Una proposta di formazione dagli specializzandi per gli specializzandi: i "gruppi incognitivi"

PREMESSA: Dalla curiosit\ue0 e dai dubbi per questioni che quotidianamente incontriamo nella pratica clinica \ue8 nata l'idea di costruire un gruppo che, attraverso il confronto tra noi Specializzandi e la condivisione di approfondimenti su temi specifici, potesse dare delle risposte e stimolare nuovi interrogativi. Si \ue8 dato cos\uec vita a questo gruppo, chiamato, un po' socraticamente, gruppo incognitivo. Questi gli obiettivi originari: 1. soddisfare, in aggiunta all'offerta del regolare piano accademico, il nostro bisogno di "formazione continua", 2. Confrontarsi tra Specializzandi su questioni pragmatiche, 3. "imparare ad insegnare", attraverso la preparazione di una lezione e quindi la sua esposizione, 4. realizzare un compendio che potesse essere utilizzato "al letto del malato" e quindi fruito anche da chi non avesse la possibilit\ue0 di partecipare agli incontri OBIETTIVO: Tutti gli specializzandi della scuola di Specialit\ue0 in Geriatria sono stati invitati, di volta in volta, a partecipare agli incontri e a preparare una lezione da presentare al gruppo su un argomento di loro scelta. La partecipazione agli incontri era su base volontaria. La possibilit\ue0 di partecipare agli incontri era stata estesa anche a strutturati e studenti di medicina. Per ogni incontro si chiedeva di presentare un file in formato Word, di poche pagine, che sintetizzasse in versione schematica quanto espresso nella lezione. Gli specializzandi hanno utilizzato libri di testo, articoli scientifici e contenuti di Uptodate. Il luogo degli incontri \ue8 stato la biblioteca della scuola di Specialit\ue0 di Geriatria ove avevamo a disposizione un supporto multimediale per la proiezione delle presentazioni. La durata degli incontri \ue8 stata variabile, a seconda della complessit\ue0 dell'argomento e della scelta di colui che esponeva, nella media circa 80 minuti. RISULTATI: Da Ottobre 2014 a Maggio 2015 abbiamo svolto 13 incontri con contenuti trasversali. Di seguito l'elenco degli argomenti: malnutrizione nell'anziano, i criteri di Beers e i farmaci inappropriati nell'anziano, gli inibitori dell'acetilcolinesterasi (nota AIFA e scheda tecnica dei farmaci), algoritmo Advance Life Support, infezioni delle vie urinarie, terapia farmacologica dei disturbi del comportamento e psicologici nella demenza, reverse therapy della emorragie maggiori correlate agli anticoagulanti diretti ed indiretti, tachicardie sopraventricolari e ventricolari, dispnea acuta, polmonite, endocarditi, reazioni cutanee da farmaco (quest'ultimo presentato da una specializzanda in Dermatologia). Ogni incontro era monotematico e veniva presentato da uno o due specializzandi. Di solito l'argomento veniva esposto dalla stessa persona che l'aveva proposto. Tra i limiti di questo progetto l'"autoreferenzialit\ue0" in quanto le informazioni veicolate non sono state passate al vaglio di un specialista in materia, pertanto non sempre siamo riusciti a dare una risposta soddisfacente a tutti gli interrogativi emersi. Questo \ue8 stato comunque di stimolo per ulteriori approfondimenti. CONCLUSIONI: Abbiamo realizzato una compendio che raccoglie i contenuti degli incontri esposti sopra. Come gi\ue0 accennato sopra, ci\uf2 che rende questi contenuti particolarmente fruibili \ue8 la loro pragmaticit\ue0 per la pratica clinica. Abbiamo in previsione di proseguire con un secondo ciclo di incontri da settembre 2015. Tra gli argomenti gi\ue0 in programma: iponatremia, questioni di bioetica, reazioni trasfusionali, principi base di neuroimaging. L'obiettivo con il prossimo anno \ue8 quello di coinvolgere specializzandi di altre Scuole. L'ultimo incontro tenuto da una Specializzanda di Dermatologia ha avuto un impatto molto positivo e desideriamo ripetere l'esperienza

Need for De-Prescribing in Hospital Elderly Patients Discharged with Limited Life Expectancy: The REPOSI Study

Older people approaching the end of life are at high risk for adverse drug reactions. Approaching end of life should change the therapeutic aims, triggering a reduction in the number of drugs. The main aim of this study was to describe the preventive and symptomatic drug treatments prescribed to patients discharged from internal medicine and geriatric wards, with limited life expectancy. The secondary aim was to describe the potentially severe DDIs

Need for Deprescribing in Hospital Elderly Patients Discharged with a Limited Life Expectancy: The REPOSI Study

Objective: Older people approaching the end of life are at a high risk for adverse drug reactions. Approaching the end of life should change the therapeutic aims, triggering a reduction in the number of drugs.The main aim of this study is to describe the preventive and symptomatic drug treatments prescribed to patients discharged with a limited life expectancy from internal medicine and geriatric wards. The secondary aim was to describe the potentially severe drug-drug interactions (DDI). Materials and methods: We analyzed Registry of Polytherapies Societa Italiana di Medicina Interna (REPOSI), a network of internal medicine and geriatric wards, to describe the drug therapy of patients discharged with a limited life expectancy. Results: The study sample comprised 55 patients discharged with a limited life expectancy. Patients with at least 1 preventive medication that could be considered for deprescription at the end of life were significantly fewer from admission to discharge (n = 30; 54.5% vs. n = 21; 38.2%; p = 0.02). Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, lipid-lowering drugs, and clonidine were the most frequent potentially avoidable medications prescribed at discharge, followed by xanthine oxidase inhibitors and drugs to prevent fractures. Thirty-seven (67.3%) patients were also exposed to at least 1 potentially severe DDI at discharge. Conclusion: Hospital discharge is associated with a small reduction in the use of commonly prescribed preventive medications in patients discharged with a limited life expectancy. Cardiovascular drugs are the most frequent potentially avoidable preventive medications. A consensus framework or shared criteria for potentially inappropriate medication in elderly patients with limited life expectancy could be useful to further improve drug prescription

Use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics in a cohort of hospitalized elderly patients: Results from the REPOSI study.

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Prevalence and Determinants of the Use of Lipid-Lowering Agents in a Population of Older Hospitalized Patients: the Findings from the REPOSI (REgistro POliterapie Societ\ue0 Italiana di Medicina Interna) Study

Background: Older patients are prone to multimorbidity and polypharmacy, with an inherent risk of adverse events and drug interactions. To the best of our knowledge, available information on the appropriateness of lipid-lowering treatment is extremely limited. Aim: The aim of the present study was to quantify and characterize lipid-lowering drug use in a population of complex in-hospital older patients. Methods: We analyzed data from 87 units of internal medicine or geriatric medicine in the REPOSI (Registro Politerapie della Societ\ue0 Italiana di Medicina Interna) study, with reference to the 2010 and 2012 patient cohorts. Lipid-lowering drug use was closely correlated with the clinical profiles, including multimorbidity markers and polypharmacy. Results: 2171 patients aged >65\ua0years were enrolled (1057 males, 1114 females, mean age 78.6\ua0years). The patients treated with lipid-lowering drugs amounted to 508 subjects (23.4%), with no gender difference. Atorvastatin (39.3%) and simvastatin (34.0%) were the most widely used statin drugs. Likelihood of treatment was associated with polypharmacy ( 655\ua0drugs) and with higher Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) score. At logistic regression analysis, the presence of coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, and hypertension were significantly correlated with lipid-lowering drug use, whereas age showed an inverse correlation. Diabetes was not associated with drug treatment. Conclusions: In this in-hospital cohort, the use of lipid-lowering agents was mainly driven by patients\u2019 clinical history, most notably the presence of clinically overt manifestations of atherosclerosis. Increasing age seems to be associated with lower prescription rates. This might be indicative of cautious behavior towards a potentially toxic treatment regimen

Appropriateness of antiplatelet therapy for primary and secondary cardio- and cerebrovascular prevention in acutely hospitalized older people

Aims: Antiplatelet therapy is recommended for the secondary prevention of cardio- and cerebrovascular disease, but for primary prevention it is advised only in patients at very high risk. With this background, this study aims to assess the appropriateness of antiplatelet therapy in acutely hospitalized older people according to their risk profile. Methods: Data were obtained from the REPOSI register held in Italian and Spanish internal medicine and geriatric wards in 2012 and 2014. Hospitalized patients aged 6565 assessable at discharge were selected. Appropriateness of the antiplatelet therapy was evaluated according to their primary or secondary cardiovascular prevention profiles. Results: Of 2535 enrolled patients, 2199 were assessable at discharge. Overall 959 (43.6%, 95% CI 41.5\u201345.7) were prescribed an antiplatelet drug, aspirin being the most frequently chosen. Among patients prescribed for primary prevention, just over half were inappropriately prescribed (52.1%), being mainly overprescribed (155/209 patients, 74.2%). On the other hand, there was also a high rate of inappropriate underprescription in the context of secondary prevention (222/726 patients, 30.6%, 95% CI 27.3\u201334.0%). Conclusions: This study carried out in acutely hospitalized older people shows a high degree of inappropriate prescription among patients prescribed with antiplatelets for primary prevention, mainly due to overprescription. Further, a large proportion of patients who had had overt cardio- or cerebrovascular disease were underprescribed, in spite of the established benefits of antiplatelet drugs in the context of secondary prevention