Evaluation of Carer Strain and Carer Coping with Medications for People with Dementia after Discharge: Results from the SMS Dementia Study.

This study reports carer strain and coping with medications for people with dementia with an unplanned admission to hospital, and it evaluates the impact of a safe medication intervention on carer coping and carer strain. This was a quasi-experimental pre/post-controlled trial that included a survey of carers about managing medications for people with dementia after discharge. For 88 carers who completed surveys, 33% were concerned about managing medications, and 40% reported difficulties with medication management, including resistive behaviours by people with dementia. Dose administration aids were used by 72% of carers; however, only 15% reported receiving a recent home medicines review by a community pharmacist. High carer strain was reported by 74% of carers. Carer comments described many issues that contributed to high carer stress, as well as their engagement in vigilant activities to maintain medication safety. Strategies that can contribute to carers managing medications and reducing their strain include an increased use of dose administration aids, increased provision of home medicines reviews, and increased education of health professionals to provide adequate support and education about managing medications.

Comparison of the diagnosis and medication strategy for patient of benign prostatic hyperplasia between urologist and geriatrician in China / 中华泌尿外科杂志

Objective To promote the standardization of medical practice in China by comparing the discrepancies of diagnosis and medication strategies for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) between urologists and geriatricians.Methods Departments of urology and geriatrics in general hospitals in China were selected through stratified sampling and 145 315 patients who went for the outpatient service in certain days during December 2011 to December 2012 were recruited by cluster.Questionnaires were completed by corresponding doctors and data of patient clinical characteristics as well as diagnostic and therapeutic pattern were collected.Results A total of 142 511 valid questionnaires were collected with 119 426 from urology and 23 085 from geriatrics.The average age of BPH patients was (68.34±8.61) years and the average IPSS was 17.93±4.73.The rates of diagnostic method were IPSS (99.2％),ultrasonic inspection (86.0％),digital rectal examination (DRE) (66.0％) and urine flow rate test (55.2％).The rate of ultrasonic application was lower while the rates of other methods were higher among urologists (P＜0.01) ; the rate of DRE among urologists was 2.2 times to that among geriatricians.For patients with moderate or severe symptoms,most urologists (72.1％ in moderate patients and 79.9％ in severe patients) applied drug-combination strategy and the rate was 2 times to that among geriatricians (P＜0.01).In contrast,most geriatricians (59.7％ in moderate patients and 56.1％ in severe patients) applied single drug to BPH patients.Urologists utilized α-receptor blockers,plant preparations and traditional Chinese medicine more frequently than geriatricians (P＜0.01).Conclusions Urologists performed more integrated diagnosis strategy compared with geriatricians.The urologists tended to use 5α-reductase inhibitor combined with α-receptor blocker to treat BPH patients with moderate or severe symptoms,while geriatricians preferred 5α-reductase inhibitor alone.