Abstract
Background
Publication and implementation of clinical guidelines is an important educational measure that considerably helps physicians in choosing appropriate antimicrobial drug.
Objectives
...To evaluate long-term changes in antimicrobial prescribing habits before and after publishing the guidelines and to determine the factors that influence physician’s decision to prescribe an antimicrobial drug.
Methods
The study among general practitioners in Primorsko-Goranska County was conducted in three periods (January 2009, January 2011 and April 2019) by using a structured questionnaire that included general data about the physician, questions about their habits in antibiotic prescribing, criteria that influenced decision to prescribe antibiotics and antimicrobial agent(s) preferred in treating common infections.
Results
Concomitant chronic (non-pulmonary) disease was the most important factor influencing decision to prescribe an antimicrobial drug. Over 88% of physicians that completed the survey declared themselves as rational prescribers of antimicrobials but more than half of them (53.3%) sometimes prescribed an antibiotic even though it was not indicated compared to 75% of self-reported non-rational prescribers (P ˂ 0.05). Self-reported adherence to the guidelines increased from 34.6% in 2011 to 51.8% in 2019.
Conclusion
The research showed improvement in physicians’ knowledge in choosing the right antibiotic based on the analysis of answers but indicated the necessity for improving communication skills and empowering physicians not to prescribe antibiotics ‘just in case’ because of diagnostic uncertainty or patient demand. Further qualitative research is needed to understand physicians’ prescribing behaviour and decision-making processes in order to develop interventions that will effectively improve the use of antibiotics.
To determine the use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) information and the level of awareness and knowledge of EBM among patients in Croatia.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 987 patients ...in 10 family medicine practices in Croatia. Patients from both urban (n=496) and rural (n=482) areas were surveyed. A 27-item questionnaire was used to collect data about sources that patients searched for medical information, patient awareness and use of Cochrane systematic reviews and other EBM resources, and their demographic characteristics.
Half of the patients searched for medical information from sources other than physician. Internet was the most common place they searched for information. Very few patients indicated using EBM sources for medical information; one fifth of patients heard of EBM and 4% of the patients heard of the Cochrane Collaboration. Patients considered physician's opinion as the most reliable source of medical information. A logistic regression model showed that educational level and urban vs rural residence were the predictors of awareness about EBM and systematic reviews (P<0.001 for both).
Our finding that patients consider a physician's opinion to be the most reliable source of health-related information could be used for promotion of high-quality health information among patients. More effort should be devoted to the education of patients in rural areas and those with less formal education. New avenues for knowledge translation and dissemination of high-quality health information among patients are necessary.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of inappropriate prescribing to the elderly and to identify possible gender-related differences in prescribing certain potentially ...inappropriate medications (PIMs) to outpatients by using large administrative prescription database.
Methods
Medications prescribed for elderly outpatients (≥ 65 years) in Primorsko-Goranska County, Croatia, who received five or more different drugs simultaneously in 2010, were analyzed. The prevalence of potentially inappropriate drugs prescribed to the elderly was assessed using the new comprehensive protocol developed by authors Mimica Matanović and Vlahović-Palčevski.
Results
A total of 62.4 % of patients received at least one medication with unfavorable benefit/risk ratio in the elderly. Female patients were given inappropriate medications in a significantly higher percentage than men (69.3 % vs. 50.5 %;
p
< 0.001). The average number of prescriptions for PIMs that should have been avoided with certain diseases or conditions was 0.88 per patient in the survey. The most common drug combination potentially leading to serious drug–drug interactions (DDIs) included an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a potassium supplement.
Conclusions
Our study has shown that every tenth medication prescribed to a patient > 65 years and receiving five or more drugs was potentially inappropriate. Elderly women were prescribed PIMs more often than men. Drugs of concern in female patients were benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In male patients, there was a significantly higher proportion of possible interactions with warfarin, theophylline, and medications affecting the cardiovascular system, such as ACE inhibitors and amiodarone.
To assess psychological problems in children as reported by their veteran fathers with war-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The study group consisted of 154 veterans with war-related ...PTSD who were treated at the Mostar University Hospital. The control group consisted of 77 veterans without war-related PTSD who were selected from veteran associations by the snowball method. General Demographic Questionnaire, the first and fourth module of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Bosnia and Herzegovina version, and the Questionnaire on Developmental, Emotional, and Behavioral Problems in Children, created specifically for the needs of this study, were used to collect data on veterans' perception of psychological problems in their children.
In comparison with veterans without PTSD, veterans with PTSD reported significantly more developmental (odds ratio OR, 2.37; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.51-3.73), behavioral (OR, 3.92; 95% CI, 1.53-10.03), and emotional problems (OR, 17.74; 95% CI, 2.40-131.10) in their children.
Veterans with war-related PTSD more often reported developmental problems in their children. Father's PTSD may have long-term and long-lasting consequences on the child's personality.
Background: Regular use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) among general practitioners (GP) is insufficient.
Objective: To analyse whether knowledge and attitudes about EBM can be improved among ...mentors in general practice by involving sixth-year medical students as academic detailers.
Methods: An interventional non-randomized before-and-after study included 98 GPs (49 in the intervention group of mentors and 49 controls) and 174 medical students attending family medicine clinical rotations. A telephone survey on knowledge and attitudes towards EBM was conducted among participating physicians before, and six months after the rotation. During the rotation, each mentor chose two cases from real life, and the students' task was to form an answerable clinical question, find the evidence-based answer and to write a brief report. The mentor reviewed the report and discussed it with the student.
Results: Students' EBM detailing intervention led to significant improvement in knowledge and attitudes about EBM in the intervention group of mentors in general practice compared to control GPs (relative increase in knowledge was 20 ± 46.9% vs 6 ± 12.1%, respectively; P = 0.042). Among participants with Ph.D. or specialization in family medicine, the observed effects of the intervention were similar as in the total sample, and statistically significant, but not in the group of participants with neither scientific degree nor specialization in family medicine.
Conclusion: Knowledge and attitudes of GP mentors towards EBM can be improved by involving medical students as academic detailers. Further studies should explore the effectiveness of this method among GPs that are not mentors, and who do not have a specialization or research degree.
Introduction: This study aimed to analyze differences in sharing of prescription analgesics between rural and urban populations. Methods: We surveyed 1000 participants in outpatient family medicine ...settings in Croatia. We used a 35-item questionnaire to analyze patients’ characteristics, pain intensity, prescription analgesic sharing behavior, and perception of risks regarding sharing prescription medications. Results: Prescription analgesic sharing was significantly more frequent in the rural (64%) than in the urban population 55% (p = 0.01). Participants from rural areas more commonly asked for verbal or written information than those from urban areas when taking others’ prescription analgesics (p < 0.001) or giving such analgesics (p < 0.001). Participants from rural areas more commonly informed their physician about such behavior compared to those from urban areas (p < 0.01), and they were significantly more often asked about such behavior by their physician (p < 0.01). Perceptions about risks associated with sharing prescription medication were similar between rural and urban populations. Conclusions: There are systematic differences in the frequency of prescription analgesics and associated behaviors between patients in family medicine who live in rural and urban areas. Patients from rural areas were more prone to share prescription analgesics. Future studies should examine reasons for differences in sharing prescription analgesics between rural and urban areas.
Integriranje novih znanstvenih spoznaja u kurikule medicinskih fakulteta (MF) i programe specijalističkog usavršavanja doktora medicine te postizanje podudarnosti stečenih kompetencija sa stvarnom ...zdravstvenom potrebom pučanstva izazovi su obrazovanja doktora medicine 21. stoljeća. Kako je obiteljski liječnik temelj dobro organiziranoga zdravstvenog sustava, neophodno je osigurati njegovu dobro strukturiranu izobrazbu. Cilj ovoga rada jest opisati obrazovanje obiteljskih liječnika u Republici Hrvatskoj i usporediti ga sa standardima izobrazbe obiteljskih liječnika Europske unije. Europska akademija nastavnika opće/obiteljske medicine (EURACT) dala je preporuke za petnaest obveznih tema koje treba sadržavati predmet Obiteljska medicina u okviru studija medicine te preporuke za specijalističko usavršavanje iz obiteljske medicine koje treba biti više praktičnog nego teorijskog karaktera. U RH kurikuli svih četiriju MF imaju predmet Obiteljska medicina. Predmet Obiteljska medicina MF-a u Zagrebu uključuje svih petnaest tema sukladno preporukama EURACT-a, implementaciju instrumenta za neposredno nadgledanje proceduralnih vještina, izradu e-portfolija i poticanje učenja kroz stjecanje kliničkoga iskustva tijekom boravka u nastavnim praksama obiteljske medicine (OM). Predmet Obiteljska medicina MF-a u Splitu uključuje svih petnaest tema sukladno preporukama EURACT-a za diplomski studij medicine te organizaciju kliničke nastave koja uključuje boravak studenata i u gradskim i u otočkim nastavnim praksama OM. Nastava predmeta Obiteljska medicina na MF-u u Rijeci podrazumijeva teorijsku i praktičnu nastavu u nastavnim praksama OM te izradu pismenih odgovora na odabrano kliničko pitanje koje se temelji na iskustvu rada s bolesnikom. Nastava iz OM na MF-u u Osijeku izvodi se kroz integrirani program „Obiteljska medicina, školska medicina i medicinska sociologija” te uključuje kombinaciju kliničke nastave u nastavnim praksama OM i vježbi u kabinetu vještina. Četverogodišnji program specijalističkog usavršavanja iz OM temelji se na definiranim kompetencijama te podrazumijeva da specijalizant polovinu specijalističkog usavršavanja provodi u ordinaciji mentora koja je akreditirana za specijalističko usavršavanje iz OM. Slijedom navedenoga izobrazba obiteljskih liječnika u RH u skladu je s europskim i globalnim preporukama.
Depression is one of the five most frequent disorders in primary care practice and often remains unrecognized. One of the reasons why depression often passes unnoticed is comorbidity - a number of ...different chronic diseases coexist with depression, especially in elderly patients.
The aim of this research was to assess the difference between depressed and non-depressed patients regarding somatic and mental comorbidity. The differences in drug use were also examined.
Five hundred successive adult patients visiting family physicians in Rijeka, Croatia, were polled using the Beck Depression Inventory and a general questionnaire which was created for the purpose of the study. The existing medical records were also used.
Elevated depression level was determined in 48.1% of the examinees. These patients were suffering from larger number of chronic diseases (X=1.23) than non-depressed patients (X=0.70; t=5.07; p<0.001; z=4.93; p<0.001), especially cardiac, mental, renal and osteomuscular diseases. Depressed persons used significantly more drugs (X=1.28) than non-depressed patients (X=0.58; t=6.10; p<0.001; z=5.78; p<0.001), especially antirheumatics, analgesics, sedatives, antidepressants, antiallergics and diuretics.
The research results point to a necessity of routine screening and early treatment of depression in patients with chronic diseases in primary care practice.
To determine the correlation between social support and PTSD symptoms in women traumatized by the war and postwar social insecurity in Herzegovina.
The experimental group consisted of 187 randomly ...selected women living in Mostar, who were exposed to a wide spectrum of traumatic events during the war. The control group included 180 women living in the area surrounding Mostar who were not directly exposed to war destruction. Demographic data were obtained and a battery of psychological tests was used to measure the level of war traumatization and PTSD symptoms, along with the perception of social support.
Women in the experimental group had significantly lower levels of perceived social support from friends (t=2.91; p<0.05) and coworkers (t=2.30; p<0.05). However, its protective significance for all levels of posttraumatic symptoms was strong, even stronger than social support from the family. Of all the sources of emotional social support, low level of perceived support from friends is the only significant predictor of PTSD.
The sources of social support which the traumatized women drew from family, friends and coworkers change their significance depending on their availability. These sources are a strong predictive factor of PTSD development.
Main risk factor for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is smoking, although only less than 1/3 of smokers develop clinically manifest COPD. COPD's progressive nature ...with high disability and mortality makes it plausible to detect it as early as possible thus allowing for an early intervention. The only tool for an early diagnosis that could be used on the global scale is spirometry, even though symptoms and deprivation of health related quality of life (HRQoL) precede relevant spirometric changes. Existing HRQoL questionnaires are too complicated or not developed for an early detection of COPD. The aim of our study was to develop a new simple HRQoL tool that will allow (alone or in combination with other markers) early detection of patients with COPD.
A multicenter prospective cohort study recruiting 500 subjects at risk for COPD (smokers/ex-smokers ≥20 pack-years, 40-65 years, both sexes, with no prior diagnosis of COPD) will be carried out in two phases: (1) cross-sectional - development and validation of a new questionnaire; and (2) prospective - follow-up of a cohort of patients at risk for COPD. Subjects were recruited by 25 GPs and assessed for COPD by dedicated pulmonologists in 7 hospital centers using a predefined protocol: HRQoL, history, physical, blood sampling, exhaled breath temperature (EBT), lung function, 6-min walk test (6MWT). Patients without COPD and those in GOLD stage 1 at initial assessment will be reassessed for disease progression by the same pulmonologist after 2 and 5 years.
This is one of the first cohort studies attempting to establish the incidence of COPD in the pre-symptomatic stage before significant end organ damage. We intend to assess the validity, predictability and discriminative power ('healthy' smokers vs. pre-symptomatic phase in newly developed COPD) of newly developed HRQoL tool alone or in combination with other markers; EBT, lung function, 6MWT, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics). We expect that the results of this study can improve our understanding of the development of COPD, identify some new underlying pathophysiological pathways, and offer to sensitive smokers/ex-smokers new preventive and early intervention measures thus improving the management of COPD.
Clinicaltrial.gov NCT01550679 retrospectively registered February 28, 2012.
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