, 54%) or ‘Extremely Helpful’ (n=7, 47%) in each of their consultations, and that it improved engagement with 80% of patients, allowed them to spend more time gaining understanding of the conditions of 93% of patients, and enhanced productivity in 73% of consultations. The GP strongly agreed that collecting PCVSA data before appointments would benefit patients over time. Qualitative interviews with practice staff yielded three themes: (1) Improved patient engagement and efficient consultation, (2) Time-saving potential, and (3) Practicing in general practice and associated challenges.
Conclusions:
The PCVSA pilot showed good feasibility and acceptability as indicated by high participant engagement, short PCVSA and GP visit times (albeit GP visit times did not measure non-patient facing clinical activity), and positive feedback from patients and staff. Introducing PCVSA in healthcare settings may have potential in terms of improving the standard and efficiency of care. Clinical Trial: N/A
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.