Browsing by study line "Social pharmacy"
Now showing items 61-69 of 69
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(2023)Lääkkeiden saatavuushäiriöt ovat yleistyneet maailmalla ja Suomessa viimeisten 20 vuoden aikana lisäten lääkealan toimijoiden työmäärää sekä kustannuksia. Saatavuushäiriöt aiheuttavat myös vaikeuksia potilaiden hoidon toteuttamiseen, tietyissä tilanteissa hoito saattaa joutua katkolle tai joudutaan käyttämään vaihtoehtoista lääkitystä, mikä saattaa heikentää potilaan saaman hoidon laatua. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia kirjallisuuden perusteella syitä saatavuushäiriöiden taustalla. Toissijaisena tavoitteena oli löytää mahdollisesti toimintamalleja, mitkä mahdollistaisivat saatavuushäiriöiden määrän vähenemisen tai vaihtoehtoisesti vähentäisivät niiden vaikutuksia potilaiden hoitoon. Tutkimus tehtiin systemoituna kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Tutkimukseen valikoitui mukaan yhteensä kaikkiaan 24 sisäänottokriteerit täyttävää artikkelia. Kirjallisuushaku suoritettiin 20.10.2020 Sopusi ja Pubmed -tietokannoista. Kirjallisuushaku rajattiin koskemaan ajanjaksoa 2000–2020. Tietokantojen lisäksi kirjallisuutta haettiin manuaalisesti löydettyjen artikkeleiden lähdeluetteloista. Kirjallisuushaulla löydettiin yhteensä 2334 artikkelia ja duplikaattien poiston jälkeen jäljelle jäi 1783 artikkelia. Ensin artikkelit käytiin läpi otsikon sekä abstraktin perusteella ja viimeisessä vaiheessa koko tekstin perusteella. PRISMA-listaa käytettiin soveltuvin osin apuna katsauksen laatimisessa. Tähän systemoituun kirjallisuuskatsaukseen mukaan valituista julkaisuista 10 oli alkuperäisiäjulkaisuja artikkeleita ja 14 katsausartikkeleita. Alkuperäisistä tutkimusartikkeleista suurin osa (n=7) oli kvantitatiivisia tutkimuksia ja näistä neljä käsitteli saatavuushäiriöitä Yhdysvalloissa. Kvantitatiiviset tutkimukset olivat kaikki viranomaisten ylläpitämistä rekistereistä tehtyjä tutkimuksia. Laadullisia tutkimuksia alkuperäisissä artikkeleissa oli kolme, nämä olivat toteutettu puolistrukturoituina haastatteluina tai avoimina kyselyinä lääkealan toimijoille Systemoidun kirjallisuuskatsauksen tulosten perusteella saatavuushäiriöiden syyt voivat vaihdella eri markkinoiden välillä. Saatavuushäiriöiden taustalla olevien syiden teemat kuitenkin vaikuttivat tutkimuksen perusteella olevan hyvin samankaltaisia riippumatta markkinoista. Yleisimpinä syinä saatavuushäiriölle olivat tuotantoon liittyvät ongelmat, regulatoriset toimet sekä ekonomiset ratkaisut. Tulosten perusteella ensisijaisena ratkaisuna saatavuushäiriöiden vaikutusten minimointiin olisivat lääkkeiden valmistajien tarpeeksi ajoissa antamat ilmoitukset alkavasta saatavuushäiriöistä.
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(2020)Migraine was ranked as the second largest cause of disability in 2016 in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. People with migraine have a greater disability and a lower health-related quality of life than those of the general population. Many migraine patients experience functional and emotional impairment due to their disease. Migraine can limit their daily activities and impact their private, professional and social life. Migraine affects the patient also in between the attacks and can impact their education, career and their family and loved ones. Comorbid diseases and failed treatment lines add to the burden of migraine. Furthermore, migraine also imposes an economic burden. Stigma is described as the hidden burden of disease. Chronic migraine patients have been found to have higher stigma than episodic migraine patients. Even though migraine is one of the most common disabling headache disorders, it is still both under-recognised, under-diagnosed and under-treated. The objectives of this study were to determine the extent of the burden and the stigma of migraine in adult Finnish migraine patients. This study aimed to produce comprehensive and current information about migraine and its severity in Finland, highlighting the burden it poses on the migraine patients as well as on society. Migraine is most prevalent among the working aged population, which increases the societal burden of the disease. This study was conducted as a cross-sectional electronic survey amongst adult Finnish migraine patients. The participants were contacted through the Finnish Migraine Patient Advocacy Group. The questionnaire consisted of the already existing and validated Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) Questionnaire and of measures developed by the author. The final data consisted of 608 responses. Of all respondents with 8 or more headache days a month, over 90% were categorised in the severe disability group (MIDAS grade IV), thus having similar disability to those with 15 or more headache days a month (i.e. respondents with probable chronic migraine). The proportion of respondents with severe disability (MIDAS grade IV) was greater in the present study (65.0%) than in a study conducted in Finland in 2000 (47%), indicating that migraine disability in Finland might have become more severe during the past two decades. The mean level of headache pain in the present study was 6.2 (on a scale of 0-10) and pain was the aspect that most respondents viewed as the worst aspect of migraine. This highlights the importance of proper pain management in migraine care. Many of the respondents were also at risk for medication overuse, which highlights the importance of monitoring medication use and informing the patients about possible risks. Stress was reported as the most common migraine trigger, and reducing stress at the workplace was also reported as the most important way of how migraine could better be managed at the workplace. Almost half (44.4%) of all respondents felt stigmatised due to their migraine. Reasons for this stigma and suggested solutions on how to reduce/manage the stigma were quite similar. The ignorance of others was the most reported reason for their migraine stigma, and increasing awareness and correct information about migraine was the most reported way of reducing the stigma. Many of the respondents had faced, due to their migraine, belittlement at work, from family and friend and from healthcare professionals. Facing belittlement from healthcare professionals was reported to have happened often by 11.5% and sometimes by 34.7% of all respondents. Of all respondents, 55.6% worried often and 29.8% worried sometimes about the onset of the next migraine attack. The majority of the respondents had severe disability based on their MIDAS grades. Many other aspect of the burden were reported as well, inculding stigma, reported by almost half of the respondents. Further and future studies need to be conducted to get an even better understanding of the burden and stigma of migraine experienced by adult Finnish migraine patients. This includes further and more intricate quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data from this study, as´well as studies with new perspectives based on the results found in this study.
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(2022)In health care, the most patient safety incidents occur from medication errors, to which pediatric patients in particular are susceptible. According to James Reason's Theory of Human Error, errors inevitably occurs in an individual's actions, causing potential harm. The prescribing phase has been identified as a specific risk point in the pediatric medication-use process, and therefore defences must be established to prevent or stop errors before they reach the patient. Such system-centric barriers are, for example, electronic health record (EHR) systems that can include computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems where e.g., medication orders and prescriptions can be made. Knowledge-based clinical decision support (CDS) tools such as dose range check or dose calculator can be integrated into the CPOE system to assist in the prescribing process. The objective of this systematic review was examine the effects of CPOE systems with CDS functions on preventing wrong dose errors in pediatric inpatient orders and outpatient prescriptions. This systematic review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 criteria and Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) items as an extension to PRISMA criteria. The Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) recommendations from JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis on mixed methods was used as a guide to conduct this review. Additionally, Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions was utilized to conduct the synthesis examining the wrong dose error effectiveness. The study protocol according to the prior defined eligibility criteria was registered in PROSPERO. The literature search was implemented in four databases (MEDLINE Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science and EMB Reviews), reference lists and grey literature in January 2022. Two independent reviewers conducted the study selection and data extraction of the eligible studies using a Covidence software platform. Vote counting method was used to describe and analyze the quantitative findings of the studies exploring the characteristics of CPOE-CDS systems reducing wrong dose errors and regarding their effectiveness on error prevention. JBI’s critical appraisal tools and Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach were used to define the quality of the studies. A total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies had been published in 2007–2021 and majority (13/18) considered only inpatient orders. Almost all (n=16) studies had customized or homegrown CPOE-CDS system and the most used CDS tools were dose range check (78%, 14/18), dose calculator (45%, 8/18) and dosing frequency check (45%, 8/18). When implementing new or customizing the used CPOE-CDS system usually alert functions were added (n=9) and in total alerts were present in 15 studies. Statistically significant reduction in wrong dose errors (overall, overdosing or underdosing errors) was reported in eight studies. None of the studies (n=18) found an overall increase of wrong dose errors. CPOE systems with CDS functions have a great potential to reduce wrong dose errors and promote pediatric medication safety. CPOE-CDS system customization for pediatric population, implementing CDS alerts and the use of dose range check tool seem to be most advantageous when aiming to prevent wrong dose errors. However, CPOE-CDS systems cannot prevent all wrong dose errors as human errors continue to occur and the implemented CPOE-CDS systems can pose new risks such as alert fatigue. Therefore, systematic actions are needed to optimize the safe use of CPOE-CDS systems in pediatrics. More studies are needed particularly on the effectiveness on wrong dose error prevention comparing basic and advanced CDS tools and the effects of different individual CDS functions on wrong dose errors.
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(2022)For their good clinical value and supply the use of biological medicines has increased in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, biological medicines are often more expensive compared to traditional small molecule medicines. More inexpensive biosimilars, shown to be clinically equal to the corresponding biological original products, can be used to reduce medication costs as part of rational pharmacotherapy. Although patients’ perceptions about biosimilars may affect the treatment adherence and outcomes of the use of these medicines, only a few studies have been published on this area. The primary aim of the study was to study IBD patients’ perceptions of the features of biosimilars and biosimilars’ suitability for their own treatment. The secondary aim was to study biological medicine users’ perceptions of the suitability of biosimilar switch by a physician for their own treatment. In addition, sources of medicines information of the users of biological medicines were studied. The data of the study were based on a cross-sectional survey conducted by the University Pharmacy and University of Helsinki in January 2021. Research Newsletter and response link were delivered per an email to University Pharmacy’s loyal customers and electronically communicated via the Association of Rheumatism and the Association of IBD and other intestinal diseases. The study comprised of the responses of adult outpatients with IBD (n=979) who were using original biological medicines (n=120), biosimilars (n=30) or traditional small molecule medicines (n=829) (medicine user groups). The sum variables constructed by factor analysis based on the study aims were used as outcome variables. Differences between medicine user groups and the effects of other background variables were analyzed by bivariate and multivariate analysis using SPSS Statistics software. Most of the patients (70–97 % depending on the medicine user group) trusted biosimilars’ features to be equal to the corresponding original biological medicines. However, more than half of the patients (53–67%) did not know whether they would like to physician to prescribe biosimilar to them rather than the original biological medicine. Of the users of original biological medicines, 71 % did not want to be switched to a biosimilar if the current medication was working well. Biosimilar users had more positive perceptions about biosimilars and switching compared to other medicine user groups. Physician’s perception played an important role in biologic switching. Several factors that may affect perceptions about the features of biosimilars and their use in patient’s own treatment were identified. These included, in particular, previous user experience with biosimilars and having information about them. Overall, patients had positive perceptions about the features of biosimilars but had uncertainties about the use of biosimilars, especially, for the treatment of their own disease and when switching medication. More research is needed on the perceptions among different patient groups, and on the need and optimal form of medication information on biological medicines, biosimilars and their switching.
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(2022)The health and social services reform will enter into force in its entirety from the beginning of 2023. With the reform, the responsibility for organizing social and health care will be transferred from municipalities to the responsibility of 21 wellbeing services counties. At the time of writing this thesis, the changes to the medical legislation brought by the reform have not yet been published. Hospital pharmacies and dispensaries take care of Finland's public pharmaceutical services. The tasks of public pharmaceutical services include pharmaceutical logistics tasks, non-industrial pharmaceutical manufacturing, and the preparing of medicines, as well as pharmaceutical expert tasks and services.The aim of this study is to find out the opinions of current hospital district managers, medical directors, and hospital pharmacists about how future pharmaceutical services should be organized in the upcoming wellbeing service counties. The study was conducted using an electronic structured questionnaire, which was sent in October 2021 by e-mail to the heads of all Finnish hospital districts, medical directors, and hospital pharmacists. The survey also included Åland and the Joint Municipal Authority for Social and Healthcare in Central Uusimaa (Keusote). The questionnaire consisted mainly of Likert-scale questions, but the questionnaire also had open answer fields to which respondents were able to add comments and refine their answers. The questionnaire was evaluated by several experts and piloted by two experts. The questionnaire consisted of seven different sections, which addressed the number and concentration of hospital pharmacies and dispensaries, clinical pharmacy services and medication safety, pharmaceutical purchasing and formulary, automation and information systems, co-operation in wellbeing service counties, and pharmaceutical services in a state of emergency and limited resources. The overall response rate to the survey was 50% (n = 34/68). 79 per cent (n = 19/24) of hospital pharmacists and 35 per cent (n = 15/43) of managers and medical directors responded to the survey. Responses were received from all hospital districts, Åland and Keusote. Based on the responses, it is hoped that the activities of hospital pharmacies will be mainly concentrated in wellbeing service counties so that the services would not move too far. Co-operation in individual pharmaceutical service activities could take place in collaborative areas or nationwide. The current number of hospital pharmacies was thought to be sufficient, but the operation of individual dispensaries could be closed or transferred to the administration and coordination of a hospital pharmacy in the area. It is hoped that clinical pharmacy services will be increased, and medication safety officers are desired for at least all wellbeing service counties. It is hoped that purchasing will be centralized nationwide, especially for expensive and rare pharmaceuticals, but the procurement of pharmaceutical formularies could be done by collaborative area, and the formation of the formularies could be done by wellbeing service county or collaborative area. It is hoped that automation and technology will increase in pharmaceutical services and that information systems will become more integrated. Increasing co-operation both between hospital pharmacies and within wellbeing service counties, for example between community pharmacies, was advocated. In the future, resources should be focused on pharmaceutical services personnel and their training, as well as on automation and technological solutions. It is hoped that the crisis preparedness of the pharmaceutical services will be increased in the future.
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(2023)Annually thousands of Finnish children are placed in foster care as a measure of child welfare. Institutional foster care is provided by child welfare institutions. Social and health care professionals, such as bachelors in social services, youth workers, practical nurses, and registered nurses working in these institutions are responsible for carrying out the children’s medication treatment. Depending on completed basic and additional training and work experience, the personnel have varying competencies in medication treatment. The aim of this study was to provide research-based information on the challenges and development needs related to the safe and rational medication treatment of children in foster care living in child welfare institutions. This was studied from the point of view of institution personnel and social workers responsible for placement decisions. Furthermore, the study investigated the medication use process of children in institutional foster care and, how the child’s health and medication treatment related needs are considered in the placement process and in selecting the foster care place. The study was conducted as a qualitative study using focus group discussions (FGDs) carried out to child welfare social workers (n=1) and child welfare institution personnel (n=10) during November and December 2022. Semi-structured focus group discussions (n=3) were conducted over the video conferencing software Microsoft Teams®. The participants (n=11) were recruited through child welfare services of Central Uusimaa Wellbeing County. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. According to the focus groups, medication treatment is common among children living in child welfare institutions. In the daily life of child welfare institutions, there were challenges and development needs related to medication treatment and medication use process. The main challenges and development needs were the lack of up-to-date information regarding the children’s health status and medication, challenges in organizing acute medication treatment, the personnel’s up-to-date drug administration permissions and varying competencies in medication treatment. In addition, fragmented overall responsibility of the medication treatments and poor access to healthcare presented challenges for organizing and carrying out medication treatment for the children. Medication use process during foster care appeared to be fragmented and it was seen to be susceptible to errors. According to this study, the possibilities for taking children’s health status and medical needs into account at the point of placement were scarce. These needs often did not guide placement decisions. Considering the medication use process and medication safety, it is essential that child welfare institutions have access to up-to-date health and medication information of the children. To achieve the best interests of the children, organizing acute medical treatment should be facilitated and the overall responsibility health care and medication therapy clarified. In addition, seamless access to the necessary healthcare must be ensured for children in foster care. Considering medication safety, it is important to ensure that the personnel of child welfare institutions have up-to-date competencies in medication treatment that meet the needs of the children.
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(2019)Medication safety is a part of patient safety, and means safety related to the use of medicines. Medication safety covers the principles and functions of individuals and organizations working in the healthcare sector to ensure the safety of drug treatment and to protects patient from harm. Medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient or consumer. Medication errors are the leading cause of preventable harm in health care across the world. Therefore, improving medication safety is important from the point of view of the promotion of patient safety. The aim of this study was to gather information about serious medication errors at national level by utilizing data from Valvira to learn from the cases outside the organizations where they occurred. The data of this study consisted of complaints and regulatory statements resolved by Valvira in 2013–2017, in which drug treatment were identified as a main reason and where inappropriateness was found (n=58). Cases were classified with predetermined classification system, and inductive content analysis was used to identify the causes and contributing factors of medication errors. The theoretical framework of the study was the Human Error Theory by James Reason (1990). According its systems-based approach, this study focused on the processes and circumstances of organizations. Of the included 58 cases, medication errors caused patient’s death in 21 cases (36 %) and severe harm in nine cases (16 %). A majority (n=53; 91%) of the errors were estimated to be either definitely or possibly preventable. Most of the patients were older adults (mean age 74 years). The most commonly related drugs in medication errors were enoxaparin (n=7; 6%) and oxycodone (n=7; 6%). The most common therapeutic group causing medication errors was antithrombotic agents (n=17; 13%). Most errors occurred in hospital settings (n=29; 45%) and in elderly care units. Doctors (n=37; 50%) were most often involved in the errors. Most of the medication errors occurred in the prescribing (n=38; 47%), administrating (n=15; 19%) and monitoring stage (n=14; 17%), drug-related problems being most often connected to the drug selection. In severe and fatal cases, there are often several drug related problems identified at different stages of the patient’s drug treatment process. The data of Valvira provide valuable information about medication errors at national level. Qualitative analysis is important especially for learning purposes as it provides better understanding of the causes and contributing factors of medication errors, as well as the complexity of drug treatment processes. Based on this study, it seems that healthcare organizations involved in severe medication error cases have taken into consideration the importance of process development and focused on identifying latent risks in organizational conditions and processes rather than blaming individuals.
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(2024)Barcode-assisted medication administration can be used to prevent medication errors in pediatric hospital settings, as the medicine and the patient can be safely identified during the drug preparation and administration. The use of barcode-assisted medication administration has been examined in a few qualitative studies. In addition to the benefits, many challenges related to the implementation of this new workflow have been identified. The aim of this study was to identify facilitators and barriers related to the use of barcode-assisted medication administration in a children's hospital. The topic has not been studied in Finland before. A qualitative focus group study was carried out at HUS Helsinki University Hospital in the Department of Children and Adolescents. Ward pharmacists (n=14) were selected for the focus groups (n=3) by purposive sampling to identify persons using barcode-assisted medication administration on their daily work. Two researchers conducted the inductive content analysis independently, after which a consensus was formed first with these researchers and later with the entire research group. COREQ checklist was used to support detailed reporting and to consider the factors that might affect to the reliability of the study in each phase of the study. Four main themes were identified from the data; the barriers, the risk behavior caused by the barriers, the facilitators and the development ideas. The barriers included challenges related to negative attitudes of the end-users, barcodes on drug packages and labels, use of the electronic health record system, workstations and equipment, as well as orientation, competence and management. The barriers caused risk behavior that was related either to the system or to the end-user. On the other hand, the facilitators were associated with the positive experience of the end-user, the increase in expertise and multi-professional cooperation, the functions of the electronic health record system that supported the preparation and administration of the medicines, as well as the benefits of the barcode-assisted medication administration workflow. The development ideas aimed to remove the barriers and the risk behavior related to the use of barcode-assisted medication administration. The users found that the use of barcode-assisted medication administration increased patient and medication safety, although there were still many challenges associated with the new workflow. Barcode-assisted medication administration can be used to reduce medication errors and protect patients from adverse events. The results of this study can be used to develop the usability of barcode technology and their implementation.
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(2020)Many pharmacies sell medicines through digital online pharmacy services but studies have shown that only a small fraction of the population are aware of and are using these. There is a need to investigate online pharmacy services and the obstacles they are facing. What should be considered are e.g. the legislation online pharmacies operate under, how the health competency of the population is taken into account in the design of the services, the skills and attitudes of the professionals toward digitalization and distance communication as well as practical circumstances. The aim of this study is to examine the online pharmacy operators' perceptions of the services they provide and how they are organized in Finland and Sweden. How the national regulations that exist regarding online pharmacies, and especially regarding medicine counseling at online pharmacies, are implemented in practice are also examined. The study was targeted to all pharmacy actors in Finland (72) and Sweden (11) who offer online pharmacy services and have reported this to the authorities. Of these, 20 (28 %) responded in Finland and 4 (36 %) in Sweden. The study was designed as a survey consisting of closed/structured- and open-ended questions. The survey questions were developed from previous literature on the subject and a background analysis of the online pharmacies' web pages to ensure the baseline and the relevance of the questions. The survey was available to respondents in digital format and the link was distributed through e-mail in Winter 2020. Data from the closed-ended questions were compiled and analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel, while data from the open-ended questions were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. In Finland, only a small fraction of the total turnover of pharmacies comes from the online pharmacy business. Many believe in an increased importance of online pharmacies when younger age groups begin to use pharmacy services more frequently and technology enables more versatile solutions. In both countries, the main age group using online pharmacies were 36-45 years. The goods that were purchased were mainly cosmetics, skincare and non-prescription drugs. In Sweden, customers suffering of long-term illness were also reported to be a large customer group. As distance communication methods, telephone and e-mail were mostly offered, but in Sweden also chat. About half of the staff had received special communication training for distance communication. Many respondents stated being unaware of the fraction of customers asking for medication counseling and whether this counseling is appreciated. In most cases, the operators stated that the legislation on online pharmacy services was adequate. There are differences in the possibilities of operating online pharmacies in different markets. In Finland, the online pharmacy business's share of pharmacies' total sales is very limited. In Finland there is hope that online pharmacies will become more important to younger customer groups in the future and that the technology is developed to enable more versatile services. Operators in Finland believe that the services should be more beneficial to customers in the future. In both countries an increase in the sale of prescription medication is expected. Online pharmacies have great opportunities to offer customers versatile means of communication for medication counseling, but there is still a need to investigate employees' skills in distance communication. The counseling situation at online pharmacies should be evaluated to ensure equivalency with the one at physical pharmacies.
Now showing items 61-69 of 69