Testing a teaching appointment and geragogy-based approach to medication knowledge at discharge

Conceptualization and content validation of the MEDication literacy assessment of geriatric patients and informal caregivers (MED-fLAG)

Background

The assessment of patients’ medication literacy skills (i.e., abilities to access, comprehend and interact with medication-related information) is an important step in assisting clinicians to plan for appropriate care. Despite several attempts by researchers to develop measures of medication literacy, an instrument tailored to the specific needs of older adults remains a significant shortfall. Therefore, an interprofessional team that included a citizen co-researcher conceptualized a new standardised measure of medication literacy—the MEDedication Literacy Assessment of Geriatric patients and informal caregivers (MED-fLAG). MED-fLAG was designed as a three-dimensional self-reported measure of functional, interactive and critical skills. This study describes the conceptualization process and provides the results of an evaluation of MED-fLAG’s content validity, acceptability, and feasibility during a hospital stay.

Methods

MED-fLAG was developed in accordance with the guidance on scale development and standards for good content validity, by using the following steps: (I) conceptualization of a provisional version of MED-fLAG; (II) iterative qualitative evaluation of its content validity by older adults, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Results

The qualitative assessment of the initial 54-item MED-fLAG was conducted in 36 participants, namely 13 home-dwelling older adults and/or informal caregivers and 23 healthcare professionals. Six rounds of revisions were performed to achieve content validity and to propose a 56-item revised MED-fLAG. Participants reported benefits of using a standardized assessment of medication literacy during a hospital stay but warned about certain limitations and prerequisites. The extent to which MED-fLAG could be integrated into discharge planning needs to be further investigated.

Conclusions

MED-fLAG is the first medication literacy measure tailored to the specific needs of older patients and informal caregivers. A unique feature of this measure is that it includes prescribed and non-prescribed medications, irrespective of the galenic form. Additional studies are required to evaluate the other measurement properties of MED-fLAG, and to reduce the number of items before considering its clinical application.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41687-022-00495-2.

On the basis of what has been written about medication literacy and the experiences of experts, we developed a new questionnaire to measure medication literacy (MED-fLAG) in older adults and/or informal caregivers. MED-fLAG was then submitted to older adults, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals to retrieve their feedback concerning the relevance, comprehensibility and exhaustiveness of the proposed items. In future, MED-fLAG will allow health professionals to evaluate medication literacy skills in older patients during hospitalization and/or in their informal caregivers when they are responsible for preparing or administering the medications, and then propose individualised support.

Interventions for improving medication-taking ability and adherence in older adults prescribed multiple medications

BACKGROUND

Older people taking multiple medications represent a large and growing proportion of the population. Managing multiple medications can be challenging, and this is especially the case for older people, who have higher rates of comorbidity and physical and cognitive impairment than younger adults. Good medication-taking ability and medication adherence are necessary to ensure safe and effective use of medications.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve medication-taking ability and/or medication adherence in older community-dwelling adults prescribed multiple long-term medications.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts from inception until June 2019. We also searched grey literature, online trial registries, and reference lists of included studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-RCTs, and cluster-RCTs. Eligible studies tested interventions aimed at improving medication-taking ability and/or medication adherence among people aged ≥ 65 years (or of mean/median age > 65 years), living in the community or being discharged from hospital back into the community, and taking four or more regular prescription medications (or with group mean/median of more than four medications). Interventions targeting carers of older people who met these criteria were also included.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two review authors independently reviewed abstracts and full texts of eligible studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias of included studies. We conducted meta-analyses when possible and used a random-effects model to yield summary estimates of effect, risk ratios (RRs) for dichotomous outcomes, and mean differences (MDs) or standardised mean differences (SMDs) for continuous outcomes, along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Narrative synthesis was performed when meta-analysis was not possible. We assessed overall certainty of evidence for each outcome using Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Primary outcomes were medication-taking ability and medication adherence. Secondary outcomes included health-related quality of life (HRQoL), emergency department (ED)/hospital admissions, and mortality.

MAIN RESULTS

We identified 50 studies (14,269 participants) comprising 40 RCTs, six cluster-RCTs, and four quasi-RCTs. All included studies evaluated interventions versus usual care; six studies also reported a comparison between two interventions as part of a three-arm RCT design. Interventions were grouped on the basis of their educational and/or behavioural components: 14 involved educational components only, 7 used behavioural strategies only, and 29 provided mixed educational and behavioural interventions. Overall, our confidence in results regarding the effectiveness of interventions was low to very low due to a high degree of heterogeneity of included studies and high or unclear risk of bias across multiple domains in most studies. Five studies evaluated interventions for improving medication-taking ability, and 48 evaluated interventions for improving medication adherence (three studies evaluated both outcomes). No studies involved educational or behavioural interventions alone for improving medication-taking ability. Low-quality evidence from five studies, each using a different measure of medication-taking ability, meant that we were unable to determine the effects of mixed interventions on medication-taking ability. Low-quality evidence suggests that behavioural only interventions (RR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38; 4 studies) and mixed interventions (RR 1.22, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.37; 12 studies) may increase the proportions of people who are adherent compared with usual care. We could not include in the meta-analysis results from two studies involving mixed interventions: one had a positive effect on adherence, and the other had little or no effect. Very low-quality evidence means that we are uncertain of the effects of educational only interventions (5 studies) on the proportions of people who are adherent. Low-quality evidence suggests that educational only interventions (SMD 0.16, 95% CI -0.12 to 0.43; 5 studies) and mixed interventions (SMD 0.47, 95% CI -0.08 to 1.02; 7 studies) may have little or no impact on medication adherence assessed through continuous measures of adherence. We excluded 10 studies (4 educational only and 6 mixed interventions) from the meta-analysis including four studies with unclear or no available results. Very low-quality evidence means that we are uncertain of the effects of behavioural only interventions (3 studies) on medication adherence when assessed through continuous outcomes. Low-quality evidence suggests that mixed interventions may reduce the number of ED/hospital admissions (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.90; 11 studies) compared with usual care, although results from six further studies that we were unable to include in meta-analyses indicate that the intervention may have a smaller, or even no, effect on these outcomes. Similarly, low-quality evidence suggests that mixed interventions may lead to little or no change in HRQoL (7 studies), and very low-quality evidence means that we are uncertain of the effects on mortality (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.67 to 1.30; 7 studies). Moderate-quality evidence shows that educational interventions alone probably have little or no effect on HRQoL (6 studies) or on ED/hospital admissions (4 studies) when compared with usual care. Very low-quality evidence means that we are uncertain of the effects of behavioural interventions on HRQoL (1 study) or on ED/hospital admissions (2 studies). We identified no studies evaluating effects of educational or behavioural interventions alone on mortality. Six studies reported a comparison between two interventions; however due to the limited number of studies assessing the same types of interventions and comparisons, we are unable to draw firm conclusions for any outcomes.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Behavioural only or mixed educational and behavioural interventions may improve the proportion of people who satisfactorily adhere to their prescribed medications, but we are uncertain of the effects of educational only interventions. No type of intervention was found to improve adherence when it was measured as a continuous variable, with educational only and mixed interventions having little or no impact and evidence of insufficient quality to determine the effects of behavioural only interventions. We were unable to determine the impact of interventions on medication-taking ability. The quality of evidence for these findings is low due to heterogeneity and methodological limitations of studies included in the review. Further well-designed RCTs are needed to investigate the effects of interventions for improving medication-taking ability and medication adherence in older adults prescribed multiple medications.

New medication adverse reaction education

Increasing patient satisfaction scores.

Caregiver-Based Interventions to Optimize Medication Safety in Vulnerable Elderly Adults: A Systematic Evidence-Based Review

OBJECTIVES

To study the effect of caregiver-focused interventions to support medication safety in older adults with chronic disease.

DESIGN

Systematic review.

SETTING

Studies published before January 31, 2017, searched using Ovid Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar.

PARTICIPANTS

Caregivers with or without a care recipient.

MEASUREMENTS

Inclusion criteria: interventions focused on caregivers aiming to improve medication safety. Studies not focusing on older adults, not evaluating medication safety, failing to include caregivers, or without a comparison group were excluded.

RESULTS

The initial search revealed 1,311 titles. Eight studies met inclusion criteria. The strategies used in randomized trials were a home-based medication review and adherence assessment by a clinical pharmacist (2 home visits 6-8 weeks apart, with pharmacist and physician meeting independently) that found no difference in nonelective hospital admissions (p=.8) but fewer medications (p=.03); a 19-minute educational DVD and an hour-long medication education and training that improved caregiver satisfaction (p<.04); a medication education and adherence intervention (2-3 home visits per care recipient and caregiver dyad over 8 weeks) that found no difference in knowledge, administration, or accessibility of medications (p=.29); and a collaborative case management program (16-month program of assessment, meeting, and monthly follow-up telephone calls) that reduced perceived caregiver burden (p=.03). Quasi-experimental trials included collaborative care transitional coaches, an outpatient collaborative care model, and education and training programs. Of these, educational interventions showed improvements in self-efficacy, confidence, and preparedness. The collaborative care intervention reduced rehospitalizations (p=.04) and improved quality-of-care outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Although some interventions improved caregiver medication knowledge and self-efficacy, effects on clinical outcomes and healthcare use were insufficiently studied. Two studies implementing collaborative care models with medication management components showed potential for improvement in quality of clinical care and reductions in healthcare visits and warrant further study with respect to medication safety. J Am Geriatr Soc 66:2128-2135, 2018.

Pediatric Nurses' Perspectives on Medication Teaching in a Children's Hospital

PURPOSE

To explore inpatient pediatric nurses' current experiences and perspectives on medication teaching.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted at a Midwest pediatric hospital. Using convenience sampling, 26 nurses participated in six focus groups. Data were analyzed in an iterative group coding process.

RESULTS

Three themes emerged. 1) Medication teaching is an opportunity. 2) Medication teaching is challenging. Nurses experienced structural and process challenges to deliver medication teaching. Structural challenges included the physical hospital environment, electronic health record, and institutional discharge workflow while process challenges included knowledge, relationships and interactions with caregivers, and available resources. 3) Medication teaching is amenable to improvement.

CONCLUSION

Effective medication teaching with caregivers is critical to ensure safe, quality care for children after discharge. Nursing teaching practices have not changed, despite advances in technology and major changes in hospital care. Nurses face many challenges to conduct effective medication teaching. Improving current teaching practices is imperative in order to provide the best and safest care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

This study generated knowledge regarding pediatric nurses' teaching practices, values and beliefs that influence teaching, barriers, and ideas for how to improve medication teaching. Results will guide the development of targeted interventions to promote successful medication teaching practices.

Educação do paciente sobre regime terapêutico medicamentoso no processo de alta hospitalar: uma revisão integrativa

Adequada educação do paciente sobre regime terapêutico medicamentoso na alta hospitalar contribui para a continuidade do cuidado domiciliar. Revisão integrativa que objetivou analisar e sintetizar a produção científica acerca da educação do paciente sobre regime medicamentoso no processo de alta hospitalar. Consultou-se a base de dados Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System on-line (MEDLINE) e Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS). Foram selecionados 24 artigos, publicados entre 2005 e 2010. Aspectos inter-relacionados, como planejamento de alta estruturado, reconciliação medicamentosa, educação medicamentosa, eventos adversos a medicamentos e aderência medicamentosa permeiam a temática investigada.