‘At the moment it is just a couple of eccentrics doing it’: concordance in day‐to‐day practice

Objectives To assess the feasibility and acceptability of concordance in pharmacy practice through examination of communication between customers and pharmacists in two community pharmacies in consultations for over‐the‐counter medicines. Method A qualitative pilot study involving data drawn from six sources: audiotaped training session with all the pharmacists involved, observational field work in the pharmacies, audiotaped consultations with pharmacists and customers, debriefing interviews with pharmacists after the consultation, and semi‐structured interviews with customers a few days after their consultation. Setting Two community pharmacies that concentrate their services on medicine advice and dispensing, one in a deprived inner‐city area, the other in a more affluent suburban area of London. Key findings The pharmacists developed a personal understanding of concordance which informed their practice. Customers reported a high level of satisfaction with services they received from the respective pharmacists. Their accounts of the consultations verified the pharmacists' patient‐centredness in their day‐to‐day practice. Conclusion The implementation of a concordance model was possible through the development of a personalised, patient‐centred model which drew on the model of concordance but was adapted in accordance with both structural constraints as well as the personal style of the pharmacists involved.     

Preteen children and illegal drugs

In this paper we report the results of research on the nature and extent of legal and illegal drug use among preteens and those factors associated with illegal drug use at this young age. The paper is based upon a survey of 2318 ten to twelve year olds in Glasgow and Newcastle. Overall around 30% of children reported having been exposed to illegal drugs and 3.9% had started to use illegal drugs. There was a significant difference in the level of illegal drug use between our two cities. In most cases the illegal drug use identified on the part of preteens related to cannabis although in a small number of instances children were using heroin, cocaine and LSD. On the basis of this research we estimate that around 60 children in the ten to twelve age range will have used heroin in Glasgow and around 34 pupils will have used the drug in Newcastle. Preteen drug use was significantly associated with frequent smoking and alcohol consumption, with preteens' involvement in a range of problem behaviours, and with family difficulties including the presence of someone else within the family using illegal drugs. The paper concludes by noting some of the challenges that are likely to be faced by services seeking to support children who are using illegal drugs by their preteens.     

The need for pharmaceutical care in the prevention of coronary heart disease: an exploratory study in acute myocardial infarction patients

AIM: To determine guideline-related pharmaceutical care issues for the prevention of coronary heart disease in hospitalised patients admitted for myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS: Consecutive patients admitted with a diagnosis of Q-wave MI to two large teaching hospitals were studied. Relevant patient medical and drug histories, co-morbidities and total cholesterol concentrations were recorded. Primary or secondary prevention treatment prior to admission was assessed using a data collection tool of 16 criteria developed from the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of adherence to defined clinical guideline criteria. RESULTS: There were 167 patients reviewed (mean age 65 years, 111 males), representing possible candidates for primary prevention (n = 98) or secondary prevention (n = 69) based on absence or presence of past history of coronary heart disease (CHD), respectively. Possible primary prevention candidates: eight guideline-based criteria were developed from the SIGN guideline. There were 85 (87%) patients with a total cholesterol concentration available on admission of whom 56 (66%) had a predicted CHD risk > or = 15% and 10 (12%) had CHD risk > or = 30%. Of those with CHD risk > or = 15% 6 (11%) had been receiving an anti-platelet agent and of those with CHD risk > or = 30% only 1 (10%) was recorded as taking a statin. Of known hypertensives with CHD risk > or = 15%, 21% (5/24) were not recorded as having received treatment. Secondary prevention candidates: a further eight guideline-based criteria were developed from the SIGN guidelines. There were 42/65 (65%) candidates for aspirin documented as receiving it. There were 22/47 (47%) of those who had a total cholesterol > or = 5 mmol/l and/or known history of hypercholesterolaemia receiving a statin (representing 76% of the known hypercholesterolaemic patients identified in the community). Of statin-treated patients with a cholesterol measured on admission, 44% (7/16) had cholesterol remaining > or = 5 mmol/l. Beta-blocker use was 27/62 (44%) and ACE inhibitors use was 11/31 (36%) of those eligible. Sublingual GTN was recorded in 36/69 (52%). CONCLUSION: The study has identified opportunities for improved pharmaceutical care in primary and secondary CHD prevention among those destined to suffer an MI. Candidates for secondary prevention are potentially identifiable from community pharmacy patient medication records from which the contribution of pharmacists in primary care might be targeted. The findings were obtained during a period of evolution of the evidence-base and so they establish a baseline for future work.     

A realist qualitative study to explore how low‐income pregnant women use Healthy Start food vouchers

Healthy Start is the UK government's food voucher programme for low‐income pregnant women and young children. It was introduced in 2006, but the impact of the programme on nutritional outcomes remains understudied. This study sought to explore potential outcomes of the Healthy Start programme (including intended and unintended outcomes) and develop explanations for how and why these outcomes might occur. A realist review preceded this study, in which programme theories were developed and tested using existing evidence. This qualitative study aimed to further refine and consolidate the programme theories from the realist review while remaining open to new and emerging theories (or hypotheses) about how low‐income pregnant women use Healthy Start vouchers. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 low‐income women from North West England, who received Healthy Start vouchers during pregnancy. A realist logic of analysis was applied to generate clear and transparent linkages between outcomes and explanations. The findings suggested that some women used the vouchers to improve their diets during pregnancy (intended outcome), whereas some women were diverted towards alternative or unintended outcomes. Women's circumstances, values, beliefs, and motivations influenced how they perceived and responded to the vouchers. This paper presents four evidence‐based programme theories to explain four contrasting (and potentially overlapping) outcomes: dietary improvements (theory refined from review), shared benefits (new theory), financial assistance (theory refined from review), and stockpiling formula (new theory). It considers how the Healthy Start programme could be improved, to increase the possibilities for low‐income women to experience the intended outcome of dietary improvements.     

How nurses cope with patient death: A systematic review and qualitative meta‐synthesis

Aims and objectives

To review literature on nurses’ coping strategies with patient death.

Background

Dealing with the loss of a patient was viewed as one of the most demanding and challenging encounters in clinical practice. Those nurses who are not competent in coping with patient death may be inadequate in supporting dying patients and their family members, and minimise the quality of end‐of‐life care. To get a broader understanding of how nurses cope with patient death and to develop meaningful and effective interventions, a systematic review which would help underpin the multidimensional approaches is needed.

Design

A systematic review.

Methods

Exhaustive searching in ten databases: CINAHL Plus, EMBASE, MEDLINE, AMED, PsycINFO, ProQuest Health & Medical Complete, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Google Scholar, EThOS and CareSearch. Meta‐aggregation was used to synthesise the findings of the included studies.

Results

This systematic review aggregated ten categories from the sixteen qualitative studies included, and then two synthesised findings were derived: intrinsic resources and extrinsic resources. The intrinsic resources consisted of setting boundaries, reflection, crying, death beliefs, life and work experience, and daily routines and activity. The extrinsic resources were comprised of talking and being heard, spiritual practices, education and programmes, and debriefing.

Conclusion

This systematic review synthesised the findings about what resources nurses use when coping with patient death and made recommendations on future directions. Areas which could be developed to improve deficiencies that nurses had when faced with the losses of their patients were identified. Nurses need more support resources, which better assist them in coping with patient death.

Relevance to clinical practice

The results of this systematic review could provide evidence for nurses’ coping strategies when dealing with patient death, and the recommendations could be employed by nurses to cope with the losses of patients.     

Ovarian Cancer: Advances in First-Line Treatment Strategies with a Particular Focus on Anti-Angiogenic Agents

Ovarian cancer is an important health concern worldwide. The majority of patients present with advanced disease, and despite initial chemosensitivity, most relapse and die from their disease. Better therapeutic options are urgently required. Maximal surgical debulking in combination with platinum/taxane chemotherapy has been the standard of care in advanced ovarian cancer since the mid-1990s. Trials investigating the addition of a third chemotherapeutic agent have disappointingly failed to demonstrate benefit. Intra-peritoneal therapy demonstrated improvements in outcomes in some trials, but at the cost of increased toxicity and inconvenience. Encouragingly, prospective data has now demonstrated benefits with bevacizumab in both the first-line and relapsed settings; however, interpretation is complex, particularly considering recent data demonstrating non-inferiority of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy with delayed primary surgery, and other data demonstrating a substantial improvement in outcome as a result of first-line paclitaxel dose fractionation. This article reviews the recent advances in ovarian cancer treatment and discusses current management and key areas for future research.     

Models of Primary Care for Substance Misusers: the Lothian experience

Introduction: The Community Drug Problem Service (CDPS) was established in 1988 in response to an epidemic of HIV infection among IVDUs in Lothian. It developed a shared-care model of service delivery with GPs. By 1997, this model began to show signs of strain. Method: A self-report questionnaire was sent to every GP in Lothian (N = 530), to get some measure of GP opinion regarding working with drug users, substitute prescribing and their views of the CDPS. A reply paid envelope was included. All data were entered on a database and analyses carried out using SPSS. Results: The response rate was 86%. The GPs were an experienced group. Virtually all were prescribing or had done so in the past. They wanted to get drug users off drugs and were concerned that this was not happening within an acceptable timescale. There were mixed views on who should see and prescribe for drug users. Some GPs would not do this work and others had reached capacity. In terms of CDPS service delivery, top priority for GPs was rapid, good-quality assessment of referrals. Overall, however, there was general satisfaction with the service being provided. Proposed Solutions: The CDPS developed a central Assessment Team to provide an equitable service to all Edinburgh city sectors. A Locality Clinic was piloted in the South-West sector of the city to provide a prescribing service for GPs who chose not to prescribe or had reached capacity.