24 No decision about me without me: an exploration of shared decision making principles in relation to medication management in early intervention for psychosis services

Medication (primarily antipsychotics) is a mainstay of treatment for psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Recent NICE guidelines explicitly recommend that Shared Decision Making (when a health care provider and a user work together to make a treatment decision that is best for the service user) in everyday practice across all healthcare contexts. However, mental health, especially psychiatric medication, has lagged behind other areas of medicine. Much of the literature on SDM and medication management in psychiatric care has revealed a paradox in which service users and clinicians alike advocate for it, but service users widely report they are not involved in decisions about their care. Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services provide specialist community-based care for people experiencing a first episode of psychosis (usually in early adulthood). They often have a therapeutic culture oriented towards recovery and optimizing service engagement, and therefore provide fertile ground for SDM relating to medication in first service contacts and early medication use. This study aimed to evaluate how psychiatric medication is managed in relation to SDM using ethnographic techniques in EIP services within a London based service, I observed multidisciplinary staff meetings, clinical consultations and other interactions in which medication was discussed. Observations were recorded as handwritten notes, which were then typed up and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings will focus on strategies used by staff and service users to facilitate SDM, as well as organizational barriers and facilitators to SDM in psychiatric medication management, with an emphasis on risk and power dynamics. Findings will also map the medication journey for service users in EIP services, noting key decision points, types of decision making, and different actors and their roles in the process. This work can inform healthcare improvement and create organisational change models that will be fed back to service providers.

Leggi
Marzo 2024

Implementation of an intervention to reduce urine dipstick testing in aged care homes: a qualitative study of enablers and barriers, and strategies to enhance delivery

Objective
The ‘To Dip or Not to Dip’ (TDONTD) intervention aims to reduce antibiotic prescribing for urinary tract infection (UTI) by reducing low-value dipstick testing. The aims of this study were to use a qualitative approach to (1) evaluate potential influences on the delivery of the TDONTD intervention in Australian residential aged care homes (RACHs) by identifying perceived barriers and enablers to delivery and acceptance; and (2) propose intervention strategies to address barriers and enhance enablers.

Design
A qualitative before–after process evaluation of a multisite implementation study using interviews with nurse and pharmacist implementers.

Setting
This study was conducted in 12 Australian RACHs.

Participants
Participants included 17 on-site nurse champions and 4 pharmacists (existing contracted providers).

Intervention
Resources from England’s TDONTD intervention were adapted for an Australian context. Key resources delivered were case-based education, staff training video, clinical pathway and an audit tool.

Results
Key barriers to TDONTD were beliefs about nursing capabilities in diagnosing infection, beliefs about consequences (fear of missing infection) and social influences (pressure from family, doctors and hospitals). Key enablers were perceived increased nurse and carer knowledge (around UTI and asymptomatic bacteriuria), resources from a credible source, empowerment of nurse champions to apply knowledge and skills in delivering operational change initiatives, pharmacist-delivered education and organisational policy or process change. Of TDONTD’s key components, the clinical pathway substituted dipstick testing in diagnosing UTI, delivery of case-based education was enhanced by their attendance and support of the intervention and the antibiotic audit tool generated feedback that champions shared with staff.

Conclusions
Our study confirms the core components of TDONTD and strategies to enhance delivery and overcome barriers. To further reduce barriers to TDONTD, broader advocacy work is required to raise awareness of dipstick testing as a low-value test in older persons and by linking it to healthcare professionals and consumer education.

Leggi
Marzo 2024

Diagnostic performance evaluation of urine HIV-1 antibody rapid test kits in a real-life routine care setting in China

Objectives
To evaluate the diagnostic performance of urine HIV antibody rapid test kits in screening diverse populations and to analyse subjects’ willingness regarding reagent types, purchase channels, acceptable prices, and self-testing.

Designs
Diagnostic accuracy studies

Participants
A total of 2606 valid and eligible samples were collected in the study, including 202 samples from female sex workers (FSWs), 304 persons with injection drug use (IDU), 1000 pregnant women (PW), 100 subjects undergoing voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT) and 1000 students in higher education schools or colleges (STUs). Subjects should simultaneously meet the following inclusion criteria: (1) being at least 18 years old and in full civil capacity, (2) signing an informed consent form and (3) providing truthful identifying information to ensure that the subjects and their samples are unique.

Results
The sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC) of the urine HIV-1 antibody rapid test kits were 92.16%, 99.92% and 0.960 (95% CI: 0.952 to 0.968, p

Leggi
Febbraio 2024

Assessing trends and variability in outpatient dual testing for chronic kidney disease with urine albumin and serum creatinine, 2009-2018: a retrospective cohort study in the Veterans Health Administration System

Background
Simultaneous urine testing for albumin (UAlb) and serum creatinine (SCr), that is, ‘dual testing,’ is an accepted quality measure in the management of diabetes. As chronic kidney disease (CKD) is defined by both UAlb and SCr testing, this approach could be more widely adopted in kidney care.

Objective
We assessed time trends and facility-level variation in the performance of outpatient dual testing in the integrated Veterans Health Administration (VHA) system.

Design, subjects and main measures
This retrospective cohort study included patients with any inpatient or outpatient visit to the VHA system during the period 2009–2018. Dual testing was defined as UAlb and SCr testing in the outpatient setting within a calendar year. We assessed time trends in dual testing by demographics, comorbidities, high-risk (eg, diabetes) specialty care and facilities. A generalised linear mixed-effects model was applied to explore individual and facility-level predictors of receiving dual testing.

Key results
We analysed data from approximately 6.9 million veterans per year. Dual testing increased, on average, from 17.4% to 21.2%, but varied substantially among VHA centres (0.3%–43.7% in 2018). Dual testing was strongly associated with diabetes (OR 10.4, 95% CI 10.3 to 10.5, p

Leggi
Febbraio 2024

Abstract WMP64: Late Lesion Growth Following Endovascular Therapy: Is 24 Hours Too Early to Assess Acute Infarct Size Including the Effects of Secondary Injury?

Stroke, Volume 55, Issue Suppl_1, Page AWMP64-AWMP64, February 1, 2024. Background:Measurement of “final” lesion volume at 24hr following endovascular therapy (post-EVT) has been used in multiple studies as a surrogate for clinical outcome. However, despite successful recanalization, a significant proportion of patients do not experience favorable clinical outcome.Methods:This is a prospective study of acute ischemic stroke patients at two stroke centers who met the following criteria: i) anterior large vessel occlusion (LVO) acute ischemic stroke, ii) attempted EVT, iii) written informed consent obtained, and iv) had MRI post-EVT at 24hr and 5-day. We defined “Early” and “Late” lesion growth as ≥10mL lesion growth between baseline and 24hr DWI, and between 24hr DWI and 5-day FLAIR, respectively.Results:One hundred fourteen patients met study criteria with median age 67 years, 56% female, median admit NIHSS 19, 54% received IV or IA thrombolysis, 67% with M1 occlusion, and median baseline DWI volume 28.2mL. Successful recanalization was achieved in 86% and 67% had complete reperfusion, with an overall favorable clinical outcome rate of 54%. Nearly two thirds (65%) of the patients did not have Late lesion growth with a median volume change of -0.2mL between 24hr and 5-days and an associated high rate of favorable clinical outcome (65%). However, ~1/3 of patients (35%) did have significant Late lesion growth despite successful recanalization (85% TICI 2b/3). Late lesion growth patients had a 26.2mL change in Late lesion volume and 19.9mL change in Early lesion volume. These patients had an increased hemorrhagic transformation rate of 68% with only 1 in 3 patients having favorable clinical outcome. Late lesion growth was independently associated with incomplete reperfusion, hemorrhagic transformation, and unfavorable outcome even after adjusting for admit NIHSS and Early lesion growth.Conclusions:Approximately 1 out of 3 patients had Late lesion growth following EVT, with a favorable clinical outcome occurring in only 1 out of 3 of these patients. Identification of patients with Late lesion growth could be critical to guide clinical management and inform prognosis post-EVT. Additionally it can serve as an imaging biomarker for the development of adjunctive therapies to mitigate reperfusion injury.

Leggi
Febbraio 2024

Abstract 148: Increased Systolic Blood Pressure Variability During the First 24-hours of Hospitalization Associates With Poor 90-day Outcome After Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Stroke, Volume 55, Issue Suppl_1, Page A148-A148, February 1, 2024. Introduction:Prospective studies and secondary analyses from clinical trials have identified increased systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) as a risk factor for poor outcomes. Evidence of this association in real-world intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) hospitalization is lacking, however.Methods:Data for adult (≥18) patients with primary ICH were retrieved from the REINAH cerebrovascular research database. Systolic blood pressure measurements from the first 24 hours of admission were retrieved and SBPV was calculated as the Coefficient of Variation (CV) = (standard deviation/mean)*100. Socioeconomic deprivation was assessed using the state Area Deprivation Index (ADI), with high deprivation assessed at ADI ≥ 8. The primary outcome was severe disability or death (SDD; modified Rankin Scale ≥4) at 90-days after discharge. Differences in SBPV across SDD were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Associations between SBPV and SDD were assessed using multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for patient characteristics. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) are reported.Results:Final cohort included 807 patients (median [IQR]: 66 [54-77], 45.6% female), with an ethno-racial distribution of 41.9% White, 25.9% Black, 23.9% Hispanic, 5.7% Asian, and 2.6% Other. The median CV was 12.07 [9.50-15.59] and 485 (60.1%) patients experienced SDD. Patients with SDD showed significantly higher SBPV than non-SDD patients (12.90 [10.33-17.11] vs 10.99 [8.72-13.72]; p

Leggi
Febbraio 2024