Safety issues in post-discharge care of older patients in general practice: an ethnographic study.

Background: Post-inpatient discharge is a risky time for older patients, especially those with polypharmacy and multimorbidity. General practice care at this time, including the processes for managing hospital discharge summaries, lacks standardisation and is of variable quality. Understanding these processes will support the design of interventions and guidance to improve general practice management of the post-discharge period.

Promoting health literacy of older post-discharge patients in general practice - Creation of the GP-MATE communication tool through co-design.

Objective: Work with older patients and their carers to co-design a tool that improves patient - general practice communication and continuity of care following discharge of an older person from hospital.

Methods: Experience Based Co-Design with three teams of six to seven lay people (older patients and their carers), each supported by a corresponding general practice group. The process included an implementation-focused event with participants using the intervention in a live role-play.

General practice management after transition events: protocol for an experience-based co-design study.

Background: Discharge from hospital is a critical part of the patient journey, particularly for older patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. General practice has a key role in managing the post-discharge course of patients. A communication intervention for use in general practice in the immediate post-discharge period has great potential to improve shared decision making, enhancing patient experiences of post-discharge care.

Perspectives of community pharmacy staff on commonly encountered skin conditions and the key challenges towards enhancing their role in dermatology.

This research letter discusses the perspectives of community pharmacy staff on commonly encountered skin conditions and the key challenges towards enhancing their role in this area. A mixed methods online survey was created, and a total of 174 community pharmacy staff completed the survey. The results highlight the range of conditions currently encountered in community pharmacy and the breadth of challenges facing community pharmacy staff, in particular challenges surrounding providing a differential diagnosis.

How can community pharmacists be supported to manage skin conditions? A multistage stakeholder research prioritisation exercise.

Objective: To establish research priorities which will support the development and delivery of community pharmacy initiatives for the management of skin conditions.

Design: An iterative, multistage stakeholder consultation consisting of online survey, participant workshops and prioritisation meeting.

Setting: All data collection took place online with participants completing a survey (delivered via the JISC Online Survey platform, between July 2021 and January 2022) and participating in online workshops and meetings (hosted on Microsoft Teams between April and July 2022).

Rational and practical considerations to guide a target product profile for patient-centric drug product development with measurable patient outcomes - A proposed roadmap.

The increasing awareness of acceptability and usability of pharmaceutical drug products by the patient as a key quality requirement continues to drive need for integrating patient centric drug product design into the pharmaceutical development process. The complex matrix of multiple drug product related decisions during the early drug development process often limits patient-centric drug product (PCDP) design options in the final commercial drug product development phase. To integrate the specific needs and perspectives of patients into drug development and product design process, a rational approach integrated into the complex development matrix is required from the start and weighs product development decision options accordingly.

Literature review of medication administration problems in paediatrics by parent/caregiver and the role of health literacy.

Objective: To identify studies that highlighted medication administration problems experienced by parents and children, which also looked at health literacy aspect using a validated tool to assess for literacy.

Study Design: Ten electronic databases were systematically searched and supplemented by hand searching through reference lists using the following search terms: (1) paediatric, (2) medication error including dosing error, medication administration error, medication safety and medication optimisation and (3) health literacy.

Results: Of the (1230) records screened, 14 studies were eligible for inclusion.

Patient-Centric Medicine Design: Key Characteristics of Oral Solid Dosage Forms that Improve Adherence and Acceptance in Older People.

Older people represent a very heterogeneous patient population and are the major user group of medication. Age-related changes mean that this population can encounter barriers towards taking medicines orally. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of oral solid dosage forms that contribute to an age appropriate dosage design, with an aim to improve overall medication adherence and acceptance in older people.

Does the Formulation of Oral Solid Dosage Forms Affect Acceptance and Adherence in Older Patients? A Mixed Methods Systematic Review.

Objectives: Age-related changes mean that the older population can encounter barriers toward taking medication orally. Further work is needed to identify the characteristics of oral solid dosage forms that will improve patient acceptance and adherence. The aim of this systematic review was to identify if and how formulation aspects of oral solid dosage forms affect acceptance and adherence in older people.