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<p>Syftet med denna studie är dels att undersöka hur stor andel av arbetstiden som sjuksköterskor, inom kommunala hälso- och sjukvården i Kalmar kommun, använder för kontakt med apoteken, dels att belysa hur sjuksköterskorna ser på kontakten med apoteken med avseende på dess omfattning och innehåll.</p><p>Kalmars kommunala sjuksköterskor förde under en vecka i februari 2009 tidsdagbok över sin apotekskontakt. I anslutning till detta utfördes även en enkätundersökning bland dessa sjuksköterskor.</p><p>Svarsfrekvensen var låg; 43 % av sjuksköterskorna deltog i enkätstudien och endast 19 % deltog i tidsstudien. Den genomsnittliga andelen arbetstid som ägnades åt apotekskontakt fastställdes till 4,6 ± 3,9 %. Enkätstudien visade på en del önskemål om förändring i såväl kontakten med apoteken som i de kommunala rutinerna. Förslag som lades fram av sjuksköterskorna för en minskning av kontakttiden med apoteken var bland annat att annan personal inom hälso- och sjukvården eller anhöriga till patienten gör apoteksärenden i stället för sjuksköterskorna, samt att apoteken ska införa en särskild kö för vårdpersonal och därmed minska kötiden.</p><p>Den låga svarsfrekvensen gör att inga statistiskt signifikanta slutsatser kan dras av studien och då i synnerhet inte av tidsstudien. Studien visar dock på stora variationer sjuksköterskorna emellan, i andel arbetstid som ägnas åt apotekskontakt. Validiteten och precisionen för denna variation är ej hög, delvis på grund av det låga deltagandet. Enkätundersökningen visade på problem som kan härröras till brist i kommunikationen mellan såväl sjuksköterskor och övrig hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal, som mellan sjuksköterskor och apotekspersonal. En förbättrad interprofessionell kommunikation skulle eventuellt kunna lösa denna problematik.</p>

<p>Antiretroviral therapy places extraordinarily high demands on adherence, since non-adherence affects both individuals and society due to the spread of resistant viral strains. The aims of the thesis were to investigate the prevalence of adherence in Swedish HIV-infected patients, changes in adherence over time, and factors associated with adherence, including patients’ readiness to adhere. Further, to investigate the collaboration between nurses, doctors and pharmacists after the introduction of a HIV-clinic satellite pharmacy. Data were collected via two cross-sectional patient surveys in 1998 and 2002, qualitative interviews with health care personnel at a major HIV clinic, and a nation-wide, cross-sectional patient survey in 2003-2004. </p><p>The level of adherence improved from 28% in 1998 to 57% in 2002, possibly due to simplified treatment and a new multi-professional treatment model at the clinic. The proportion of adherent patients was 63% in the nationwide survey. Factors associated with adherence were high age, high quality patient-provider relationships, no drug or alcohol problems and shorter time on treatment. </p><p>A hypothesized structural equational model, using readiness and adherence as separate latent concepts, was tested and found to support readiness as a distinct factor influencing adherence. </p><p>The health care personnel believed that conventional pharmacies had several disadvantages in serving the HIV infected population. They found the HIV-clinic satellite pharmacy valuable, since it contributed to increased communication and trust between the health care professions, and improved teamwork in medication management.</p><p>In conclusion, the level of adherence increased over time, and several factors associated with adherence were identified. Improved collaboration between health care professionals may enhance treatment support, and increased attention should be given to interventions that focus on the individual’s readiness for behavioural change in order to optimize treatment outcomes.</p>

Antiretroviral therapy places extraordinarily high demands on adherence, since non-adherence affects both individuals and society due to the spread of resistant viral strains. The aims of the thesis were to investigate the prevalence of adherence in Swedish HIV-infected patients, changes in adherence over time, and factors associated with adherence, including patients’ readiness to adhere. Further, to investigate the collaboration between nurses, doctors and pharmacists after the introduction of a HIV-clinic satellite pharmacy. Data were collected via two cross-sectional patient surveys in 1998 and 2002, qualitative interviews with health care personnel at a major HIV clinic, and a nation-wide, cross-sectional patient survey in 2003-2004. The level of adherence improved from 28% in 1998 to 57% in 2002, possibly due to simplified treatment and a new multi-professional treatment model at the clinic. The proportion of adherent patients was 63% in the nationwide survey. Factors associated with adherence were high age, high quality patient-provider relationships, no drug or alcohol problems and shorter time on treatment. A hypothesized structural equational model, using readiness and adherence as separate latent concepts, was tested and found to support readiness as a distinct factor influencing adherence. The health care personnel believed that conventional pharmacies had several disadvantages in serving the HIV infected population. They found the HIV-clinic satellite pharmacy valuable, since it contributed to increased communication and trust between the health care professions, and improved teamwork in medication management. In conclusion, the level of adherence increased over time, and several factors associated with adherence were identified. Improved collaboration between health care professionals may enhance treatment support, and increased attention should be given to interventions that focus on the individual’s readiness for behavioural change in order to optimize treatment outcomes.

Community pharmacy practice is moving towards patient care and away from the mere dispensing of medicines. In this movement, which is guided by the philosophy of Pharmaceutical care (PC), new counselling services emerge. The purpose of the thesis was to add knowledge about the real-world provision of PC services by studying a defined PC service in Swedish pharmacies. Specific aims of this thesis were to investigate the experiences of professionals working with or close to the service and to describe the content of consultations, counselling behaviour and patterns of follow-up. Further aims were to characterise patients receiving the service and describe their perceived outcomes, in relation to standard service. Data were collected via focus groups, telephone interviews, observations, a patient medication record database and a cross-sectional survey. The practitioners reported greater use of their pharmaceutical knowledge and provision of more thorough patient support. Perceived barriers in delivering the service included difficulties in documenting and getting commitment from colleagues, managers and prescribers. Doctors working close to PC pharmacies held varying opinions about the service. Consultations dealt with issues potentially improving the outcomes of medical treatment, but the level of patient centredness varied and was limited by the practitioners’ focus on the computer screen. The rate of follow-up evaluations was modest, but was higher at pharmacies with a high volume of patients receiving the service. PC patients were mostly elderly and female, using about 10 prescription drugs. In comparison to patients receiving standard service, they were more worried, vulnerable and information-seeking. At the same time, their feelings of safety following the pharmacy visit were more pronounced than those of patients receiving standard service. They also felt better prepared for doctor visits. In order for community pharmacy to better meet patients’ needs and optimise PC services, increased attention should be given to implementation strategies, interprofessional collaboration and educational efforts focusing on patient centredness.

Syftet med denna studie är dels att undersöka hur stor andel av arbetstiden som sjuksköterskor, inom kommunala hälso- och sjukvården i Kalmar kommun, använder för kontakt med apoteken, dels att belysa hur sjuksköterskorna ser på kontakten med apoteken med avseende på dess omfattning och innehåll. Kalmars kommunala sjuksköterskor förde under en vecka i februari 2009 tidsdagbok över sin apotekskontakt. I anslutning till detta utfördes även en enkätundersökning bland dessa sjuksköterskor. Svarsfrekvensen var låg; 43 % av sjuksköterskorna deltog i enkätstudien och endast 19 % deltog i tidsstudien. Den genomsnittliga andelen arbetstid som ägnades åt apotekskontakt fastställdes till 4,6 ± 3,9 %. Enkätstudien visade på en del önskemål om förändring i såväl kontakten med apoteken som i de kommunala rutinerna. Förslag som lades fram av sjuksköterskorna för en minskning av kontakttiden med apoteken var bland annat att annan personal inom hälso- och sjukvården eller anhöriga till patienten gör apoteksärenden i stället för sjuksköterskorna, samt att apoteken ska införa en särskild kö för vårdpersonal och därmed minska kötiden. Den låga svarsfrekvensen gör att inga statistiskt signifikanta slutsatser kan dras av studien och då i synnerhet inte av tidsstudien. Studien visar dock på stora variationer sjuksköterskorna emellan, i andel arbetstid som ägnas åt apotekskontakt. Validiteten och precisionen för denna variation är ej hög, delvis på grund av det låga deltagandet. Enkätundersökningen visade på problem som kan härröras till brist i kommunikationen mellan såväl sjuksköterskor och övrig hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal, som mellan sjuksköterskor och apotekspersonal. En förbättrad interprofessionell kommunikation skulle eventuellt kunna lösa denna problematik.

Background: Anorexia nervosa is known as an eating disorder that is associated with significant low body-weight, self-starvation and food restrictions. It all usually starts with thoughts of a desire wanting to eat healthier and look thinner. The sickness has become increasingly common in the recent time where 0,5-1% of Sweden’s population suffers from the disease. Most of those who suffer from anorexia nervosa are young girls in their teenage years.The disease comes with consequences and needs to be treated. A person sick in anorexia nervosa can feel a loss of strength which is associated with the lack of energy. Other symptoms that come along with anorexia nervosa are usually low blood pressure, low pulse (bradycardia) and amenorrhea.Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder, but it also has psychological effects that often come with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These symptoms combined makes it difficult to treat anorexia nervosa and usually demands a combination of supervised weight gain and psychological therapy. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of olanzapine treatment regarding weight gain in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug that has a well-known adverse effect known as weight gain. In this study this adverse effect of olanzapine is used to see if the drug can be well tolerated and applied to patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. Method: This literature review study analyzed six studies and their results regarding the efficacy of olanzapine on weight gaining in anorexia nervosa patients. One study that was included in this literature review was a case study of a young 15-year-old girl's journey to become healthy from anorexia nervosa while using olanzapine. Three of the six studies were randomized controlled trials that compared olanzapine against placebo while two of the six studies were open label studies that evaluated olanzapine efficacy in anorexia nervosa patients. Results: The results based on the six studies show that olanzapine has positive effects regarding weight gaining in patients suffering low weight from anorexia nervosa. The randomized controlled trials that were included in this literature review study show that olanzapine had a greater significant effect on weight gain compared to placebo. The side effects of olanzapine presented in the studies were very mild to moderate and included sleepiness and headache. The doses of olanzapine used in the six studies were similar and contained 10-15 mg olanzapine each day. Conclusion: In summary, olanzapine has the benefit of increasing weight in anorexia nervosa patients, but the evidence is limited because of the small number of participants in the studies and only a few studies have been made. It would be of interest to see if olanzapine still has a beneficial effect in larger studies with more participants.

Background: During the last century, closure in rural pharmacies has been increasing in Sweden resulting in unequal access to pharmaceutical services among the population. Telepharmacy is a provision of pharmaceutical care to patients at distance thereby increasing access to health care. Previous studies have shown promising results regarding various clinical outcomes, attitudes of patients and pharmacists in addition to high-quality drug counseling. As pharmaceutical care is essential for safe drug utilization, it is of importance to induce new approaches in Sweden to maintain pharmaceutical care in these areas. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate a telepharmacy system named Farmaceut på Distans at a local pharmacy in Sweden concerning; patient's and pharmacists’ attitudes, areas of improvements, and safety of the method. Methods: The study was performed between 26/4,-7/5 2021. The objectives of this study were evaluated through a questionnaire and short semi-structured interviews with patients, a semi-structured observation, a semi-structured interview with the project leader, and a focus group with included pharmacists. Additionally, a medicine dispensing error protocol was established.  Results: Eleven patients, three pharmacists, and the project leader were included in this study. This study shows that patients and pharmacists expressed optimistic attitudes towards Farmaceut på Distans. However, the method requires to be improved regarding technical aspects in advance of implementation. Further, no medicine dispensing errors were obtained.  Conclusions: Due to the small sample size, no conclusions can be drawn regarding the safety of the method. Farmaceut på Distans is a promising approach to maintain safe drug utilization in Sweden. However, further studies require to be performed regarding safety and attitudes among users.

Abstract Background: In the last decades, services that community pharmacies provide to the consumers have increased. Pharmacies and consumers discuses information related to medicine use, which lead to optimal treatment. Protection av patient privacy and confidentiality is one of the most important factors to achieve in such discussions. Several international studies showed that achieving this factor in community pharmacies is challenging to both pharmacists and consumers. According to our knowledge, there are no similar studies on consumers’ perceptions of privacy in community pharmacies in Sweden Objective: The aim of this study is to explore consumer’s positive and negative experiences of privacy practice in community pharmacies in Sweden. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers of community pharmacies in three different regions in Sweden. Consumers were interviewed by zoom with camera. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and then analyzed and organized into different themes. The interviews were conducted between April and May 2021. Results: 14 themes and privacy issues were identified, such as variety in privacy definition in community pharmacies for Swedish consumers, trusting pharmacists by most of the consumers, seeing bought sensitive medicines through packaging and overhearing private conversations. The majority of the consumers showed positive reactions about consultation areas and agreed about the need for better privacy practice in community pharmacies. Conclusion: Some findings of this study met other similar studies conducted in other countries. The optimization of the privacy practice was challenging in community pharmacies. Since protecting the privacy could be achieved by cooperation between the staffs and the consumers, the findings of this study were preliminary and needed further exploration, such as interviewing pharmacists and considering their perspectives.

Prescription of opioids in Sweden. Regional variation from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Introduction: Opioids plays an important role in healthcare as they are used primarily for severe acute pain, postoperative purposes and cancer-related pain. However, they also carry a risk for drug addiction, which can lead to many health and societal problems. Consequently, prescribing of opioids should be very restrictive. Aim: Describe and evaluate the change in the prescribing of opioids in different Swedish regions, as well as to assess potential reasons behind the change over time in selected regions. Methods: Quantitative data on dispensed prescriptions with opioids between 2015 and 2020 were collected from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register held by National Board of Health and Welfare. The data was used to identify the change in opioid prescribing in the country and the variation between regions. The quantitative assessment was complemented with qualitative semi-structured interviews with representants from four regions that had the largest and smallest change in opioid prescribing, respectively, to discuss factors that may have influenced the prescribing. Results: The number of individuals per 1000 inhabitants who were dispensed opioid prescriptions decreased from 85 to 67 during the study period. The choice of opioid substances changed with a decrease in prescription of tramadol and codeine/paracetamol, and increase in oxycodone prescription. The variation in opioid prescription between different regions was around 45 %. This variation was not associated with socio-economic factors. Regions that worked actively with information campaigns, training courses and implementation of the recommendations for more rational use of opioids prescribed less opioids and decreased the most during the study period. Conclusion: The number of individuals per 1000 inhabitants who obtained opioid prescriptions decreased overall but there was a substantial variation between regions showing the potential to improve drug prescribing with local activities. Continuous implementation of recommendations needs to be done for more rational opioid use.