Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions After Hospital Discharge (PADR-AD): Protocol for a randomised-controlled trial in older people

BackgroundAdverse drug reactions (ADRs) and adverse drug events (ADEs) in older people contribute to a significant proportion of hospital admissions and are common following discharge. Effective interventions are therefore required to combat the growing burden of preventable ADRs. The Prediction of Hospitalisation due to Adverse Drug Reactions in Elderly Community Dwelling Patients (PADR-EC) score is a validated risk score developed to assess the risk of ADRs in people aged 65 years and older and has the potential to be utilised as part of an intervention to reduce ADRs.ObjectivesThis trial was designed to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce ADR incidence in older people and to obtain further information about ADRs and ADEs in the 12–24 months following hospital discharge.MethodsThe study is an open-label randomised-controlled trial to be conducted at the Royal Hobart Hospital, a 500-bed public hospital in Tasmania, Australia. Community-dwelling patients aged 65 years and older with an unplanned overnight admission to a general medical ward will be recruited. Following admission, the PADR-EC ADR score will be calculated by a research pharmacist, with the risk communicated to clinicians and discussed with participants. Following discharge, nominated general practitioners and community pharmacists will receive the risk score and related medication management advice to guide their ongoing care of the patient. Follow-up with participants will occur at 3 and 12 and 18 and 24 months to identify ADRs and ADEs. The primary outcome is moderate-severe ADRs at 12 months post-discharge, and will be analysed using the cumulative incidence proportion, survival analysis and Poisson regression.SummaryIt is hypothesised that the trial will reduce ADRs and ADEs in the intervention population. The study will also provide valuable data on post-discharge ADRs and ADEs up to 24 months post-discharge.     

Performance of the new FilmArray Blood Culture Identification 2 panel and its potential impact on clinical use in patients with Gram-negative bacteremia

IntroductionRapid diagnostic tests have been developed recently for rapid species or resistance genes identification, offering the potential to improve the selection of appropriate antibiotics. The newly developed FilmArray Blood Culture Identification 2 (BCID2) panel, which can identify more species and resistance genes, such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase, is expected to make an impact on antimicrobial practice.MethodsThe consecutive 50 inpatients with Gram-negative bacilli bacteremia were enrolled to this retrospective single-center study. In addition to the existing FilmArray Blood Culture Identification (BCID) panel, we have implemented BCID2 panel for positive blood culture. The sensitivity and specificity of BCID and BCID2 panel were respectively calculated, and a simulation study of time to effective, optimal and de-escalation therapy was performed based on BCID or BCID2 result.ResultsA total of 52 Gram-negative organisms in 50 patients were identified from blood cultures. Of these, 45 (87%) organisms were detected by BCID2 panel, which was more than BCID panel (41 organisms, 79%). BCID2 panel detected 5 CTX-M genes, which were concordant with conventional method. The time to effective therapy did not differ between BCID arm and BCID2 arm; however, the median time to optimal therapy (34 h in BCID arm and 26 h in BCID2 arm, P = 0.0007) and the median time to de-escalation therapy (42 h in BCID arm and 22 h in BCID2 arm, P = 0.0005) were significantly shortened.ConclusionsThis simulation study of BCID2 panel showed high sensitivity and specificity, and the potential impact on shortening the time to optimal and de-escalation therapy.     

金黄色葡萄球菌异质性耐药机制及实验室检测技术

 异质性耐药是一种特殊的细菌耐药类型，常表现为同一克隆来源的不同细菌亚群对某种抗菌药物表现出不一致的耐药特征，大多数亚群对某种抗菌药物敏感，而少部分亚群对其耐药或高度耐药。异质性耐药分离株常会导致特定抗菌药物抗感染治疗失败。针对异质性耐药菌较为深入的研究主要集中于革兰阴性菌，革兰阳性球菌的相关报道较少。近年有研究报道万古霉素、利奈唑胺、苯唑西林等多种类型抗菌药物异质性耐药金黄色葡萄球菌分离株出现，但其实际临床意义尚待进一步评估。此文对金黄色葡萄球菌异质性耐药机制和检测技术最新进展进行综述，为细菌异质性耐药机制研究和新型检测技术研发提供新的思路。     

The Impact of Patient Access to Their Electronic Health Record on Medication Management Safety: A Narrative Review

IntroductionAs the American’s Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stated that patients should be allowed to review their medical records, and as information technology is ever more widely used by healthcare professionals and patients, providing patients with online access to their own medical records through a patient portal is becoming increasingly popular. Previous research has been done regarding the impact on the quality and safety of patients’ care, rather than explicitly on medication safety, when providing those patients with access to their electronic health records (EHRs).AimThis narrative review aims to summarise the results from previous studies on the impact on medication management safety concepts of adult patients accessing information contained in their own EHRs.ResultA total of 24 studies were included in this review. The most two commonly studied measures of safety in medication management were: (a) medication adherence and (b) patient-reported experience. Other measures, such as: discrepancies, medication errors, appropriateness and Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) were the least studied.ConclusionThe results suggest that providing patients with access to their EHRs can improve medication management safety. Patients pointed out improvements to the safety of their medications and perceived stronger medication control. The data from these studies lay the foundation for future research.     

Structured online training for university students to deliver peer-led addiction counselling for young drug abusers in China: Effect on improving knowledge,attitude, confidence,and skills

ObjectivesTo measure the effect of a structured online training programme on improving the knowledge, attitude, confidence, and skills of university students to deliver peer-led addiction counselling to young drug abusers.MethodsA structured training programme was designed for university students with a background in health-related disciplines. Pre- and post-training evaluations were conducted for 245 university students with health-related backgrounds who completed the training programme. The participants’ knowledge of and attitudes towards drug abuse and their confidence in delivering addiction counselling were evaluated and compared before and after the training. Counselling skills were assessed using a simulated standardised case.ResultsA paired test indicated that after attending the training programme, the participants’ knowledge of and attitudes towards drug abuse and their confidence in delivering addiction counselling were significantly improved. Most of the trained participants demonstrated satisfactory counselling skills.ConclusionParticipation in a one-day structured addiction training programme significantly improved students’ knowledge of and attitudes towards drug abuse and their confidence and skills to deliver addiction counselling.Practice implicationFuture research should elucidate the implementation of the counselling skills in terms of the counselling outcomes and successful referral. The clients’ health outcomes should be assessed to reflect the peer counsellors’ skills.