CONTEXT Chronic tension-type headaches are characterized by near-daily headaches and often are difficult to manage in primary practice. Behavioral and pharmacological therapies each appear modestly effective, but data are lacking on their separate and combined effects. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical efficacy of behavioral and pharmacological therapies, singly and combined, for chronic ten...

BACKGROUND Consumers and policy makers are increasingly interested in measuring treatment quality. We developed a standardized approach to measuring the quality of outpatient care for schizophrenia and used it to evaluate routine care. METHODS We randomly sampled 224 patients in treatment for schizophrenia at 2 public mental health clinics. Appropriate medication management was defined accord...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of a system that extracts medication information and administration-related actions from patient short message service (SMS) messages. DESIGN Mobile technologies provide a platform for electronic patient-centered medication management. MyMediHealth (MMH) is a medication management system that includes a medication scheduler, a medication administration re...

BACKGROUND Patient safety is an ongoing global priority, with medication safety considered a prevalent, high-risk area of concern. Yet, we have little understanding of the supports and barriers to safe medication management in the Canadian home care environment. There is a clear need to engage the providers and recipients of care in studying and improving medication safety with collaborative ap...

In 2008, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and its Research and Education Foundation initiated the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI), the goal of which is to “significantly advance the health and well-being of patients in hospitals and health systems by developing and disseminating optimal pharmacy practice models that are based on the effective use of pharmacists...

OBJECTIVES To provide pharmacy managers and consultant pharmacists with a step-by-step approach for analyzing of the costs of delivering medication therapy management (MTM) services and to describe use of a free online software application for determining costs of delivering MTM. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION The process described is applicable to community pharmacies and consultant pharmacists who pr...

BACKGROUND Multi-disciplinary heart failure (HF) clinics have been shown to improve outcomes for HF patients in randomized clinical trials. However, it is unclear how widely available specialized HF clinics are in Ontario. Also, the service models of current clinics have not been described. It is therefore uncertain whether the efficacy of HF clinics in trials is generalizable to the HF clinics...

The Symptom Management Clinic (SMC) at University Hospital in Cincinnati, OH, was established to meet identified needs of patients with cancer seen in an outpatient setting. The initial step in the formation of the SMC consisted of the development of a business plan and the presentation of that business plan to the hospital administration. The development of clinic procedures using the creation...

BACKGROUND Providing clinical pharmacy services to patients in their homes after discharge from hospital has been reported to reduce health care costs and improve outcomes. The Medication Management Program of the Fraser Health Authority involves pharmacists making home visits to provide clinical pharmacy services to elderly patients who have recently been discharged from hospital and others co...

BACKGROUND Despite the rapid rise in the use of multicompartmental compliance aids (MCAs), little is known about the role they play in self-management of medication. AIM To explore the perceived benefits of MCAs for people using them to manage their own or a relative's medication. DESIGN OF STUDY Qualitative study using in-depth interviews. SETTING West Northumberland. METHOD Recruitmen...