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Showing results for tags 'Research'.
Found 982 results
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Content ArticleTo receive and participate in medical care, patients need high quality information about treatments, tests, and services—including information about the benefits of and risks from prescription drugs. Provision of information can support ethical principles of patient autonomy and informed consent, facilitate shared decision making, and help to ensure that treatment is sensitive to, and meets the needs and priorities of, individuals. Patients value high quality, written information to supplement and reinforce the verbal information given by clinicians. This is the case even for those who do not want to participate in shared decision making. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency with which relevant and accurate information about the benefits and related uncertainties of anticancer drugs are communicated to patients and clinicians in regulated information sources in Europe. The findings of this study highlight the need to improve the communication of the benefits and related uncertainties of anticancer drugs in regulated information sources in Europe to support evidence informed decision making by patients and their clinicians.
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Content ArticleThis study in the British Journal of General Practice aimed to examine trends in prescribing for anxiety in UK primary care between 2003 and 2018. Anxiolytic drugs are a group of medications used to relieve anxiety. The authors analysed data from 2.5 million adults to determine prevalence, incidence rates and treatment duration for prescriptions of any anxiolytic, and also for each drug class. The authors found that, between 2003 and 2018: prevalence of any anxiolytic prescription increased, driven by increases in those starting treatment, rather than more long-term use. incident beta-blocker prescribing increased over the 16 years, whereas incident benzodiazepine prescriptions decreased. long-term prescribing of benzodiazepines declined, yet 44% of prescriptions in 2017 were longer than the recommended four weeks. incident prescriptions in each drug class have risen substantially in young adults in recent years. They conclude that increases in incident prescribing may reflect better detection of anxiety or increasing acceptability of medication. However, they also caution that prescribing approaches may cause unintended harm, as some prescribing is not based on robust evidence of effectiveness and may contradict guidelines. They highlight that there is limited evidence on the overall impact of taking antidepressants long term.
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Content ArticleThe cornerstone of good general practice has long been recognised as lying in the quality of the relationship between doctor and patient. This focus on the interaction between GP and patient has been further reinforced in recent years by increasing attention on the patient’s experience of healthcare encounters. However, pleasing the patient is not always consistent with providing good-quality care. GPs are well aware that patients may demand an antibiotic when it is not judged clinically appropriate. The aim of this study from Ashworth et al. was to determine the relationship between antibiotic prescribing in general practice and reported patient satisfaction. The results found that patients were less satisfied in practices with frugal antibiotic prescribing. A cautious approach to antibiotic prescribing may require a trade-off in terms of patient satisfaction.
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Content ArticleThis article in Age & Ageing describes a quality improvement project at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) that aimed to achieve timely Parkinson’s disease medication administration.
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Content ArticleAnticoagulants are used hospital wide throughout the patient trajectory involving many healthcare providers. Given their widespread use and risk profile, they are classified as high risk. Despite the many precautions and vast experience with these drugs, errors often occur in daily practice. The aim of this study was to investigate which factors currently negatively affect patient safety in Az Sint-Lucas hospital in Belgium. The authors performed a retrospective data analysis based on incident reports and registered usage (2018–2019) as well as on pharmaceutical recommendations (3 months period in 2019) related to anticoagulants and antiaggregants. The data were obtained from the hospital information systems. A number of risk factors were identified, such as education of all healthcare professionals, communication, the IT systems used, the opening of temporary wards and transfer of patients within the hospital. It is our opinion that a multidisciplinary, centralised approach with a focus on monitoring is imperative. The use of a clinical pharmacist could play an important role.
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Content ArticleIssues with medication management and errors in medication administration are major threats to patient safety. This article for the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Network takes a look at the AHRQ's current areas of focus for medication safety. The authors look at evidence-based solutions to improve medication safety in three areas: High-risk medication use and polypharmacy in older adults Reducing opioid overprescribing, increasing naloxone access and use and other interventions for opioid medication safety Nursing-sensitive medication safety The article also explores future research directions in medication safety and highlights that these will advance patient safety overall.
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Content ArticleClinical trials are the foundation of modern medicine, but regulators, doctors and patients often do not get to see the full picture about how safe and effective drugs and treatments are. The results of around half of all clinical trials remain hidden and there are international efforts to resolve this issue; even government agencies often lack access to the information they need to decide whether treatments are safe and effective. The paper analyses six case studies in which lack of transparency in medical research has directly harmed patients, taxpayers and/or investors. It illustrates how these harms could have been avoided through three simple solutions promoted by the AllTrials campaign: trial registration, results posting, and full disclosure of trial reports.
