Nurses and Pharmaceutical Care: Interprofessional, Evidence-Based Working to Improve Patient Care and Outcomes

Nurse-Led Care Coordination in a Transitional Clinic for Uninsured Patients With Diabetes

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the practice of the registered nurse care coordinator (RNCC) within an interprofessional, nurse-led clinic serving uninsured diabetic patients in a large urban city. This clinic serves as a transitional care clinic, providing integrated diabetes management and assisting patients to establish with other primary care doctors in the community once appropriate. The clinic uses an interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) model with the RNCC at the center of patient onboarding, integrated responsive care, and clinic transitioning.

PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING

Interprofessional, nurse-led clinic for uninsured patients with diabetes.

FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS

Interprofessional models of care are strengthened using a specialized care coordinator.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE

Care coordination is a key component in case management of a population with chronic disease. The RNCC, having specialized clinical expertise, is an essential member of the interdisciplinary team, contributing a wide range of resources to assist patients in achieving successful outcomes managing diabetes. Transitional care coordination, moving from unmanaged to managed diabetes care, is part of a bundled health care process fundamental to this clinic's IPCP model. In a transitional clinic setting, frequent interaction with patients through onboarding, routine check-ins, and warm handoff helps support and empower the patient to be engaged in their personal health care journey.

Promoting knowledge of metered dose inhaler (MDI) usage among pharmacy professional students through a mobile app

INTRODUCTION

Efficient asthma management necessitates optimal usage of metered-dose inhalers (MDIs). As future health professionals, pharmacy students are pivotal in disseminating accurate methodologies for MDI usage. Despite having hands-on experience, there is room to enhance their comprehension, highlighting the need for prompt patient educational interventions.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app-assisted educational method in improving pharmacy students' understanding of MDI usage.

METHODS

A pre-experimental study was conducted from March to August 2021 with 45 participants enrolled in the Pharmacist Professional Study Program at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. Using a one-group pretest-post-test design, the study measured the app's impact on students' knowledge and MDI usage skills.

RESULTS

The intervention significantly improved students' scores on a 9-step MDI usage checklist, with increases ranging from 0.10 to 0.50 across verbal and motor components. A Mann-Whitney U test validated these findings, showing a statistically significant p-value of 0.001.

CONCLUSION

The mobile app-assisted educational approach substantially enhanced pharmacy students' proficiency in MDI use. The significant rise in mean scores for the 9-step checklist, along with the notable p-value, supports the effectiveness of this intervention in healthcare education.

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: An Insight Over Impact of Maternal Substance Use

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) highlights the intricate interplay between maternal substance use during pregnancy and the challenges neonates face from the distressing global opioid crisis. This comprehensive review captures the multilayered landscape of NAS, encircling its underlying mechanisms, epidemiology, diagnostic intricacies, clinical manifestations, continuing developmental impacts, treatment paradigms, and the crucial role of multidisciplinary care. The core pathophysiology of NAS involves the transplacental passage of addictive substances, activating chemical dependence in the maturing fetus, which is characterized by neurotransmitter dysregulation, neuroadaptations, and receptor sensitization. A diverse clinical presentation ranges from central nervous system hyperactivity and autonomic dysregulation to gastrointestinal manifestations, necessitating homogenous assessment tools such as the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring System. The demand for a multilayered approach is essential for comprehensive management, involving pharmacological interventions like morphine or methadone and non-pharmacological strategies such as swaddling. The complications of NAS are not only limited to but are also well beyond infancy, leading to behavioral, longstanding cognitive, and socioemotional consequences. Addressing these developmental arcs demands decisive longitudinal monitoring and early interventions. NAS management is fundamentally multidisciplinary, requiring the teamwork of nurses, social workers, psychologists, pediatricians, and neonatologists. Apart from the clinical realm, managing the psychosocial needs of families traversing NAS requires resources and empathy. A crucial comprehensive approach is essential to confront the challenges and limitations of NAS. From early identification and prevention to longstanding support through pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and psychological channels, it creates a holistic structure that emerges as the basis for understanding the complicated relationship between maternal substance use and its impact on neonates. An amalgamation of community engagement, society, policy initiatives, and medical expertise is essential to mitigate the repercussions of NAS and adopt healthier outcomes for affected infants.

Effective Clinical Pathway Improves Interprofessional Collaboration and Reduces Antibiotics Prophylaxis Use in Orthopedic Surgery in Hospitals in Indonesia

Clinical pathways can improve the quality of health services. The effectiveness and impact of implementing clinical pathways are controversial. The preparation of clinical pathways not only enacts therapeutic guidelines but requires mutual agreement in accordance with the roles, duties, and contributions of each profession in the team. This study aimed to investigate the perception of interprofessional collaboration practices and the impact of clinical pathway implementation on collaborative and Defined Daily Dose (DDD) prophylactic antibiotics per 100 bed-days in orthopedic surgery. The Collaborative Practice Assessment Tool (CPAT) questionnaire was used as a tool to measure healthcare’ perceptions of collaborative practice. The clinical pathway (CP) in this study was adapted from existing CPs published by the Indonesian Orthopaedic Association (Perhimpunan Dokter Spesialis Orthopaedi dan Traumatologi Indonesia, PABOI) and was commended by local domestic surgeons and orthopedic bodies. We then compared post-implementation results with pre-implementation clinical pathway data using ANCOVA to explore our categorical data and its influence towards CPAT response. ANOVA was then employed for aggregated DDD per 100 bed-days to compare pre and post intervention. The results showed that the relationships among members were associated with the working length. Six to ten years of working had a significantly better relationship among members than those who have worked one to five years. Interestingly, pharmacists’ leadership score was significantly lower than other professions. The clinical pathway implementation reduced barriers in team collaboration, improved team coordination and organization, and reduced third-generation cephalosporin use for prophylaxis in surgery (pre: 59 DDD per 100 bed-days; post: 28 DDD per 100 bed-days). This shows that the clinical pathway could benefit antibiotic stewardship in improving antibiotic prescription, therefore reducing the incidence of resistant bacteria.

Views, experiences and contributory factors related to medication errors associated with direct oral anticoagulants: a qualitative study with physicians and nurses

BACKGROUND

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have become preferable for the management of thromboembolic events. Recent publications have however identified high volume of medication errors related to DOACs. There is limited literature on why and how such errors occur or happen in clinical practice.

AIM

This study aimed to explore views, experiences, contributory factors related to DOACs medication errors from the perspectives of healthcare professionals.

METHOD

Semi-structured interviews using online videoconferencing were conducted with physicians and nurses from tertiary care hospitals in three different regions in Saudi Arabia. Questions included views, experiences and perceived factors contributing to errors. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and were thematically analyzed using MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020 (VERBI Software).

RESULTS

The semi-structured interviews (n = 34) included physicians (n = 20) and nurses (n = 14) until data saturation was achieved. The analysis identified five themes: Factors related to healthcare professionals (e.g. knowledge, confidence and access to guidelines); Factors related to patients (e.g. comorbidity, polypharmacy, medication review, and communication barriers); Factors related to organization (e.g. guidelines, safety culture and incidents reporting system); Factors related to the DOACs medications (e.g. lack of availability of antidotes and dosing issues); and Strategies for error prevention/mitigation (e.g. the need for professional training and routine medication review).

CONCLUSION

Healthcare professionals identified errors in relation to DOACs as multifactorial including their own and patient lack of knowledge, lack of clinical guidelines and organizational factors including safety culture. Medication review and reconciliation on discharge were key strategies suggested to reduce DOACs related errors. These strategies support the role of pharmacists as direct patients care providers to minimize DOACs errors.