<div>This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter, Inertia and Switching in Health Insurance Plans, seeks to examine health insurance choice of families and individuals employed by a large Midwestern public university during the years 2012-2016. A growing number of studies indicate that consumers do not understand the basics of health insurance, make inefficient plan choices, and may hesitate to switch plans even when it is optimal to do so. In this study, I identify what are later defined as unanticipated, exogenous health shocks in the health insurance claims data, in order to examine their effect on families' plan choice and switching behavior. Observing switches into relatively generous plans after a shock is indicative of adverse selection. Adverse retention and inertia, on the other hand, may be present if people remain in the relatively less generous plans after experiencing a shock. The results could help inform the policy-makers about consumer cost-effectiveness in plan choice over time.</div><div> Physicians’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry have recently come under public scrutiny, particularly in the context of opioid drug prescribing. The second chapter, Pharmaceutical Opioid Marketing and Physician Prescribing Behavior, examines the effect of doctor-industry marketing interactions on subsequent prescribing patterns of opioids using linked Medicare Part D and Open Payments data for the years 2014-2017. Results indicate that both the number and the dollar value of marketing visits increase physicians’ patented opioid claims. Furthermore, direct-to-physician marketing of safer abuse-deterrent formulations of opioids is the primary driver of positive and persistent spillovers on the prescribing of less safe generic opioids - a result that may be driven by insurance coverage policies. These findings suggest that pharmaceutical marketing efforts may have unintended public health implications.</div><div> The third chapter, Accountable Care Organizations and Physician Antibiotic Prescribing Behavior, examines the effects of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Physician accountable care organization affiliation has been found to reduce cost and improve quality across metrics that are directly measured by the ACO shared savings program. However, little is known about potential spillover effects from this program onto non-measured physician behavior such as antibiotic over-prescribing. Using a two-part structural selection model that accounts for selection into treatment (ACO group), and non-treatment (control group), this chapter compares physician/nurse antibiotic prescribing across these groups with adjustment for geographic, physician, patient and institutional characteristics. Heterogeneous treatment responses across specialties are also estimated. The findings indicate that ACO affiliation helps reduce antibiotic prescribing by 23.9 prescriptions (about 19.4 percent) per year. The treatment effects are found to vary with specialty with internal medicine physicians experiencing an average decrease of 19 percent, family and general practice physicians a decrease of 16 percent, and nurse practitioners a reduction of 12.5 percent in their antibiotic prescribing per year. In terms of selection into treatment, the failure to account for selection on physician unobservable characteristics results in an understating of the average treatment effects. In assessing the impact of programs, such as the ACO Shared Savings Program, which act to augment how physicians interact with each other and their patients, it is important to account for spillover effects. As an example of such spillover effect - this study finds that ACO affiliation has had a measurable impact on physician antibiotic prescribing.</div>

The overall aim of this thesis was to evaluate clinical pharmacist interventions with the focus on methods aiming to improve the quality of drug therapy and increase patient safety. Adverse drug events caused by medication errors, suboptimal dosages and inappropriate prescribing are common causes of drug-related morbidity and mortality. Clinical pharmacists integrated in multi-professional health-care teams are increasingly addressing these issues. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of clinical pharmacists’ interventions in reducing morbidity and use of hospital care for patients 80 years or older. The results showed that the intervention group had fewer visits to hospital and that the intervention was cost-effective. In a subsequent study based on the population in the RCT, the appropriateness of prescribing was assessed using three validated tools. The results indicated improved appropriateness of prescribing for the intervention group as a result of the intervention. The tools and the number of drugs at discharge were then tested for validity in terms of causal links between the scores at discharge and hospitalisation. No clear correlations between high scores for the tools or a high number of drugs and increased risk of hospitalisation could be detected. During the inclusion period of the RCT a survey based study was conducted where the perceived value of ward-based clinical pharmacists, from the perspective of hospital-based physicians and nurses as well as from general practitioners (GPs) was evaluated. The respondents were positive to the new collaboration to a high degree and stated increased patient safety and improvements in patients’ drug therapy as the main advantages. In the last study the frequency and severity of prescription and transcription errors, when patients enrolled in the multidose-dispensed medications (MDD) system are discharged from hospital, was investigated. The results showed that errors frequently occur when MDD patients are hospitalised.

Objetivos: avaliar a qualidade da prescrição de medicamentos por meio de indicadores; investigar a adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso, a complexidade da prescrição e o nível de conhecimento da prescrição dos usuários do Programa de Saúde da Família; avaliar a qualidade de vida dos componentes da amostra. Método: a pesquisa seguiu o modelo de estudo transversal, através de um questionário aplicado a 336 usuários do Programa de Saúde da Família. Resultados: dos 336 entrevistados, 320 mostraram a prescrição médica. 36,6% das prescrições continham mais de um medicamento para tratar a mesma doença, 9,0% delas continham medicamentos da mesma classe farmacológica, 84,4% dos medicamentos foram prescritos pela denominação genérica, 8,1% das prescrições continham um antibiótico prescrito, 81% dos medicamentos prescritos faziam parte da Lista de Medicamentos Essenciais do município, 9,2% dos medicamentos eram de controle especial, 62,4% das prescrições continham as informações mínimas necessárias para o uso do medicamento. A adesão ao tratamento proposto foi considerada alta em 14,0% dos usuários. O nível de conhecimento da terapia medicamentosa foi considerado bom em 11,0% dos entrevistados. A média da complexidade da prescrição foi de 7,7 pontos. Com relação à qualidade de vida, observou-se que o domínio físico diminui com o aumento da idade (p = 0,0001), indivíduos que utilizavam medicamentos de controle especial tiveram uma média menor na qualidade de vida total, do que os que não utilizavam (p= 0,0001). Conclusões: os indicadores da Organização Mundial da Saúde podem ser considerados inadequados em função do novo perfil de morbidade da população. Com o desenvolvimento das novas ferramentas, pôde-se perceber os problemas em uma prescrição. O monitoramento da prescrição e a educação dos usuários são necessários, pois previnem problemas relacionados aos medicamentos, além de realçarem os resultados terapêuticos, econômicos e de qualidade de vida. / Objectives: to assess the quality of prescribing through indicators; to investigate the adherence, the complexity of prescribing and the prescribing knowlege level of the Family Health Program users; to evaluate the quality of life of the studied sampled. Method: a cross-sectional study whose data were collected by questionnaire, anserewed by 336 users of the Family Health Program. Results: among the 336 users interviwed, 320 showed the prescribing. 36,6% of the prescribing had more than one drug to to the same illness, 9,0% of them had drugs of the same pharmacological class, 84,4% of the drugs were prescripted by the generic denomination, 8,1% of the prescribing had one antibiotic prescripted, 81% of the prescripted drugs were listed on the Essential Medication List of the city, 9,2% of the drugs were special controled, 62,4% of prescribing had the minimum information required to its usage. The adherence was high on 14,0% of the users. The knowledge level of prescribing was considered good in 11,0% of the cases. The average of prescribing complexity was 7,7 points. Regarding quality of life, it was observed that fisical handle decreased with the age grow (p=0001), users that use special controled drugs had a lower average on the total quality of life, compared to the ones wich didnt use it (p= 0,0001). Conclusions: the World Health Organization’s indicators can be considered inappropriated when analizing the new profile of the sickness of the population. With the development of the new tools, it was able to perceive the problems in a prescribing.The prescribing monitoring and the education of the users are a need, because they prevent problems related to the medication, and increase the therapeutic, echonomical and the quality of life results.

Objetivos: avaliar a qualidade da prescrição de medicamentos por meio de indicadores; investigar a adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso, a complexidade da prescrição e o nível de conhecimento da prescrição dos usuários do Programa de Saúde da Família; avaliar a qualidade de vida dos componentes da amostra. Método: a pesquisa seguiu o modelo de estudo transversal, através de um questionário aplicado a 336 usuários do Programa de Saúde da Família. Resultados: dos 336 entrevistados, 320 mostraram a prescrição médica. 36,6% das prescrições continham mais de um medicamento para tratar a mesma doença, 9,0% delas continham medicamentos da mesma classe farmacológica, 84,4% dos medicamentos foram prescritos pela denominação genérica, 8,1% das prescrições continham um antibiótico prescrito, 81% dos medicamentos prescritos faziam parte da Lista de Medicamentos Essenciais do município, 9,2% dos medicamentos eram de controle especial, 62,4% das prescrições continham as informações mínimas necessárias para o uso do medicamento. A adesão ao tratamento proposto foi considerada alta em 14,0% dos usuários. O nível de conhecimento da terapia medicamentosa foi considerado bom em 11,0% dos entrevistados. A média da complexidade da prescrição foi de 7,7 pontos. Com relação à qualidade de vida, observou-se que o domínio físico diminui com o aumento da idade (p = 0,0001), indivíduos que utilizavam medicamentos de controle especial tiveram uma média menor na qualidade de vida total, do que os que não utilizavam (p= 0,0001). Conclusões: os indicadores da Organização Mundial da Saúde podem ser considerados inadequados em função do novo perfil de morbidade da população. Com o desenvolvimento das novas ferramentas, pôde-se perceber os problemas em uma prescrição. O monitoramento da prescrição e a educação dos usuários são necessários, pois previnem problemas relacionados aos medicamentos, além de realçarem os resultados terapêuticos, econômicos e de qualidade de vida. / Objectives: to assess the quality of prescribing through indicators; to investigate the adherence, the complexity of prescribing and the prescribing knowlege level of the Family Health Program users; to evaluate the quality of life of the studied sampled. Method: a cross-sectional study whose data were collected by questionnaire, anserewed by 336 users of the Family Health Program. Results: among the 336 users interviwed, 320 showed the prescribing. 36,6% of the prescribing had more than one drug to to the same illness, 9,0% of them had drugs of the same pharmacological class, 84,4% of the drugs were prescripted by the generic denomination, 8,1% of the prescribing had one antibiotic prescripted, 81% of the prescripted drugs were listed on the Essential Medication List of the city, 9,2% of the drugs were special controled, 62,4% of prescribing had the minimum information required to its usage. The adherence was high on 14,0% of the users. The knowledge level of prescribing was considered good in 11,0% of the cases. The average of prescribing complexity was 7,7 points. Regarding quality of life, it was observed that fisical handle decreased with the age grow (p=0001), users that use special controled drugs had a lower average on the total quality of life, compared to the ones wich didnt use it (p= 0,0001). Conclusions: the World Health Organization’s indicators can be considered inappropriated when analizing the new profile of the sickness of the population. With the development of the new tools, it was able to perceive the problems in a prescribing.The prescribing monitoring and the education of the users are a need, because they prevent problems related to the medication, and increase the therapeutic, echonomical and the quality of life results.

Objetivos: avaliar a qualidade da prescrição de medicamentos por meio de indicadores; investigar a adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso, a complexidade da prescrição e o nível de conhecimento da prescrição dos usuários do Programa de Saúde da Família; avaliar a qualidade de vida dos componentes da amostra. Método: a pesquisa seguiu o modelo de estudo transversal, através de um questionário aplicado a 336 usuários do Programa de Saúde da Família. Resultados: dos 336 entrevistados, 320 mostraram a prescrição médica. 36,6% das prescrições continham mais de um medicamento para tratar a mesma doença, 9,0% delas continham medicamentos da mesma classe farmacológica, 84,4% dos medicamentos foram prescritos pela denominação genérica, 8,1% das prescrições continham um antibiótico prescrito, 81% dos medicamentos prescritos faziam parte da Lista de Medicamentos Essenciais do município, 9,2% dos medicamentos eram de controle especial, 62,4% das prescrições continham as informações mínimas necessárias para o uso do medicamento. A adesão ao tratamento proposto foi considerada alta em 14,0% dos usuários. O nível de conhecimento da terapia medicamentosa foi considerado bom em 11,0% dos entrevistados. A média da complexidade da prescrição foi de 7,7 pontos. Com relação à qualidade de vida, observou-se que o domínio físico diminui com o aumento da idade (p = 0,0001), indivíduos que utilizavam medicamentos de controle especial tiveram uma média menor na qualidade de vida total, do que os que não utilizavam (p= 0,0001). Conclusões: os indicadores da Organização Mundial da Saúde podem ser considerados inadequados em função do novo perfil de morbidade da população. Com o desenvolvimento das novas ferramentas, pôde-se perceber os problemas em uma prescrição. O monitoramento da prescrição e a educação dos usuários são necessários, pois previnem problemas relacionados aos medicamentos, além de realçarem os resultados terapêuticos, econômicos e de qualidade de vida. / Objectives: to assess the quality of prescribing through indicators; to investigate the adherence, the complexity of prescribing and the prescribing knowlege level of the Family Health Program users; to evaluate the quality of life of the studied sampled. Method: a cross-sectional study whose data were collected by questionnaire, anserewed by 336 users of the Family Health Program. Results: among the 336 users interviwed, 320 showed the prescribing. 36,6% of the prescribing had more than one drug to to the same illness, 9,0% of them had drugs of the same pharmacological class, 84,4% of the drugs were prescripted by the generic denomination, 8,1% of the prescribing had one antibiotic prescripted, 81% of the prescripted drugs were listed on the Essential Medication List of the city, 9,2% of the drugs were special controled, 62,4% of prescribing had the minimum information required to its usage. The adherence was high on 14,0% of the users. The knowledge level of prescribing was considered good in 11,0% of the cases. The average of prescribing complexity was 7,7 points. Regarding quality of life, it was observed that fisical handle decreased with the age grow (p=0001), users that use special controled drugs had a lower average on the total quality of life, compared to the ones wich didnt use it (p= 0,0001). Conclusions: the World Health Organization’s indicators can be considered inappropriated when analizing the new profile of the sickness of the population. With the development of the new tools, it was able to perceive the problems in a prescribing.The prescribing monitoring and the education of the users are a need, because they prevent problems related to the medication, and increase the therapeutic, echonomical and the quality of life results.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Pharmacy)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Antiretroviral (ARV) management in children is considered a challenging process, and patients receiving ARVs remain at risk of medication errors. Recently, there has also been a noticeable increase in Treatment Failure (TF) and the development of drug resistance amongst children on ART. However, ART failure amongst children seems to be an under-recognised issue, and adherence to treatment guidelines is reported to be a challenge among nurses caring for People Living with HIV (PLWHIV). Hence, the aim of this study was to explore the prescribing practices, and to determine the knowledge, understanding, and competence levels of NIMART-trained nurses’ in the management of children on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Public Health Care (PHC) facilities located in a rural district of Limpopo Province. To attain the purpose of the study, the researcher in this study adopted a mixed-method, in an explanatory sequential manner. The quantitative phase adopted a descriptive cross-sectional and retrospective census of medical records to determine whether or not the children on ART were prescribed the correct ARV regimen, dose, strength, dosing frequency and received the correct quantities to last until the next appointment date. Whereas the qualitative phase embraced a total purposive sampling of the NIMART-trained professional nurses to explore their knowledge, understanding and views of ART management in children. The results highlighted that these children under study even though they were prescribed a correct ARV regimen in (n=7045; 96%) of the cases;they were only correctly dosed in (n=7797; 53%); and prescribed the correct strength (n=9539; 77%), with only (n=2748; 36.9%) having received the correct quantity of treatment to last them until the next appointment date. Most nurses even though they rated themselves very knowledgeable and competent in paediatric HIV/AIDS management. This finding was contradicting the results obtained from the medical records, as well as their responses to the given case scenario depicted some level of non-adherence to treatment guidelines as well as a lack of understanding of ARV management. From the findings of this ARV utilisation review and the implementation of the developed ART dosing and dispensing training programme. The study concludes that the nurse's prescribing practice was irrational in this cohort of children, and most prescriptions did not entirely comply with the 2014/15 HIV/AIDs treatment recommendations. Since, this cohort of children was found to be susceptible to medication related errors such as; Drug omissions in ARV regimens; Incorrect dosing & dosing frequencies; as well as incorrectly supplied quantities. From the study findings it is recommended that ARV stewardship programs should be considered in order to develop and establish a core strategy for enhancing quality improvement in the management of HIV-infected children on ART in resource-limited settings, not only to inundate viral suppression and maintain it, but also to help achieve the UNAIDS 95- 95-95 target in children under 15 year / National Research Foundation (NRF)

The general aim of this thesis was to examine the effect of interventions on the usage of inappropriate and hazardous multi-medication in the elderly ≥75 years with ≥5 drugs. Methods: Paper I describes a cluster randomization of nursing homes, the outcomes were; number of drugs, health status and evaluations. A randomized controlled trial concerning elderly in ordinary homes was performed in paper II and the outcomes were; EQ-5D index, EQ VAS and prescription quality. In paper III a cohort study was carried out and the outcomes were; medication appropriateness index, EQ-5D index and EQ VAS. In paper IV, registered nurses from the nursing homes study were interviewed in a descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Results:There was a significant reduction of number of drugs used per patient at the intervention nursing homes (p&lt;0.05). Monitoring and evaluation of medications were significantly more frequent at the intervention homes (p&lt;0.01). The registered nurses at the nursing homes described a self-made role in their profession and the leadership was not at sight. Drug treatment seems to be a passive process without own reflection. Extreme polypharmacy was persistent in all three groups of elderly living in ordinary homes and there was an unchanged frequency of drug-risk indicators. In the cohort study a lower medication quality was shown to be associated with a lower quality of life. EQ-5D index was statistically significantly different among the groups as was EQ VAS. Conclusion: The nursing home study showed an extreme shortage of monitoring of health status and surveillance of the effects of drugs in the elderly. More attention must be focused on the complexity of the nursing process; medication management must be promoted in teamwork with the physician. The resistance to change prescriptions in accordance with the intervention underlines the need of new strategies for improving prescription quality. Since medication quality is related to the patients’ quality of life, there is immense reason to continuously evaluate every prescription and treatment in shared decision with the patient.

The aim of this research was to investigate the structures and processes of pharmacist prescribing in Great Britain, focusing on primary care settings. A ‘sequential-mixed methods’ was employed in the conduct of the research. The first phase was a cross-sectional postal questionnaire of all pharmacist prescribers (n= 1654 in January 2009), to quantify the extent and nature of prescribing and key factors associated with prescribing practice. Response rate was 42.3% (n=695). The pharmacy practice setting was significantly associated with prescribing (those in hospital or general medical practice were more likely to have prescribed (p< 0.05), than respondents in community practice). Factor analysis of attitudinal statements on prescribing implementation revealed factors, grouped as: ‘administrative structures and processes’, ‘perceptions of pharmacists’ prescribing role’ and ‘facilities for prescribing’. Scores for ‘facilities for prescribing’ varied depending on practice setting. Respondents in community practice recorded lower median scores compared with those in general medical practices. However, there were no statistically significant differences in median scores between respondents based in GP and hospital settings. In-depth qualitative work undertaken in the second phase further explored facilitators of, and challenges to prescribing practice (e.g. the lack of defined prescribing roles) identified in phase one. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 34 prescribers. Prescribers were selected from diverse settings, including secondary care from England and Scotland, to highlight key factors contributing to prescribing success which could potentially inform extrapolations of successful practice from one setting to the other. The ‘framework’ approach to qualitative data analysis was rigorously applied, revealing that the professional isolation and issues around access to clinical data and administrative support in the community setting may have negatively impacted on prescribing implementation. Notably, a perceived lack of clarity and definition of the pharmacist prescribing role was a key theme in hindering prescribing practice of pharmacists irrespective of setting. Participants described ‘ideal’ roles which they perceived as potentially providing clarity, definition and direction to facilitate implementation. The original data generated through this research highlights that prescribing implementation is less than desired, especially in community pharmacies. Pharmacist prescribing appears to have progressed little since supplementary prescribing developments in 2004, even with the much heralded arrival of independent prescribing in 2006. Interestingly, phase 2 participants suggested a ‘hybrid supplementary/independent’ prescribing model, as more likely to succeed. In this model, pharmacist prescribers favour a cooperative practice arrangement in which doctors diagnose and pharmacists prescribe. The implication of these findings and specific recommendations for policy makers, other key stakeholders and practitioners are discussed in detail within the thesis.

Chronic non-terminal pain (CNTP) is defined as pain lasting longer than three months, serves no functional role in healing, lasts beyond normal tissue recovery time and is unresolved despite appropriate treatment. CNTP triggers a complex set of central nervous system responses and a decline in social function. Opioids have been used to treat moderate to severe pain when non-opioid analgesics have not been sufficient. Multiple factors have led to increased use and higher prescribing dosages of opioids to manage CNTP in primary care. Higher dosages of opioids are associated with higher risk of adverse events, including death. Nationally, between 1999 and 2011, opioid related deaths rose over 300%. In Arizona, 41% of drug mortality is attributed to opioids and in 2011, the state ranked fifth in the nation for opioid prescribing rates. Statewide, a multi-professional, multi-agency strategy has been initiated to address this problem. The impact evaluation of the prescribing initiative led by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission has been positive but little information exists regarding prescribers' practice patterns, prescribers' knowledge of evidence based recommendations synthesized in the guidelines, or the barriers to safe opioid prescribing in Arizona. The Statewide Interprofessional Practice-Based Research Network (IP PBRN) identified chronic pain management as a top research priority during their planning conference in 2012. The purpose of this project was to create and formalize a survey, eliciting responses that describe current practice patterns and identify implementation barriers to evidence-based recommendations for prescribing and monitoring opioids for patients with CNTP in Arizona primary care settings.

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health