Journal of primary health care
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The vision for palliative care service provision in New Zealand is for all people who are dying and their families to have timely access to culturally appropriate, quality palliative care services. An Auckland hospice's records show that the ethnically diverse population statistics were not reflected in the referrals for hospice services. The aim of this research was to gain a patient-and-their-family perspective on the hospice, including exploration of components of service care that could be improved for various cultural groups. ⋯ The study revealed the need for information-giving and education, including public profiling of the hospice to strengthen community involvement. Strategies to reduce ethnic disparities include strengthening the awareness of, and access to, services by connecting with cultural groups through churches, community and specific cultural media.
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Internationally, non-medical practitioners are increasingly involved in tasks traditionally undertaken by general practitioners (GPs), such as medication review and prescribing. This study aims to evaluate GPs' perceptions of pharmacists' contributions to those services. ⋯ GPs perceived their own skills were well suited to reviewing medication and prescribing, but thought pharmacists might also have strengths and skills in these areas. In future, GPs thought that working together with pharmacists in these services might be possible in a collaborative setting.
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Editorial Comment
Potentially inappropriate prescribing - moving from process to outcome.
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Multiple medications are recommended for the management of ischaemic heart disease. Unfortunately, increasing the number of medicines reduces adherence to medicines therapy. The concept of a polypill with a fixed dose combination of the common cardiovascular medicines (aspirin, statin, two blood pressure-lowering medicines) has been promoted. Patient perceptions about this concept have not been explored. ⋯ Generally the concept of the polypill was acceptable to participants, primarily because of the convenience and reduced number of tablets required daily. There were concerns about whether the polypill would be as effective and safe as the individual medicines.