[Determinants for addressing social isolation and loneliness of non-institutionalized older adults from Primary Health Care]. / Condicionantes para el abordaje del aislamiento social y la soledad de adultos mayores no institucionalizados desde atención primaria de salud.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the main conditioning factors that Primary Care professionals indicate when implementing and developing interventions on isolation and loneliness. DESIGN: Qualitative research with grounded theory, systematic analysis and narrative design of topics. LOCATION: Developed in 12 Primary Care centres of the Health District of Córdoba and Guadalquivir, covering urban and rural areas. PARTICIPANTS: Three profiles were identified: family medicine/community care, community nursing and case management nursing. The selection was carried out among those who showed greater motivation and commitment to an intervention on isolation/loneliness. METHOD: Purposive sampling. The work was based on individual in-depth interviews, focus groups and dialogic interviews. RESULTS: (a) Distorted images persist about loneliness/social isolation and living alone that make it challenging to identify; (b) the main disruptive determinants in the structure and organization of the care system have to do with the absence of screening programs, the hegemony of the biomedical model and the deficit of resources (in light of this model); (c) the main facilitators are linked to the nursing role, privileged for these interventions according to the participants; and, finally, (d) personal components are necessary, both from the older adult and from the professionals. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention on social isolation and loneliness in Primary Care is conditioned by organizational and structural, professional and personal factors. It is essential to take them into account in order to guarantee their feasibility.

[Efficacy of motivational interviewing for reducing medication errors in chronic patients over 65 years with polypharmacy: Results of a cluster randomized trial]. / Eficacia de la entrevista motivacional para reducir errores de medicación en pacientes crónicos polimedicados mayores de 65 años: resultados de un ensayo clínico aleatorizado por cluster.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention based on motivational interviewing to reduce medication errors in chronic patients over 65 with polypharmacy. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Cluster randomized trial that included doctors and nurses of 16 Primary Care centers and chronic patients with polypharmacy over 65 years. The professionals were assigned to the experimental or the control group using stratified randomization. Interventions consisted of training of professionals and revision of patient treatments, application of motivational interviewing in the experimental group and also the usual approach in the control group. The primary endpoint (medication error) was analyzed at individual level, and was estimated with the absolute risk reduction (ARR), relative risk reduction (RRR), number of subjects to treat (NNT) and by multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-two professionals were randomized (19 doctors and 13 nurses), 27 of them recruited 154 patients consecutively (13 professionals in the experimental group recruited 70 patients and 14 professionals recruited 84 patients in the control group) and completed 6 months of follow-up. The mean age of patients was 76 years (68.8% women). A decrease in the average of medication errors was observed along the period. The reduction was greater in the experimental than in the control group (F=5.109, P=.035). RRA 29% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 15.0-43.0%), RRR 0.59 (95% CI:0.31-0.76), and NNT 3.5 (95% CI 2.3-6.8). CONCLUSION: Motivational interviewing is more efficient than the usual approach to reduce medication errors in patients over 65 with polypharmacy.

Opportunistic detection of atrial fibrillation in subjects aged 65 years or older in primare care: a randomised clinical trial of efficacy. DOFA-AP study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Clinical Practice Guidelines recommend using peripheral blood pulse measuring as a screening test for Atrial Fibrillation. However, there is no adequate evidence supporting the efficacy of such procedure in primary care clinical practice. This paper describes a study protocol designed to verify whether early opportunistic screening for Atrial Fibrillation by measuring blood pulse is more effective than regular practice in subjects aged 65 years attending primary care centers. METHODS/DESIGN: An cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in Primary Care Centers of the Spanish National Health Service. A total of 269 physicians and nurses will be allocated to one of the two arms of the trial by stratified randomization with a 3:2 ratio (three practitioners will be assigned to the Control Group for every two practitioners assigned to the Experimental Group). As many as 12 870 patients aged 65 years or older and meeting eligibility criteria will be recruited (8 580 will be allocated to the Experimental Group and 4 290 to the Control Group). Randomization and allocation to trial groups will be carried out by a central computer system. The Experimental Group practitioners will conduct an opportunistic case finding for patients with Atrial Fibrillation, while the Control Group practitioners will follow the regular guidelines. The first step will be finding new Atrial Fibrillation cases. A descriptive inferential analysis will be performed (bivariate and multivariate by multilevel logistic regression analysis). DISCUSSION: If our hypothesis is confirmed, we expect Primary Care professionals to take a more proactive approach and adopt a new protocol when a patient meeting the established screening criteria is identified. Finally, we expect this measure to be incorporated into Clinical Practice Guidelines. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study is registered as NCT01291953 (ClinicalTrials.gob).