RESUMEN
In March 1998 the Department of Health and Social Services issued prescribing guidelines for the use of drugs for dementia. A criterion based audit of 202 consecutive cases was undertaken over one year which showed that the prescribing guidelines in general were being followed. A small number of patients, 3, were prescribed the drugs outside the guidelines and most failures, 10, were due to poor recording of data in the clinical record. Despite the recommendation of the DHSS no agreed shared care protocols have been implemented but this does not seem to have affected access to these drugs. As a result of this audit changes have been made with regard to documentation of patient assessments and suggestions made to review Clinical Resource Efficiency Support Team (CREST) guidelines.
Asunto(s)
Demencia/tratamiento farmacológico , Indanos/uso terapéutico , Piperidinas/uso terapéutico , Inhibidores de la Colinesterasa/uso terapéutico , Donepezilo , Prescripciones de Medicamentos/estadística & datos numéricos , Utilización de Medicamentos , Estudios de Seguimiento , Adhesión a Directriz , Humanos , Auditoría Médica , Pautas de la Práctica en MedicinaRESUMEN
Two questionnaires were developed for measuring disability due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), one based on patient reports and one on parent reports. These questionnaires were termed the Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Report for Children (JAFAR-C) and for Parents (JAFAR-P). The questionnaires were administered to 72 JRA patients ages 7-18 years and to their parents. Respondents rated the patient's recent ability to perform 23 activities. Patient reports and parent reports were found to correlate highly with each other and with an objective assessment performed by therapists. Questionnaire scores did not correlate significantly with the age of the patient. The JAFAR appears to be a convenient, reliable, and valid measure of disability in patients with JRA.
Asunto(s)
Artritis Juvenil/fisiopatología , Evaluación de la Discapacidad , Padres , Adolescente , Niño , Humanos , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Encuestas y CuestionariosRESUMEN
A disability assessment tool, the Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Scale, was developed for, and validated in, patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Standards for this 10-item tool were developed using the scores of 63 normal school children as controls and comparing these results with those of 71 age-matched JRA patients (age 7-16 years). The JRA patients scored statistically significantly higher on the scale, which also demonstrated excellent internal and convergent validity and internal reliability. The test is easily administered in 10 minutes by a physical or occupational therapist in a clinical or office setting. This tool represents the first normalized disability assessment tool developed for JRA patients.