ABSTRACT
Effective communication between pharmacists and patients can prevent medication errors as it enhances patients’ understanding of their medication and increases their adherence. As misunderstanding may occur in any type of interaction and lead to communication breakdown, repair practices that speakers adopt to enhance understanding in interaction are an especially important area of research in Conversation Analysis (CA). As such, this study aims to identify and explain the self-repair practices used by pharmacists to increase patient understanding in spoken interaction. The study was conducted at the University of Malaya Medical Centre from November to December 2014. Four pharmacists and 27 patients were recruited to participate in an intervention study. A detailed sequential analysis of interaction data revealed the pharmacists’ use of replacement, clarification, verbatim repeat, and repetition with an elaboration designed to increase the clarity and accuracy of the intended message and improve patient understanding. Self-repair practices may have an essential role in increasing medication safety in the healthcare setting. Copyright © 2022 Rami Maher Delli
ABSTRACT
Introduction: COVID-19 has led to a change in the health-seeking behaviour and the delivery of healthcare. Globally, fragility fracture admissions have reduced by 0-54% depending on location. When Malaysia implemented the third movement control order on 3 May 2021 in response to increasing COVID-19 cases, the number of orthopaedic beds in the University Malaya Medical Centre was reduced from over a hundred to twenty-eight. To date, the impact of COVID-19 on fragility fracture admission in Malaysia is unknown. This study aims to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 cases and fragility fracture admissions to a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted from April to June 2021 in the University Malaya Medical Centre. The patients admitted to the University Malaya Medical Centre with fragility fractures between April and June 2021 were identified and compared to the corresponding periods in 2018. Patients <50 years old and those who had fractures due to cancer were excluded. The relationship between the total number of COVID-19 cases per week and weekly fragility fractures admissions were determined. Results: A total of 406,479 COVID-19 cases were reported over 3 months (April, n = 63,213;May, n = 163,644;June, n = 179,622). Fifty-five patients [mean age (78.9±8.6), female (44/55,80%), hip fractures (36/55,65.5%)] were admitted in April-June 2021, which was a 35.3% reduction when compared to the same period in 2018 [n = 85, mean age (75.1±9.9), female (62/85,72.9%), hip fractures (53/85,62.4%)], although no significant difference was found between the baseline characteristics. However, both fragility fracture and hip fracture admissions were found to be negatively correlated (r =-0.76 and r =-0.75) with the COVID-19 cases (P < 0.01). Twelve (12/51,23.5%) patients admitted in 2021 due to post-fall fragility fractures presented to the hospital more than a day after their injury. The proportion of patients with delayed presentation (>1 day post-fall) increased over the study period (April = 5/26, 19.2%;May = 3/13, 23.1%;June = 4/12, 33.3%). Conclusion: There was a reduction in fragility fracture admissions during the COVID outbreak in Malaysia. There might be a rebound in cases after the COVID crisis is over, reorganising medical services may be warranted to ensure effective fracture care delivery.