Medicinski arhiv
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The objective of this study was to validate an international instrument addressing family physicians' competency level from the primary health care sers' perspective in Albania, a post-communist country in Southeast Europe. ⋯ In the Albanian context, we provide evidence on the process of cross-cultural adaptation of a simple instrument measuring patients' self-perceived level of abilities and competencies of their family physicians regarding different domains of the quality of primary health care services.
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Inappropriate prescribing of a multiple therapeutic agents to patients with chronic conditions is very common in everyday practice. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are still considered as one of the main problems of drug therapy. We investigated idiosyncratic symptoms and signs of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of the most frequent used combination of drugs among hospitalized patients prescribed polypharmacy. ⋯ The toxicity of some drug combinations may sometimes be synergistic and be greater than the sum of the risks of toxicity of either agent used alone. In order to recognize and to prevent ADRs (including drug interactions), good communication between pharmacist and patient and/or physicians and patient is crucial, and prescribers should develop an effective therapeutic partnership with the patient and with fellow health professionals.