Association between health literacy and medication adherence in chronic diseases: a recent systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Poor medication adherence is a serious barrier to successful chronic disease management. Previous reviews reported that low health literacy could be associated with medication non-adherence but conclusions were uncertain. AIM: The aim of this systematic review was to clarify the relationship between health literacy and medication adherence in adults with chronic diseases. A secondary objective was to identify the factors that influence medication adherence. METHOD: Publications analyzing the relationship between health literacy and adherence in adults with chronic diseases were identified through 6 databases between 2015 and 2020. A quality assessment was conducted in order to improve the interpretation of the relationship between health literacy and medication adherence. A narrative synthesis was then performed to describe the relationship between health literacy and medication adherence. The factors influencing medication adherence were then analyzed as a secondary outcome. RESULTS: Among the 27 studies, 17 and 10 were considered to be of good and medium methodological quality, respectively. Concerning the relationship between health literacy and adherence, 14 reported a positive relationship, 1 study suggested a negative relationship, 3 found mixed results, and 9 reported not finding a relationship. Patient-related factors such as medication beliefs, self-efficacy, or medication knowledge, as well as demographic factors such as ethnic minority and incomes influence medication adherence. CONCLUSION: The present review confirms an unclear relationship between health literacy and medication adherence. Although health literacy plays a substantial role in medication adherence, other factors must be taken into account when addressing non-adherence.

Implementation and effectiveness of pharmacist-led interviews at patient hospital admission in a rheumatology department.

OBJECTIVES: Medication reconciliation is time-consuming and its complete deployment can be difficult. The implementation of a simplified process, such as patient interviews at admission without full reconciliation, may contribute to improve patient care. The objective of the present study was to describe the feasibility and assess the potential effectiveness of implementing pharmacist-led interviews at patient admission to a rheumatology department. METHODS: This is a prospective observational study of pharmacist-led interviews at patient admission conducted between April 2015 and May 2017 in the 34-bed rheumatology department of Edouard Herriot Hospital, a French university hospital. These interviews were structured to explore patient medication management at home. The main outcome was the number of medication errors at admission. Other outcomes were the total number of interviews, the number of interviews with at least one new item of information provided by the patient, the number of interviews with at least one medication error detected, and the number of interviews leading to a modification of the hospital medication order. RESULTS: A total of 247 interviews were carried out; there was an increase in the number of interviews over the study period (n=54 in 2015, n=98 in 2016, and n=95 for the first 5 months of 2017). Among the interviews conducted, 135 (55%) provided new information concerning patient medication management and 117 medication errors were identified in hospital orders (0.47/patient). There were 76 interviews (31%) with at least one medication error; all led to a medication order modification. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that pharmacist-led interviews at patient admission were effective in detecting medication errors. They could be an alternative to a full medication reconciliation process in targeted situations. When the patient interview does not provide sufficiently robust information, full medication reconciliation may be performed.

Practices among General Practitioners in Rheumatoid Arthritis (GEPRA-I): results of a region-wide online survey.

BACKGROUND: To assess current practice regarding the management of rheumatoid arthritis patients among general practitioners of a French region, and their perception about the deployment of a multidisciplinary collaboration. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was sent to the general practitioners of a French region. The questionnaire comprised of 3 sections to collect data regarding 1/demographics, 2/practice and knowledge in rheumatoid arthritis, and 3/perception about the deployment of a multidisciplinary collaboration. RESULTS: 1/A total of 247 general practitioners (M/F ratio: 1.4; mean age: 46.7 years) completed the survey. 2/More than half of general practitioners believed that their role was very or extremely important in disease diagnosis (72.5%), and management of comorbidities (67.2%). Among respondents, 6.1% considered that they did not face any difficulty concerning the patient management and 61.5% had already identified causes of non-adherence. 3/A total of 151 (61.1%) general practitioners were willing to participate in a multidisciplinary programme to improve medication adherence in rheumatoid arthritis. CONCLUSIONS: General practitioners are motivated to contribute to an overall management of rheumatoid arthritis patients. Nevertheless, they need professional education about rheumatoid arthritis treatment and training in motivational interviews before getting involved in a multidisciplinary collaboration.

The flap by flap dissection in terminal ballistic applied to less lethal weapons.

Medical examiners often have to solve questions such as firing distance and bullet trajectory for lethal weapons. Knowledge in the field of terminal ballistics has increased during the last 30 years and layer by layer dissection reveals superficial wounds that can be linked with the permanent cavity. At the end of the 1990s, terminal ballistics also focused on less lethal weapons and their wounds. Here, 2 different less lethal weapons with single bullets were tested on nonembalmed and undressed cadavers (N = 26) at different ranges and speeds. We have developed a technique for dissection which we call flap by flap dissection that reveals the advantage of the bullet-skin-bone entity, the absence of wounds linking its components and range of less lethal weapons.

Medico-economic study of pain in an emergency department: a targeted literature review.

Background: Pain management in emergency departments is a complex objective. The absence of a care pathway or a high level of activity complicates diagnostic or analgesic therapeutic strategies. Medical innovation can impact both individual practices and the functioning of an emergency department. Objective: We then wanted to understand how medico-economic studies on pain were carried out in an emergency department. Study design: We reviewed the literature of the last 20 years (between 1998 and 2018). Setting: Of 846 titles screened, a total of 268 abstracts qualified for further screening, and 578 titles were excluded. A total of 14 studies qualified for inclusion in the review. Studies on medico-economics in an emergency department are very diverse. None of the methods used are identical; the studies differ in their very nature (prospective, retrospective, cost-effectiveness, etc.) and the determination of emergency room costs differs according to the part of the world studied. In addition, organizational impact is rarely measured, although it is an essential dimension for choosing or not a medical innovation.

Medication adherence after pediatric allogeneic stem cell transplantation: Barriers and facilitators.

PURPOSE: Immunosuppressive therapy following pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is essential for the patient's prognosis, as the antibioprophylaxis and the isolation measures. But medication adherence is suboptimal for children and adolescents, from 52 to 73% in literature. The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of medication adherence after pediatric allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), by identifying facilitators and barriers. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted by a pharmacist with caregivers and healthcare providers in a pediatric centre. Four topics were discussed: transplantation, post-transplantation therapies, caregivers' experience and the healthcare system. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed by inductive approach. FINDINGS: Semi-structured interviews with 15 caregivers and 21 healthcare providers identified factors of medication adherence and hygiene measures. The long-term nature of therapy and difficult transitions of care were identified as major barriers. Recognizing the benefits of medication and parental involvement are facilitators. Furthermore, caregivers expressed the need to take into consideration the family entity. They would like also to receive earlier information from healthcare providers before hospital discharge. Those needs were not always identified by healthcare providers. CONCLUSION: This analysis revealed barriers and facilitators to the medication adherence and to the care. It demonstrated similarities and differences between caregivers and healthcare providers' perceptions and has thereby initiated an improvement process of the healthcare system. As part of this process, medical and paramedical healthcare providers at this French pediatric centre are currently working on a support program for post-alloSCT hospital-home transition.

Comparison of thoracic wall behavior in large animals and human cadavers submitted to an identical ballistic blunt thoracic trauma.

BACKGROUND: Several models of ballistic blunt thoracic trauma are available, including human cadavers and large animals. Each model has advantages and disadvantages regarding anatomy and physiology, but they have not been compared with identical ballistic aggression. METHODS: To compare thoracic wall behavior in 40-kg pigs and human cadavers, the thorax of 12 human cadavers and 19 anesthetized pigs were impacted with two different projectiles at different speeds. On the thoracic wall, the peak acceleration, peak velocity, maximal compression, viscous criterion, and injury criteria (e.g. abbreviated injury scale and number of rib fractures) were recorded. The correlations between these motion and injury parameters and the blunt criterion were compared between the two groups. The bone mineral density of each subject was also measured. RESULTS: The peak acceleration, the peak velocity and the viscous criterion were significantly higher for the pigs. The AIS and the number of rib fractures were significantly higher for human cadavers. The bone mineral density was significantly higher for cadavers, but was, for the two groups, significantly lower than for 30-year-old human. CONCLUSION: The motion of the pig's thoracic wall is greater than that of the human cadaver, and the severity of the impact is always greater for human cadavers than for pigs. In addition, pig bone is more elastic and less brittle than older human cadaver bone. Due to the bone mineral density, the thoracic wall of human adults should be more rigid and more resistant than the thoracic wall of human cadavers or pigs.

Less-lethal hybrid ammunition wounds: a forensic assessment introducing bullet-skin-bone entity.

Agencies all around the world now use less-lethal weapons with homogeneous missiles such as bean bag or rubber bullets. Contusions and sometimes significant morbidity have been reported. This study focuses on wounds caused by hybrid ammunition with the pathologists' flap-by-flap procedure. Twenty-four postmortem human subjects were used, and lesions caused on frontal, temporal, sternal, and left tibial regions by a 40-mm hybrid ammunition (33 g weight) were evaluated on various distance range. The 50% risk of fractures occurred at 79.2 m/sec on the forehead, 72.9 m/sec on the temporal, 72.5 m/sec on the sternum, and 76.7 m/sec on the tibia. Skin lesions were not predictors of bone fracture. There was no correlation between soft and bone tissue observed lesions and impact velocity (correlated to distance range). Lesions observed with hybrid ammunition were the result of bullet-skin-bone entity as the interaction of the projectile on skin and bone tissues.