BACKGROUND: Despite efforts to improve undergraduate clinical pharmacology & therapeutics (CPT) education, prescribing errors are still made regularly. To improve CPT education and daily prescribing, it is crucial to understand how therapeutic reasoning works. Therefore, the aim of this study was to gain insight into the therapeutic reasoning process. METHODS: A narrative literature review has been performed for literature on cognitive psychology and diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning. RESULTS: Based on these insights, The European Model of Therapeutic Reasoning has been developed, building upon earlier models and insights from cognitive psychology. In this model, it can be assumed that when a diagnosis is made, a primary, automatic response as to what to prescribe arises based on pattern recognition via therapy scripts (type 1 thinking). At some point, this response may be evaluated by the reflective mind (using metacognition). If it is found to be incorrect or incomplete, an alternative response must be formulated through a slower, more analytical and deliberative process, known as type 2 thinking. Metacognition monitors the reasoning process and helps a person to form new therapy scripts after they have chosen an effective therapy. Experienced physicians have more and richer therapy scripts, mostly based on experience and enabling conditions, instead of textbook knowledge, and therefore their type 1 response is more often correct. CONCLUSION: Because of the important role of metacognition in therapeutic reasoning, more attention should be paid to metacognition in CPT education. Both trainees and teachers should be aware of the possibility to monitor and influence these cognitive processes. Further research is required to investigate the applicability of these insights and the adaptability of educational approaches to therapeutic reasoning.
- MeSH
- Pharmacology, Clinical education MeSH
- Clinical Reasoning * MeSH
- Clinical Competence MeSH
- Drug Prescriptions standards MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Medication Errors prevention & control MeSH
- Metacognition MeSH
- Education, Medical, Undergraduate MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Review MeSH
Východiská: Medikačné chyby sú častejšie hlásené z nemocničného prostredia. Avšak môžeme ich identifikovať aj v zariadeniach sociálnych služieb. Najčastejšie ide o nesprávne riedenie lieku, nesprávne uchovávanie lieku, podanie lieku v nesprávnej dávke a v nesprávnom čase, nesprávnu techniku podania lieku, podanie exspirovaného lieku. Výsledky výskumov dokazujú, že medikačné chyby sú globálnym problém verejného zdravia. Cieľ: identifikovať kritické miesta rizikového správania sa sestier v príprave a podávaní liekov pre os obyvateľom zariadenia sociálnych služieb. Súbor a metódy: Do súboru bolo zaradených 5 sestier s priemernou dĺžkou praxe v povolaní sestra 29,4 rokov. Uskutočnili sme priame pozorovanie v rozsahu piatich pracovných dní. Celkový počet pozorovaní bolo 675. Počet pozorovaných javov bol 9. Použili sme metódu frekvenčnej analýzy pozorovaných javov. Výsledky sme interpretovali ako priemerné relatívne skóre. Výsledky: Z analýzy dát vyplynulo zistenie, že kritickým miestom v príprave a v podávaní liekov per os v zariadení sociálnych služieb je kontrola nežiaducich účinkov liekov, poučenie osoby a kontrola užitia liekov. Najviac medikačných chýb sme zaznamenali v tretí pracovný deň. Záver: Odhalené rizikové správanie sa sestier v príprave a podávaní liekov sú výzvou pre zmeny v procesoch realizovaných v zariadení sociálnych služieb. Prospektívne je potrebné realizovať väčšie multicentrické štúdie
Backround: Medication errors are more commonly reported from the hospital setting. However, they can also be identified in social service settings. The most common are incorrect dilution of the medicine, incorrect storage of the medicine, administration of the medicine in the wrong dose and at the wrong time, incorrect technique of administration of the medicine, administration of exspirated medicine. Research findings show that medication errors are a global public health problem. Objective: Identify critical points of nurses' risky behaviors in the preparation and administration of medications to residents of a social service facility. Participants and methods: Five nurses with an average length of experience in the nursing profession of 29.4 years were included in the cohort. We conducted direct observation over a period of five working days. The total number of observations was 675. The number of observed phenomena was 9. We used the method of frequency analysis of observed phenomena. We interpreted the results as mean relative scores. Results: The data analysis revealed the finding that the critical point in the preparation and administration of per os medications in a social service facility is the control of adverse drug reactions, the instruction of the person, and the control of the use of medications. The highest number of medication errors were observed on the third working day. Conclusion: The revealed risky behaviors of nurses in the preparation and administration of medications are a challenge for changes in the processes implemented in the social services facility. Larger multicentre studies with longer observation periods are prospectively needed
Aside from the general population, the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected a group of patients in palliative oncology care. In this study, long-term immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination were monitored in a cohort of patients in palliative oncology care. This non-randomized, prospective, and open-label pilot study recruited patients from the Palliative Oncology Program and included 147 patients, of which 80 were females (54.4%) and 67 males (45.6%). The overall evaluation included current health status, SARS-CoV-2 anti-S IgG titer, and neutralizing antibodies using the SARS-CoV-2 virus neutralization test (VNT). Anti-S IgG antibody analysis revealed high (H) antibody levels in 35.7% (n = 10) and very high (VH) levels in 39.3% (n = 11) of patients after the second vaccination dose. Similarly, after the third dose, H was found in 29.6% (n = 32) and VH in 55.5% (n = 60) of patients. High and very high anti-S IgG antibody levels were consistent with high VNT titers (>2560) and H antibody levels in 17.1% (n = 12) or VH in 82.9% (n = 58) of patients. Patients with two or more doses showed H and VH antibody levels at a median of 451 and 342 days after vaccination, respectively. In this clinical trial, patients showed high and very high levels of anti-S IgG antibodies over a longer period of time. These patients did not show reduced immunological responses to the COVID-19 vaccine challenge. We can assume that prevention through vaccination can reduce the risk of complications or death from COVID-19 in patients in early palliative oncology care.
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
OBJECTIVES: It has been reported that job demands affect sleep, but how different levels of job demands affect sleep remains unclear. We examined whether curvilinear relationships exist between job demands and multiple sleep health outcomes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses with linear and quadratic effects, using self-administered survey data. SETTING: A national sample of US adults. PARTICIPANTS: Workers from Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS2; n = 2927). MEASUREMENTS: The Job Content Questionnaire assessed overall and 5 specific aspects of job demands (intensity, role conflict, work overload, time pressure, and interruptions). Habitual sleep health patterns across 5 dimensions (regularity, satisfaction/quality, daytime alertness, efficiency, and duration) were assessed. Age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital/partnered status, education, job tenure, work hours, body mass index, smoking status, and study sample were covariates. RESULTS: There were significant linear and quadratic relationships between job demands and sleep outcomes. Specifically, the linear effects indicated that participants with higher job demands had worse sleep health, such as shorter duration, greater irregularity, greater inefficiency, and more sleep dissatisfaction. The quadratic effects, however, indicated that sleep regularity and efficiency outcomes were the best when participants' job demands were moderate rather than too low or too high. These effects were found for overall job demands as well as for specific aspects of job demands. Stratified analyses further revealed that these curvilinear associations were mainly driven by participants with low job control. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate levels of job demands, especially if combined with adequate job control, are related to optimal sleep health.
- MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Smoking MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Stress, Psychological * MeSH
- Sleep * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
- Geographicals
- United States MeSH
INTRO: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of quiet eye training (QET) on inhibitory control, visuospatial working memory (WM), and tonic attention in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: Forty-eight children with ADHD aged 9-12 years were randomly assigned to QET and control (CON) groups. The QET group practiced targeted hand-eye tasks within a QET protocol developed to optimize controlled attention and gaze through eye fixations. We used the go/no-go (GNG) test, the Corsi test, and the reaction test of alertness (RTA) to verify the effects of QET on inhibition control, WM, and tonic attention. RESULTS: QET group showed significantly shorter reaction times, a higher number of correct responses, and a lower number of omissions in the GNG inhibition test after QET as compared to the pre-measurements, whereas the CON group did not demonstrate significant changes in this test. The measures of WM (Corsi test) and tonic attention (RTA) did not change significantly with the QET-based intervention. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that the QET protocol, which includes instructions and a video demonstration to optimize eye fixation on a target during aiming tasks, is acceptable and usable for children with ADHD. Overall, a short-term, 5-week visuomotor training intervention based on the quiet eye paradigm was shown to be effective in improving inhibitory control and focused visual attention, but not visuospatial WM and intrinsic attention in 9-12-year-old children with inattentive or combined ADHD.
- MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Double-Blind Method MeSH
- Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity * therapy MeSH
- Cognition MeSH
- Memory, Short-Term * physiology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Fixation, Ocular MeSH
- Reaction Time MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Randomized Controlled Trial MeSH
BACKGROUND: Medication administration errors (MAE) are a worldwide issue affecting the safety of hospitalized patients. Through the early identification of potential causes, it is possible to increase the safety of medication administration (MA) in clinical nursing. The study aimed to identify potential risk factors affecting drug administration in inpatient wards in the Czech Republic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive correlation study through a non-standardized questionnaire was used. Data were collected from September 29 to October 15, 2021, from nurses in the Czech Republic. For statistical analysis, the authors used SPSS vers. 28 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS: The research sample consisted of 1205 nurses. The authors found that there was a statistically significant relationship between nurse education (p = 0.05), interruptions, preparation of medicines outside the patient rooms (p < 0.001), inadequate patient identification (p < 0.01), large numbers of patients assigned per nurse (p < 0.001), use of team nursing care and administration of generic substitution and an MAE. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study point to the weaknesses of medication administration in selected clinical departments in hospitals. The authors found that several factors, such as high patient ratio per nurse, lack of patient identification, and interruption during medication preparation of nurses, can increase the prevalence of MAE. Nurses who have completed MSc and PhD education have a lower incidence of MAE. More research is needed to identify other causes of medication administration errors. Improving the safety culture is the most critical challenge for today's healthcare industry. Education for nurses can be an effective way to reduce MAEs by enhancing their knowledge and skills, mainly focusing on increasing adherence to safe medication preparation and administration and a better understanding of medication pharmacodynamics. Med Pr. 2023;74(2):85-92.
- MeSH
- Correlation of Data MeSH
- Pharmaceutical Preparations MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Medication Errors * prevention & control MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Self Report MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
UNLABELLED: The aim of the study was to identify the reasons for medication administration errors, describe the barriers in their reporting and estimate the number of reported medication administration errors. BACKGROUND: Providing quality and safe healthcare is a key priority for all health systems. Medication administration error belongs to the more common mistakes committed in nursing practice. Prevention of medication administration errors must therefore be an integral part of nursing education. DESIGN: A descriptive and cross-sectional design was used for this study. METHODS: Sociological representative research was carried out using the standardized Medication Administration Error Survey. The research study involved 1205 nurses working in hospitals in the Czech Republic. Field surveys were carried out in September and October 2021. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's and Chi-square automatic interaction detection were used to analyze the data. The STROBE guideline was used. RESULTS: Among the most frequent causes of medication administration errors belong name (4.1 ± 1.4) and packaging similarity between different drugs (3.7 ± 1.4), the substitution of brand drugs by cheaper generics (3.6 ± 1.5), frequent interruptions during the preparation and administration of drugs (3.6 ± 1.5) and illegible medical records (3.5 ± 1.5). Not all medication administration errors are reported by nurses. The reasons for non-reporting of such errors include fear of being blamed for a decline in patient health (3.5 ± 1.5), fear of negative feelings from patients or family towards the nurse or legal liability (3.5 ± 1.6) and repressive responses by hospital management (3.3 ± 1.5). Most nurses (two-thirds) stated that less than 20 % of medication administration errors were reported. Older nurses reported statistically significantly fewer medication administration errors concerning non-intravenous drugs than younger nurses (p < 0.001). At the same time, nurses with more clinical experience (≥ 21 years) give significantly lower estimates of medication administration errors than nurses with less clinical practice (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Patient safety training should take place at all levels of nursing education. The standardized Medication Administration Error survey is useful for clinical practice managers. It allows for the identification of medication administration error causes and offers preventive and corrective measures that can be implemented. Measures to reduce medication administration errors include developing a non-punitive adverse event reporting system, introducing electronic prescriptions of medicines, involving clinical pharmacists in the pharmacotherapy process and providing nurses with regular comprehensive training.
- MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Medication Errors prevention & control MeSH
- Nursing Staff, Hospital * MeSH
- Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Risk Management MeSH
- Nurses * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Sensory processing is influenced by neuromodulators such as serotonin, thought to relay behavioural state. Recent work has shown that the modulatory effect of serotonin itself differs with the animal's behavioural state. In primates, including humans, the serotonin system is anatomically important in the primary visual cortex (V1). We previously reported that in awake fixating macaques, serotonin reduces the spiking activity by decreasing response gain in V1. But the effect of serotonin on the local network is unknown. Here, we simultaneously recorded single-unit activity and local field potentials (LFPs) while iontophoretically applying serotonin in V1 of alert monkeys fixating on a video screen for juice rewards. The reduction in spiking response we observed previously is the opposite of the known increase of spiking activity with spatial attention. Conversely, in the local network (LFP), the application of serotonin resulted in changes mirroring the local network effects of previous reports in macaques directing spatial attention to the receptive field. It reduced the LFP power and the spike-field coherence, and the LFP became less predictive of spiking activity, consistent with reduced functional connectivity. We speculate that together, these effects may reflect the sensory side of a serotonergic contribution to quiet vigilance: The lower gain reduces the salience of stimuli to suppress an orienting reflex to novel stimuli, whereas at the network level, visual processing is in a state comparable to that of spatial attention.
- MeSH
- Action Potentials physiology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Macaca mulatta MeSH
- Serotonin MeSH
- Photic Stimulation MeSH
- Visual Perception physiology MeSH
- Evoked Potentials, Visual * MeSH
- Visual Cortex * physiology MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural MeSH
The objectives of the study were to estimate the current exposure to cadmium (Cd) in Europe, potential differences between the countries and geographic regions, determinants of exposure and to derive European exposure levels. The basis for this work was provided by the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) which established a framework for alignment of national or regional HBM studies. For the purpose of Cd exposure assessment, studies from 9 European countries (Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Portugal, Germany, France, Luxembourg) were included and urine of 20-39 years old adults sampled in the years 2014-2021 (n = 2510). The measurements in urine were quality assured by the HBM4EU quality assurance/quality control scheme, study participants' questionnaire data were post-harmonized. Spatially resolved external data, namely Cd concentrations in soil, agricultural areas, phosphate fertilizer application, traffic density and point source Cd release were collected for the respective statistical territorial unit (NUTS). There were no distinct geographic patterns observed in Cd levels in urine, although the data revealed some differences between the specific study sites. The levels of exposure were otherwise similar between two time periods within the last decade (DEMOCOPHES - 2011-2012 vs. HBM4EU Aligned Studies, 2014-2020). The age-dependent alert values for Cd in urine were exceeded by 16% of the study participants. Exceedances in the different studies and locations ranged from 1.4% up to 42%. The studies with largest extent of exceedance were from France and Poland. Association analysis with individual food consumption data available from participants' questionnaires showed an important contribution of vegetarian diet to the overall exposure, with 35% higher levels in vegetarians as opposed to non-vegetarians. For comparison, increase in Cd levels due to smoking was 25%. Using NUTS2-level external data, positive associations between HBM data and percentage of cropland and consumption of Cd-containing mineral phosphate fertilizer were revealed, which indicates a significant contribution of mineral phosphate fertilizers to human Cd exposure through diet. In addition to diet, traffic and point source release were identified as significant sources of exposure in the study population. The findings of the study support the recommendation by EFSA to reduce Cd exposure as also the estimated mean dietary exposure of adults in the EU is close or slightly exceeding the tolerable weekly intake. It also indicates that regulations are not protecting the population sufficiently.
- MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Phosphates analysis MeSH
- Cadmium * urine MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Young Adult MeSH
- Environmental Monitoring * methods MeSH
- Fertilizers analysis MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Young Adult MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Review MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe MeSH
