Perceptions of conflicting information about long-term medications: a qualitative in-depth interview study of patients with chronic diseases in the Swiss ambulatory care system.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with multiple long-term conditions visit various healthcare professionals and are exposed to medication information from various sources causing an increased risk of patients perceiving contradictory medication information. The aims of this study are to: (1) characterise conflicting medication information perceived by patients with long-term conditions, (2) better understand the related impact on patients' medication self-management and healthcare system navigation and (3) explore ways in which such events could be prevented. DESIGN: This study was conducted through qualitative semistructured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. SETTING: Community pharmacies and medical centres in Geneva, Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS: This study included outpatients from April 2019 to February 2020. Patients were included after participating in a quantitative survey of perceived conflicting information about medications for long-term diseases. METHODS: Semistructured audiotaped interviews of 20 to 60 min following a pre-established interview guide to explore participants' perceptions of conflicting information. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and a thematic analysis was conducted with inductive and deductive coding using MAXQDA (2018, Release 18.2.3). RESULTS: Twenty-two patients were interviewed, until data saturation, mentioning indication or need for a medication as the main topic of conflicting information between two healthcare professionals. Perceived conflicting information often resulted from insufficient information provided and poor communication leading to confusion, doubts and medication non-adherence. Patients expected more information and more interprofessional communication on their medications. As a result of conflicting information, most participants learnt or were learning to take an active role and become partners of the healthcare providers. CONCLUSION: The need to strengthen and improve communication and interprofessional collaborative practice among healthcare professionals and with the patient is emerging to increase the quality and consistency of information about medications, and consequently, to ensure better use and experience of medications.

Patients' perceptions of conflicting information on chronic medications: a prospective survey in Switzerland.

OBJECTIVE: The number of patients with chronic diseases and subsequent visits to various healthcare professionals has been rising over the past decades, exposing patients to potential risks of receiving conflicting medication information. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of conflicting information on medications perceived by chronic patients in Switzerland and to understand its impact on patients' medication self-management and navigation in the healthcare system. PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study included adult patients taking at least one prescribed medication for at least 6 months, who had visited at least two physicians in the past 3 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data on patients' perceptions of conflicting information were collected in person through a 17-item questionnaire available on paper and electronically with four domains: (1) whether the patient had perceived any conflicting information, (2) categories of conflicting information, (3) impact and (4) sources involved in the conflicting information. RESULTS: Of the 405 included patients, 47% perceived conflicting information related to one or more medication topics including indication, schedule, dosage, risk, severity or duration of side effects. Patients who perceived conflicting information were prescribed more drugs than those perceiving no conflicting information (p<0.01). Consequently, 65% of the participants modified their navigation of the healthcare system and 34% reported medication non-adherence. General practitioners (82%), specialist physicians (74%) and pharmacists (49%) were the healthcare professionals most often involved in conflicting information. Experience with the medication, its package insert and significant others were more frequently involved in conflicting information than internet or social media. CONCLUSION: Nearly half the patients in our study perceived conflicting information in the outpatient healthcare system, which can decrease medication effectiveness and pose safety issues. This issue is widely overlooked and unaddressed. Consistency of information among healthcare providers in partnership with patients should be reinforced through guidelines and new models of interprofessional care.

Improving safety of unfractionated heparin: a retrospective, quasi-experimental, observational study of the impact of a pocket card and a computerised prescription aid tool in the University Hospitals of Geneva.

BACKGROUND: Despite the rapid rise of direct oral anticoagulants, unfractionated heparin (UFH) remains the mainstay anticoagulant in specific situations such as severe renal failure, perioperative setting or in critical care units. However, its titration is often challenging. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of a pocket card and a computerised prescription aid tool (CPAT) on the quality of UFH anticoagulation. DESIGN: Monocentric retrospective, quasi-experimental, observational study. SETTING: Inpatient primary care centre between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019. PARTICIPANTS: >18 years-old treated with therapeutic UFH for more than 24 hours. There were 819 and 1169 anticoagulation episodes before and after intervention, respectively. INTERVENTION: In October 2017, we implemented a pocket card with evidence-based recommendation for therapeutic UFH initiation, monitoring and dosing adaptation. In October 2019, we implemented a CPAT in a group subset. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES: The primary outcome was the time needed to reach a therapeutic anti-Xa before and after the implementation of the pocket card. The secondary outcomes included a subgroup analysis assessing the effect of the CPAT. Other secondary outcomes were the anti-Xa status (infratherapeutic, therapeutic or supratherapeutic) at 7 and 24 hours of UFH treatment. RESULTS: We found a significant increase in the time to reach therapeutic dosing with pocket card-guided recommendations implementation (10.1 vs 14 hours, HR of 0.8, 95% CI: 0.70 to 0.93). However, the CPAT was associated with a significant decrease in the time needed to reach the therapeutic range (13.9 vs 7.1 hours, HR of 1.74, 95% CI: 1.17 to 2.60). CONCLUSION: Although we observed an increase in time to reach therapeutic anti-Xa with the pocket card, possibly due to a selection bias (use of activated partial thromboplastin time for monitoring before the pocket card), the implementation of CPAT significantly decreased the delay for effective therapy. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings, and to determine the optimal initial dose of UFH anticoagulation.

Intra versus interprofessional conflicts: implications for conflict management training.

Interprofessional collaboration and conflict management training are necessary in health sciences curricula. Characteristics of conflicts occurring within intraprofessional or between interprofessional teams can vary and are poorly understood. We sought to compare and contrast characteristics of intra- versus interprofessional conflicts to inform future training programs. An exploratory study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 82 healthcare professionals working in a tertiary hospital. Interviews focused on sources, consequences, and responses to conflicts. Conflict situations were analyzed with conventional content analysis. Participants shared more intra- than interprofessional situations. Intraprofessional conflicts were caused by poor relationships, whereas interprofessional conflicts were associated with patient-related tasks and social representations. Avoiding and forcing were the most commonly mentioned responses to intraprofessional conflicts. The theme of power impacted all aspects of conflict both intra- and interprofessional. Intraprofessional conflicts were found to be as important as interprofessional conflicts. Differences in the sources of conflict and similarities regarding consequences of and responses to conflicts support integration of authentic clinical situations in interprofessional training. Understanding similarities and differences between intra- and interprofessional conflicts may help educators develop conflict management training that addresses the sources, consequences, and responses to conflicts in clinical settings.

Exploring group boundaries and conflicts: a social identity theory perspective.

CONTEXT: In the clinical environment, health care professionals self-categorise into different groups towards which they develop positive attitudes, whereas they view other groups less favourably. Social identity theory purports that these attitudes influence group processes and may foster conflicts that impede collaborative practice, although this relationship is poorly understood. This study used concepts from social identity theory to examine the interplay between group processes and conflicts, as well as the consequences of these conflicts, with the goal of identifying educational strategies to favour teamwork. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with 82 randomly selected physicians and nursing professionals working at a Swiss academic medical centre explored participants' experiences of conflicts. Data analysis was informed by social identity theory and focused on interviews where group processes were highlighted by participants. The analysis sought to uncover how group processes were intertwined with conflicts and how they affected health care professionals. RESULTS: A total of 42 participants out of the initial pool of 82 interviews shared 52 stories of conflicts involving group processes. Most of these stories were shared by physicians and involved groups of physicians at different hierarchical levels. Conflicts and group processes were linked in two ways: (i) through processes of group membership when individuals struggled to join a relevant group, and (ii) through intergroup boundaries, such as when participants perceived that power differentials disadvantaged their own groups. Conflicts could lead to difficult experiences for clinicians who questioned their abilities, became disillusioned with their professional ideals and developed negative perceptions of other groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that conflicts involving group processes may lead to stronger intergroup boundaries, challenging current educational efforts to favour teamwork in health care. Taking steps to create more inclusive groups and to encourage perspective taking may help manage intergroup conflict.

When Team Conflicts Threaten Quality of Care: A Study of Health Care Professionals' Experiences and Perceptions.

OBJECTIVES: To explore professionals' experiences and perceptions of whether, how, and what types of conflicts affected the quality of patient care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted 82 semistructured interviews with randomly selected health care professionals in a Swiss teaching hospital (October 2014 and March 2016). Participants related stories of team conflicts (intra-/interprofessional, among protagonists at the same or different hierarchical levels) and the perceived consequences for patient care. We analyzed quality of care using the dimensions of care proposed by the Institute of Medicine Committee on Quality of Health Care in America (safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity). RESULTS: Seventy-seven of 130 conflicts had no perceived consequences for patient care. Of the 53 conflicts (41%) with potential perceived consequences, the most common were care not provided in a timely manner to patients (delays, longer hospitalization), care not being patient-centered, and less efficient care. Intraprofessional conflicts were linked with less patient-centered care, whereas interprofessional conflicts were linked with less timely care. Conflicts among protagonists at the same hierarchical level were linked with less timely care and less patient-centered care. In some situations, perceived unsatisfactory quality of care generated team conflicts. CONCLUSION: Based on participants' assessments, 4 of 10 conflict stories had potential consequences for the quality of patient care. The most common consequences were failure to provide timely, patient-centered, and efficient care. Management of hospitals should consider team conflicts as a potential threat to quality of care and support conflict management programs.

A Multilevel Analysis of Professional Conflicts in Health Care Teams: Insight for Future Training.

PURPOSE: Without a proper understanding of conflict between health care professionals, designing effective conflict management training programs for trainees that reflect the complexity of the clinical working environment is difficult. To better inform the development of conflict management training, this study sought to explore health care professionals' experiences of conflicts and their characteristics. METHOD: Between 2014 and early 2016, 82 semistructured interviews were conducted with health care professionals directly involved in first-line patient care in four departments of the University Hospitals of Geneva. These professionals included residents, fellows, certified nursing assistants, nurses, and nurse supervisors. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, and conventional content analysis was used to derive conflict characteristics. RESULTS: Six conflict sources were identified. Among these sources, disagreements on patient care tended to be the primary trigger of conflict, whereas sources related to communication contributed to conflict escalation without directly triggering conflict. A framework of workplace conflict that integrates its multidimensional and cyclical nature was subsequently developed. This framework suggests that conflict consequences and responses are interrelated, and might generate further tensions that could affect health care professionals, teams, and organizations, as well as patient care. Findings also indicated that supervisors' responses to contentious situations often failed to meet health care professionals' expectations. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding conflicts between health care professionals involves several interrelated dimensions, such as sources, consequences, and responses to conflict. There is a need to strengthen health care professionals' ability to identify and respond to conflict and to further develop conflict management programs for clinical supervisors.

A concordance-based study to assess doctors' and nurses' mental models in Internal Medicine.

Interprofessional collaboration between doctors and nurses is based on team mental models, in particular for each professional's roles. Our objective was to identify factors influencing concordance on the expectations of doctors' and nurses' roles and responsibilities in an Internal Medicine ward. Using a dataset of 196 doctor-nurse pairs (14x14 = 196), we analyzed choices and prioritized management actions of 14 doctors and 14 nurses in six clinical nurse role scenarios, and in five doctor role scenarios (6 options per scenario). In logistic regression models with a non-nested correlation structure, we evaluated concordance among doctors and nurses, and adjusted for potential confounders (including prior experience in Internal Medicine, acuteness of case and gender). Concordance was associated with number of female professionals (adjusted OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.73), for acute situations (adjusted OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.13 to 3.62), and in doctor role scenarios (adjusted OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.32 to 3.65). Prior experience and country of training were not significant predictors of concordance. In conclusion, our concordance-based approach helped us identify areas of lower concordance in expected doctor-nurse roles and responsibilities, particularly in non-acute situations, which can be targeted by future interprofessional, educational interventions.

Are role perceptions of residents and nurses translated into action?

BACKGROUND: Effective interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been shown to depend on clear role definitions, yet there are important gaps with regard to role clarity in the IPC literature. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether there was a relationship between internal medicine residents' and nurses' role perceptions and their actual actions in practice, and to identify areas that would benefit from more specific interprofessional education. METHODS: Fourteen residents and 14 nurses working in internal medicine were interviewed about their role perceptions, and then randomly paired to manage two simulated clinical cases. The authors adopted a general inductive approach to analyze the interviews. They identified 13 different role components that were then compared to data from simulations. Descriptive and kappa statistics were used to assess whether there was a relationship between role components identified in interviews and those performed in simulations. Results from these analyses guided a further qualitative evaluation of the relationship between role perceptions and actions. RESULTS: Across all 13 role components, there was an overall statistically significant, although modest, relationship between role perceptions and actions. In spite of this relationship, discrepancies were observed between role components mentioned in interviews and actions performed in simulations. Some were more frequently performed than mentioned (e.g. "Having common goals") while others were mentioned but performed only weakly (e.g. "Providing feedback"). CONCLUSIONS: Role components for which perceptions do not match actions point to role ambiguities that need to be addressed in interprofessional education. These results suggest that educators need to raise residents' and nurses' awareness of the flexibility required to work in the clinical setting with regard to role boundaries.

Patient attitudes about financial incentives for diabetes self-management: A survey.

AIM: To study the acceptability of incentives for behavior changes in individuals with diabetes, comparing financial incentives to self-rewards and non-financial incentives. METHODS: A national online survey of United States adults with diabetes was conducted in March 2013 (n = 153). This survey was designed for this study, with iterative testing and modifications in a pilot population. We measured the demographics of individuals, their interest in incentives, as well as the perceived challenge of diabetes self-management tasks, and expectations of incentives to improve diabetes self-management (financial, non-financial and self-rewards). Using an ordered logistic regression model, we assessed the association between a 32-point score of the perceived challenge of the self-management tasks and the three types of rewards. RESULTS: Ninety-six percent of individuals were interested in financial incentives, 60% in non-financial incentives and 72% in self-rewards. Patients were less likely to use financial incentives when they perceived the behavior to be more challenging (odds ratio of using financial incentives of 0.82 (95%CI: 0.72-0.93) for each point of the behavior score). While the effectiveness of incentives may vary according to the perceived level of challenge of each behavior, participants did not expect to need large amounts to motivate them to modify their behavior. The expected average amounts needed to motivate a 5 lb weight loss in our population and to maintain this weight change for a year was $258 (interquartile range of $10-100) and $713 (interquartile range of $25-250) for a 15 lb weight loss. The difference in mean amount estimates for 5 lb and 15 lb weight loss was significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Individuals with diabetes are willing to consider financial incentives to improve diabetes self-management. Future studies are needed to explore incentive programs and their effectiveness for diabetes.

Physician handoffs: opportunities and limitations for supportive technologies.

Shift-to-shift handoffs refer to the process of transferring role and responsibility for providing care from one person to another, thus insuring continuity of care. Through focus groups of residents and supervising physicians, we studied how physicians select patient cases to discuss during handoffs. We also compared the selection across level of experience. Understanding the patient selection criteria can give us insight into how to improve handoffs, in particular using supportive technologies that are integrated into the clinical information system. Studying the actual handoff process and note-taking also generated suggestions for handoff improvement.

Interprofessional collaboration between residents and nurses in general internal medicine: a qualitative study on behaviours enhancing teamwork quality.

BACKGROUND: Effective teamwork is necessary for optimal patient care. There is insufficient understanding of interactions between physicians and nurses on internal medicine wards. OBJECTIVE: To describe resident physicians' and nurses' actual behaviours contributing to teamwork quality in the setting of a simulated internal medicine ward. METHODS: A volunteer sample of 14 pairs of residents and nurses in internal medicine was asked to manage one non-urgent and one urgent clinical case in a simulated ward, using a high-fidelity manikin. After the simulation, participants attended a stimulated-recall session during which they viewed the videotape of the simulation and explained their actions and perceptions. All simulations were transcribed, coded, and analyzed, using a qualitative method (template analysis). Quality of teamwork was assessed, based on patient management efficiency and presence of shared management goals and of team spirit. RESULTS: Most resident-nurse pairs tended to interact in a traditional way, with residents taking the leadership and nurses executing medical prescriptions and assuming their own specific role. They also demonstrated different types of interactions involving shared responsibilities and decision making, constructive suggestions, active communication and listening, and manifestations of positive team building. The presence of a leader in the pair or a truly shared leadership between resident and nurse contributed to teamwork quality only if both members of the pair demonstrated sufficient autonomy. In case of a lack of autonomy of one member, the other member could compensate for it, if his/her own autonomy was sufficiently strong and if there were demonstrations of mutual listening, information sharing, and positive team building. CONCLUSIONS: Although they often relied on traditional types of interaction, residents and nurses also demonstrated readiness for increased sharing of responsibilities. Interprofessional education should insist on better redefinition of respective roles and reinforce behaviours shown to enhance teamwork quality.

An exploration of the potential reach of smartphones in diabetes.

Although smartphones bear potential to improve diabetes self-management, the reach of smartphones in diabetic populations remains uncertain. Using survey data from the Pew Research Center, we compared smartphone use in individuals with and without diabetes, and determined factors associated with smartphone use among those with diabetes. Of the 2989 adults surveyed, 1360 were smartphone users, and 332 individuals had diabetes. Compared to individuals without diabetes, adults with diabetes were less likely to be smartphone users (relative risk of 0.43, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.54) even after adjusting for age, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status (adjusted RR of 0.78, 95%CI 0.57-0.98). Among individuals with diabetes, high income, younger age and online health information seeking were associated with higher smartphone use. While smartphones can reach subgroups for diabetes care and prevention (racial/ethnic minorities, newly diagnosed individuals), studies are needed to understand this current difference in smartphone use.

Interprofessional collaboration on an internal medicine ward: role perceptions and expectations among nurses and residents.

BACKGROUND: Effective interprofessional collaboration requires that team members share common perceptions and expectations of each other's roles. OBJECTIVE: Describe and compare residents' and nurses' perceptions and expectations of their own and each other's professional roles in the context of an Internal Medicine ward. METHODS: A convenience sample of 14 residents and 14 nurses volunteers from the General Internal Medicine Division at the University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, were interviewed to explore their perceptions and expectations of residents' and nurses' professional roles, for their own and the other profession. Interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. The same respondents also filled a questionnaire asking their own intended actions and the expected actions from the other professional in response to 11 clinical scenarios. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged from the interviews: patient management, clinical reasoning and decision-making processes, and roles in the team. Nurses and residents shared general perceptions about patient management. However, there was a lack of shared perceptions and expectations regarding nurses' autonomy in patient management, nurses' participation in the decision-making process, professional interdependence, and residents' implication in teamwork. Results from the clinical scenarios showed that nurses' intended actions differed from residents' expectations mainly regarding autonomy in patient management. Correlation between residents' expectations and nurses' intended actions was 0.56 (p=0.08), while correlation between nurses' expectations and residents' intended actions was 0.80 (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There are discordant perceptions and unmet expectations among nurses and residents about each other's roles, including several aspects related to the decision-making process. Interprofessional education should foster a shared vision of each other's roles and clarify the boundaries of autonomy of each profession.