[News item] Only half of patients take their medications as prescribed: Are there interventions that will help them? — ScienceDaily

Only half of patients take their medications as prescribed: Are there interventions that will help them? — ScienceDaily.

From the news article

Date:November 20, 2014

Source:Wiley

Summary:The cost of patients not taking their medications as prescribed can be substantial in terms of their health. Although a large amount of research evidence has tried to address this problem, there are no well-established approaches to help them.

The cost of patients not taking their medications as prescribed can be substantial in terms of their health. Although a large amount of research evidence has tried to address this problem, there are no well-established approaches to help them, according to a new systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. The authors of the review examined data from 182 trials testing different approaches to increasing medication adherence and patient health. Even though the review included a significant number of the best studies to date, in most cases, trials had important problems in design, which made it hard to determine which approaches actually worked.

Only about half of all patients who are prescribed medication that they must administer themselves actually take their medication as prescribed. Many stop taking medication all together and others do not follow the instructions for taking it properly. This has been the case in many different diseases for at least the last half a century. In conditions where effective drug treatments are available, patients who take their medications as per their provider’s instructions can see a real difference to their health. However, when researchers in the field have tried to draw together evidence on this, they have found it unreliable and inconsistent.

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Misleading Statistical Information in Ads: A Drug Ad Analyzed and Related Evaluation Resources

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/06/29/an-epidemic-of-bad-infographics-depression/

Do some statistically laden advertisements and Web sites seem misleading? Is there a disconnect between the displayed data in some ads with your gut feelings?  But you just cannot put your finger on why you feel distrustful?

Just plain sloppily represented infographics could be creating some of the confusion. Infographic combines an interesting graphical element with hard data. They are commonly seen in the media, including USA Today.

John Grohol, founder and editor-in-chief of Psych Central, deftly illustrates how to analyze a medical advertisement for misleading information (and downright errors!) in a recent blog item.

Here are some excerpts from An Epidemic of Bad Infograhics: Depression

In an effort to keep trying to get people’s attention in an increasingly attention-deficit world, we get a lot of inquiries for links to websites promoting education programs and other affiliate websites. The latest effort is focused around “infographics,” those graphics made popular by the USA Todaynewspaper that combines an interesting graphical element with hard data. A well done infographic ostensibly makes data more engaging. A fantastic infographic puts data into proper perspective and gives it valuable context.

What these marketing firms send me, however, are not fantastic or even well-done. So in the interests of demonstrating that any infographic can be worse than no infographic, I’m going to critique one of the latest ones to have come across my desk. It’s about depression, one of the most common and serious mental disorders….

….

What about your level of depression? Well, according to the infographic — but not the research or mental health professionals — you can have different “depression levels” ranging from “Normal” (what’s a “Normal” depression?) to “Situational” or even “Major.”

Of course, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM-IV) doesn’t divide major depression in this manner. Instead, it specifies that major depression can be Mild, Moderate, Severe without Psychotic Features, Severe with Psychotic Features, In Partial Remission, In Full Remission, or Chronic.

I assume “Situational” refers to a completely different mental disorder — Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood. The person designing this graphic was obviously not too familiar with the actual information he was asked to illustrate……

Related Health Information Evaluation Resources

• Evaluating Health Information on the Internet summarizes tips and pointers
• Consumer’s Guide to Taking Charge of Health Information has 10 tips, including how to interpret risk statements, a “reliability chart”,  and where to get more information. Bonus feature: snappy cartoons!
• Evaluating Health Information on the Internet  by the US National Cancer Institute summarizes 10 key points. Links to related federal agencies
• Evaluating Health Information: MedlinePlus provides trusted links to overviews, specific conditions (as cancer and complementary medicine), organizations, and more
• Quackwatch is physician published guide to health fraud including 23 hot topics (as immunization,autism, homeopathy, chiropractic). While the site is a bit controversial, it does have useful information and links.
• National Council Against Health Fraud is a private nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as public health problems
• patientInform is a collaborative effort of health care related professionals who interpret research articles, in the form of summaries or news items.

• What to look for when reading medical research outlines the different types  of scientific studies and which ones are the best
• Participating organizations  provides links to news items from over 25 publishers and organizations. “The publishers allow readers following links from patientINFORM material on the health organizations’ sites to access the full text of these articles without a subscription, and they provide patients and caregivers with free or reduced-fee access to other articles in participating journals.”

Related Statistics Resources

• Guide to Biostatistics (MedPage Today) is a bit technical, but a good introduction to biostatistical terms used in medical research 
  

Related articles

• Misleading Statistical Information in Ads: A Drug Ad Analyzed and Related Evaluation Resources (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Misleading information on health social sites (and tips on how to evaluate health/medical information) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Women And Prescription Drugs: One In Four Takes Mental Health Meds (worldwright.wordpress.com)
• 1 in 5 of U.S. adults on behavioral meds (worldwright.wordpress.com)
• Ethical Implications of the Use of Data and Statistics (lynnmunoz.wordpress.com)
• Information Designers (fusionfinds.wordpress.com)
• 1 in 5 Adults on Behavioral Meds (abcnews.go.com)
• How our society breeds anxiety, depression and dysfunction (salon.com)

 

Paid Caregivers Struggle to Follow Doctor’s Orders

Struggling to follow doctor’s orders
Paid caregivers may lack the skills to take on health-related tasks in senior’s homes

From a February 22, 2011 Eureka news alert

CHICAGO — Paid caregivers make it possible for seniors to remain living in their homes. The problem, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study, is that more than one-third of caregivers had difficulty reading and understanding health-related information and directions. Sixty percent made errors when sorting medications into pillboxes.

The study will be published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. It has been published online.***

In a first-of-its-kind study, nearly 100 paid, non-family caregivers were recruited in the Chicago area and their health literacy levels and the health-related responsibilities were assessed, said Lee Lindquist, M.D., assistant professor of geriatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“We found that nearly 86 percent of the caregivers perform health-related tasks,” said Lindquist, lead author of the study. “Most of the caregivers are women, about 50 years old. Many are foreign born or have a limited education. The jobs typically pay just under $9.00 per hour, but nearly one-third of the caregivers earn less than minimum wage.”

Lindquist found that despite pay, country of birth or education level, 60 percent of all the caregivers made errors when doling medication into a pillbox. This is an alarming statistic, because patients who don’t take certain medications as prescribed could end up in the hospital, Lindquist said.

“Many of these caregivers are good people who don’t want to disappoint and don’t want to lose their jobs,” Lindquist said. “So they take on health-related responsibilities, such as giving out medications and accompanying clients to the doctor for appointments. Most physicians and family members do not realize that while the caregiver is nodding and saying ‘yes’, she might not really understand what is being said.”

Right now there isn’t a standard test family members or employment agencies can use to gauge a caregiver’s ability to understand and follow health-related information, Lindquist said.

“Currently we are developing tests consumers can use to evaluate caregiver skills as well as studying the screening processes caregiver agencies use,” Lindquist said. “But, if you really want to know if the caregiver is doing a good job and is taking care of the health needs of your senior, start by going into the home, observing them doing the tasks, and asking more questions.”

###

The title of the study is “Inadequate Health Literacy Among Paid Caregivers of Seniors.”***

For suggestions on how to get this article for free or at low cost click here.

 

 

Related Articles

• Managing Medications: Tips for Family Caregivers (homecareminneapolis.wordpress.com)
• How to Create a Pill Card to Keep Track of Meds