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This study explored how Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) are being undertaken and the challenges to their successful implementation and sustainability.
A cross-sectional mixed methods online survey.
Primary care in England.
120 clinical pharmacists with experience in conducting SMRs in primary care.
Survey responses were received from clinical pharmacists working in 15 different regions. The majority were independent prescribers (62%, n=74), and most were employed by Primary Care Networks (65%, n=78), delivering SMRs for one or more general practices. 61% (n=73) had completed, or were currently enrolled in, the approved training pathway. Patient selection was largely driven by the primary care contract specification: care home residents, patients with polypharmacy, patients on medicines commonly associated with medication errors, patients with severe frailty and/or patients using potentially addictive pain management medication. Only 26% (n=36) of respondents reported providing patients with information in advance. The majority of SMRs were undertaken remotely by telephone and were 21–30 min in length. Much variation was reported in approaches to conducting SMRs, with SMRs in care homes being deemed the most challenging due to additional complexities involved. Challenges included not having sufficient time to prepare adequately, address complex polypharmacy and complete follow-up work generated by SMRs, issues relating to organisational support, competing national priorities and lack of ‘buy-in’ from some patients and General Practitioners.
These results offer insights into the role being played by the clinical pharmacy workforce in a new country-wide initiative to improve the quality and safety of care for patients taking multiple medicines. Better patient preparation and trust, alongside continuing professional development, more support and oversight for clinical pharmacists conducting SMRs, could lead to more efficient medication reviews. However, a formal evaluation of the potential of SMRs to optimise safe medicines use for patients in England is now warranted.
Treatment of the node negative contralateral neck in oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) remains debated, with no clear consensus. Prophylactic contralateral neck treatment (either surgically or via irradiation) is generally recommended when the estimated risk of occult nodal metastasis is >20%. Unfortunately, patients undergoing bilateral neck treatment often require long-term supportive care for swallowing dysfunction. Reducing the impact of treatment on long-term quality of life is key in patients with OPC who have a good prognosis and tend to be young and fit at presentation. Lymphatic mapping and the use of free-hand single photon emission CT (fhSPECT) combined with sentinel lymph node biopsy is a novel approach to address this clinical need. The Lymphatic mapping Of Oropharyngeal Cancer trial aims to (a) validate a lymphatic mapping protocol in OPC using new technology (fhSPECT) with radiotracers and (b) establish lymphatic drainage patterns and the occult metastatic rate in the contralateral neck in OPC.
The design is a prospective multicentre cohort trial to understand the lymphatic drainage pattern in 150 patients with OPC and unilateral neck metastases. The trial has two phases: (1) imaging phase (n=75)—aim: develop an imaging protocol to establish the lymphatic drainage pattern in a population of patients with proven unilateral neck metastasis from OPC. The intervention will involve peritumoural injection of radiotracer followed by fhSPECT scan under general anaesthesia (GA) (at time of examination under anaesthetic). A SPECT/CT scan (gold standard for lymphatic mapping) will be carried out subsequently as a comparator. The primary outcome is the rate of contralateral drainage. Secondary outcome is the accuracy of fhSPECT versus SPECT/CT. The number of contralateral nodes on SPECT/CT will be used as the denominator in calculating the sensitivity of fhSPECT in independently verified images. fhSPECT should achieve sensitivity >94%. A minimum number of 20/75 patients will be required to demonstrate contralateral drainage to proceed to the surgical stage. An imaging substudy (n=20) aims to develop a secondary imaging protocol in the event of Surgical phase (n=75)—aim: demonstrate the utility of surgically staging the contralateral neck using sentinel node biopsy (SNB). The primary outcome of this surgical phase is the occult metastatic rate of contralateral nodes (positive SNB). The contralateral drainage rate will be identified during the imaging phase, with an expected SNB positive rate of excised nodes ranging from 25% to 40%.
The outcome of this trial will provide a validated protocol and evidence to inform the design of future research in which management of the contralateral neck is based on surgical staging. Ethical approval was granted by the Yorkshire & The Humber-South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee (REC ref: 20/YH/0111). Results from the trial will be presented to the scientific community at appropriate meetings and international journals. Patients and the public will be informed via patient groups, cancer charities and social media/press releases.
Precision Health (PH) holds the promise of revolutionizing healthcare by enabling personalized disease prevention and management through the integration of genomic data, lifestyle factors, environmental influences, and other social determinants of health (SDoH). However, the absence of a baseline assessment of knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) of practicing nurses' capacity for PH hinders its integration. The purpose of this study is to determine the capacity of practicing Registered Nurses (RNs) for PH across the United States and to assess the validity and reliability of a tool designed for this use—the Precision Health Nurse Capacity Scale (PHNCS).
A descriptive exploratory study was conducted to evaluate the capacity of practicing RNs for this evolving phenomenon, PH, using a convenience sample. The survey was sent via email and made available to all members of the American Nurses Association (ANA) who work in a variety of practice environments. The ANA represents the over 4 million nurses practicing in the United States.
The majority of nurse respondents felt it is important for nurses to become more educated about all aspects of PH including SDoH but they lack confidence in the integration of PH. The PHNCS was found to be a valid and reliable tool in measuring the capacity of nurses to practice PH.
The incorporation of PH into nursing practice suffers an immediate impediment: the lack of know-how of the US nursing workforce. This inaugural data on KSAs for PH establishes a logical baseline from which the requisite education and training should commence.
Precision Health is an emerging healthcare approach in the United States and globally. Enabling it will require a nursing workforce prepared with the requisite KSAs. Determining the capacity of the nursing workforce is a foundational step to begin this process.
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