Patient Education, Nurses Cut Medication Adherence Woes by a Third
By Sara Heath
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found that patient education and nurse feedback could increase post-operative medical adherence. The study involving about 9,600 patients indicated that the number of patients failing to take a low-dose blood thinner following surgery could be reduced with a patient education bundle, including one-on-one patient communication, a 10-minute educational handout, and a 10-minute education video, and a nurse feedback program, which involved unit nurse managers receiving individualized "score cards" detailing the number of venous thromboembolism (VTE) drugs they prescribed, administered, and had refused by a patient. The two strategies combined resulted in a 36% decline in the rate of refused or missed VTE prevention drugs. Lead author Elliott Haut, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said, "According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, VTE kills some 100,000 people each year, with approximately half developing their VTE associated with hospitalization. We've shown that an effective intervention can help bring those numbers down for patients who are hospitalized."
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