Friday, 30 June 2017

Medication Non-Adherence Identified at Home: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

The term ‘medication adherence’ is defined as the extent to which patient behavior in takingmedication, a diet and/or executing lifestyle changes, accord with recommendations with health care providers.

Medication Non-Adherence
Patients not adhering to their medications has been a crucial problem in pharmacotherapy and occurred at any stage of their treatment. Medication nonadherence also causes poor treatment outcomes, poor quality of life, and subsequent hospitalization and emergency room visits. Apart from negative clinical outcomes, medication non-adherence further burdens healthcare systems and their resources. In the United States, spends $100 and $300 billion annually was attributable to non-adherence to medication, accounting for 3-10% of national health care budget, while the EU devotes €125 billion annually for this purpose.



Thursday, 29 June 2017

Qualitative Insights into Family Physicians' Perceptions of Academic Detailing for Rheumatoid Arthritis

There has been a paradigm shift in the approach to Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment, with current guidelines recommending early, aggressive and consistent use of diseasemodifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), with remission as the new target.

Rheumatoid Arthritis
The delivery of care for RA has been shown to be suboptimal. In British Columbia (BC), we found low rates of DMARD use and referral to rheumatologists. Similar findings were observed in Quebec, Ontario and United States. Other researchers have found long delays in receiving care. This highlights the importance of addressing the gaps in RA care by informing family physicians (FPs) about recent changes in RA management. Previous studies revealed that many FPs lacked confidence to undertake early diagnoses of RA, and prescription of DMARDs, as well as the need for a shift in approaching RA care.



Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Frequency of Calcific Aortic Stenosis in Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi

Valvular Heart Diseases (VHD) are regarded as one of the major public health concern. A signifcant risein the prevalence of cardiac valve disease with age is observed in a recent large study.

Calcific Aortic Stenosis
Non-rheumatic stenosis of tri-leaflet aortic valves, often termed senile or calcific valvular aortic stenosis, is considered a "degenerative" process. Aortic stenosis is a serious disease with a prolonged latent period, progresses very fast when symptoms become evident and a very high mortality rate is associated (approximately 50% in the first 2 years after symptoms appear) among untreated patient.



Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice about Evidence-Based Practice: A Jordanian Study

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become a worldwide concern for healthcare staff and administrators as well as researchers. In nursing profession, EBP has gained its importance byinfluencing the knowledge and practice of nurses.

Evidence-based practice is the integration of the best current evidence for clinical decision making process. It serves as an approach for problem- solving and a framework for decision making to answer emerging clinical questions while considering the patient’s values and practitioner’s own views. Therefore, EBP has been considered as critical element to improve quality of health services and achieving excellence in patient care. Furthermore, EBP is considered as a keystone for health care quality.The World Health Organization emphasized that health and social services should be based on the best research evidence.



Monday, 26 June 2017

Virtual Reality Clinical Simulations: A Wilsonian Concept Analysis of an Emerging Phenomenon

Clinical experience is the very foundation of health care practice disciplines. This includes nursing, especially. Many factors have caused nursing academics to search for alternative pedagogies to supplement the traditional live or hands-on clinicalpractice experience.

Virtual Reality Clinical Simulation
There are several reasons for these efforts. These include the shortage of nursing faculty, competitive clinical sites, high student-to-nurse faculty ratio, patient safety concerns of faculty, and student apprehension.As of result of such barriers, the pedagogies of standardized patients and clinical simulation scenarios have evolved as valuable tools. They prove valuable for their ability to enhance both theoretical and clinical nursing education.



Friday, 23 June 2017

Responses to Clinical Questions: Specialist-Based Medicine vs. Reasonable Clinic in Family Medicine

Despite the progress in our diagnostic and therapeutic media, the uncertainty remains consubstantial with clinical practice. The clinic emerges-it is perceived by the clinicianwithin its theoretical framework that nuances reality. From that moment, there are a number of clinical strategies to manage the uncertainty of decision-making.

From the paradigm of positivistic science ("quantitative and objective"), the specialist clinician uses primarily as strategies to manage uncertainty the clinical epidemiology and Evidence- Based Medicine (EBM). To this strategy we could call it "specialist-based medicine" or "Critical Assessment of Topic". But the family doctor, although employing this strategy, also frequently uses many more techniques, not quantitative but qualitative, which are based on the "particular", and which we could call "reasonable clinic in family medicine" or "Assessment Critical and contextually.



Wednesday, 14 June 2017

Volunteer Experiences at a Free Clinic in the United States: A Qualitative Study

Free Clinic in the United States
Free clinics provide an array of medical services at little or no cost to low-income, uninsured individuals in the United States and often rely heavily on volunteers to offer healthcare services for free or at reduced fees.


Five focus groups were conducted at a free clinic with volunteers of the clinic (N=28) in September-November in 2016. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes in issues relating to health, most urgent health issues, and ways to improve services for the underserved populations.

Thursday, 8 June 2017

Exploring Barriers Related to the Use of Latrine and Health Impacts in Rural Kebeles of Dirashe District Southern Ethiopia: Implications for Community Lead Total Sanitations

Latrine and Health Impacts
Unsanitary disposal of human excreta, together with unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene conditions contribute for 88% of diarrheal diseases.

The burden of this disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality particularly in young children and lack of access to sanitation has significant non-health consequences, especially for women and girls, including lack of security and privacy, decreased school attendance and basic human dignity.

In addition, inadequate sanitation is implicated in Helminth infections, enteric fevers and trachoma.

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Helpline Calling Patterns in a Colorectal Cancer Screening Program: A Cross-Sectional Study

Colorectal Cancer
In population-based cancer screening programs, individuals need to be able to contact the relevant health authorities with their questions or concerns.

Calling patterns for the telephone helplines that support these services may reveal gaps in provision, or obstacles to the success of a screening program. The aim of this study was to analyze the calling patterns for a helpline supporting the Danish colorectal cancer-screening program.

We compared the age and sex of individuals making use of the helpline versus a background population, and explored their motives for calling, with a particular focus on those seeking information about the screening invitations.