[Hospital pastoral care of people with dementia : A qualitative interview study with professional hospital pastoral carers]. / Klinikseelsorge mit Menschen mit Demenz : Eine qualitative Interviewstudie mit professionellen Klinikseelsorgern.

BACKGROUND: Communicating and interacting with persons diagnosed with dementia (PwD) present a challenge to pastoral carers, since most classical pastoral care approaches concentrate on conversation as a medium of relationship formation and do not take limited communication skills into account. This study focuses on the following question: how can hospital-based pastoral carers find appropriate methods of communication and interaction with PwD and provide them with pastoral care? METHODS: A total of 10 professional pastoral carers participated in the study. Each of these persons had extensive experience with PwD. Data were collected with the use of guideline-based interviews. The interviews were evaluated using Mayring's method of qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: One of the main challenges faced by the pastoral carers in interacting with PwD was to explore communication strategies based on non-verbal communication, in addition to verbal communication. Pastoral carers need to find alternative communicative approaches, such as biographical, non-verbal, and physical sense-related methods. Clinical pastoral education did not adequately equip these professionals for communicating and interacting with PwD. The interviewed pastoral carers acquired this specific knowledge through independent research of the academic literature, observation of other professionals, dementia-specific training courses, and practical experience. CONCLUSION: Pastoral carers can make a positive contribution to the holistic care of PwD through their unique communicative and relationship approach to care. It is imperative to develop adequate pastoral care concepts and to integrate methodologies for dealing with PwD into the training curriculum of pastoral carers.

[German translation of the performance-oriented mobility assessment according to Tinetti]. / Deutsche Übersetzung des "Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment" nach Tinetti.

BACKGROUND: In clinical research as well as good clinical practice increasing importance is placed on standardized and evaluated procedures. They provide information which is important for the prognosis, determination of the need for interventions, determination of treatment goals and evaluation of treatment approaches and outcomes. Furthermore, they serve as justification of the reimbursement for presentation to official bodies. Until now no officially authorized German version of the performance-oriented mobility assessment (POMA) according to Tinetti was available. OBJECTIVES: This article presents a methodically translated German version of the POMA that also includes so far partially unpublished instructions for the examiner and the examined person. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The internationally recognized recommendations for the cross-cultural adaptation of health status measures served as the foundation of the translation process. By means of three translations from the original language into the target language a preliminary consensus version was developed, which was then translated back into the original language by two native speakers. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: With this new and for the first time authorized German translation of the POMA a version of this assessment is available that achieves unification and standardization in German speaking countries and guarantees an improved comparability with international studies.

[Strategies to improve medication adherence]. / Strategien zur Verbesserung der Einnahmetreue von Medikamenten.

Up to 50 % of patients with chronic diseases do not take their medication regularly. Poor adherence to drug therapy is associated with higher morbidity and mortality. A selective literature search using the terms adherence, compliance, concordance, persistence, medication management, and pharmaceutical care was performed. Evidence for improving adherence has been provided for the following principles: individual counselling of patients and care givers, medication management including simplifying dosing and use of combination tablets as well as the use of individual unit doses, e. g. blister cards. The effectiveness has only been shown for the duration of the interventions. The improvement of medication adherence represents an area of research with high impact on outcomes and cost. Measures to improve adherence may be as important as the development of novel therapies. However, prospective clinical evaluations with clinical endpoints are missing especially for the German health care system in order to develop recommendations for clinical practice. Joint efforts of physicians and pharmacists are needed.

Prescribing of COX-2 inhibitors in Germany after safety warnings and market withdrawals.

The emergence of safety concerns associated with the use of selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors (coxibs) led to market withdrawals of rofecoxib in September 2004 and valdecoxib in April 2005. These events were accompanied by safety alerts from drug authorities and recommendations from professional medical associations. This study analysed the temporal influence of these measures on drug use in Germany, with the objective to assess overall appropriateness of prescribing and to evaluate the potential for pharmaceutical interventions. Drug prescriptions for patients within the statutory health insurance system (GKV) were analysed based on the total amount of DDDs of single drug substances dispensed every month in German pharmacies. The market withdrawal of rofecoxib in September 2004 resulted initially in increased prescribing of other coxibs. New safety warnings on coxibs later in 2004 and the withdrawal of valdecoxib in April 2005 led to pronounced reductions in coxib prescribing. Comparing the third quarter of 2005 with 2004, coxib prescriptions dropped from 47.5 to 10.4 million DDDs. Conversely, in the same time frame, NSAID prescriptions increased by 19.0 million DDDs. This is mostly due to increased prescribing of ibuprofen, diclofenac and, to a lesser degree, meloxicam, acemetacin, piroxicam, and naproxen. However, total prescribing of inhibitors of cyclooxygenases decreased by about 8.4%, indicating a relative reluctance to prescribe these drugs after cardiovascular safety warnings have been issued by drug authorities. Unexpectedly, also prescribing of metamizol (dipyrone) increased by 2.8 million DDDs (20%), despite recommendations to limit its use by medical associations. Furthermore, increased prescribing of proton pump inhibitors of 12.6 million DDDs could be observed. NSAIDs and coxibs are to a larger extent prescribed by a broad range of medical specialist groups including orthopaedists and surgeons, whereas drugs used in gastrointestinal or cardiovascular disorders are mainly prescribed by general practitioners and internal specialists, respectively. Therefore, the individual physician may not always be aware of the risk profiles of their patients. Pharmacists can close this gap by providing comprehensive medication records and information on self medication used by the patient to prescribing practitioners, thereby contributing to improved patient safety.