Biomedical subjects

Riitta Ahonen

Publications and source records attributed to Riitta Ahonen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Customers' and physicians' opinions of and experiences with generic substitution during the first year in Finland.

Medicine expenditures have continuously increased in Finland over the past 25 years. Generic substitution was introduced in Finland in the beginning of April 2003 with the aim of curbing the rise in the medical expenses of society and individuals. Pharmacists are obligated to substitute the cheapest or close to the cheapest medicine for prescribed medicine unless the customer refuses or the physician forbids substitution, which the physician can do for medical or therapeutic reasons. In this study, we explored how customers and physicians view the 2003 reform via two customer questionnaires and by interviewing physicians. The first questionnaires were handed out in 15 pharmacies in 5 geographical areas (hospital districts) in Finland to customers (n=1243, response rate 44%) who had refused generic substitution, and the second in 18 pharmacies in 6 geographical areas to customers (n=453, response rate 47%) who had accepted substituted medicines at least once. The physician interview study was directed to psychiatrists, geriatrists, internists and general practitioners (n=49). Most customers and physicians think generic substitution is a good reform measure. The main reason mentioned for substitution was to save money. The most important reason given for refusing substitution was the customers' positive experiences with medicines they had used previously. About half of the physicians thought not all interchangeable medicines are effective and safe.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

Developing a medicine education program in Finland: lessons learned.

The aim of this article is to describe the process of developing a medicine education program for elementary and middle schools in Finland and the lessons learned during the process. Further described is how teachers evaluated the usefulness of the medicine education materials created during the process. By medicine education we mean education about the proper use of medicines, abuse of medicines being just a small part of it. The development process started in 2002 by conducting focus group discussions with children in order to discover how children of different ages understand medicine-related topics. Moreover, teachers completed questionnaires in 2002 to assess their opinions about the importance of medicine education as a part of school health education. Based on the results of these two studies, materials were created during 2002-2003 (, in Finnish with an English introduction). These materials gave the teachers information about the proper use of medicines and some ideas for assignments. As a last part of this research project in autumn 2003, the materials were piloted by a group of elementary and middle school teachers (n=14), and the usefulness of the materials were evaluated during focus group discussions after a teaching period. Based on the evaluation, we learned that the Website should contain a simple structure and ready-to-use materials in order to be used by teachers. Moreover, the fact that teachers need information in order to be able to teach this unfamiliar topic became clear. Teachers of younger children need concise information, but teachers of adolescents need more in-depth information. Furthermore, teachers may have negative attitudes towards medicines, and therefore, medicine education should be rationalized for them. We conclude our article with recommendations on what should be taken into consideration when medicine education programs are planned.

Finland↗

PubMed2005

How well can children understand medicine related topics?

The aim of this study was to discover how well children understand medicine related topics and in this way to evaluate their preparedness for two-way communication about these matters. The data were collected by conducting 14 focus group discussions (FGDs) among Finnish schoolchildren aged 7-8, 10-11 and 13-14 years. The main theme during the FGDs was the management of diseases with medicines. Both inductive and deductive analyses were used to analyse the data [Patton M. Qualitative evaluation and research methods. 2nd ed. Newbury Park: Sage Publications; 1990]. Children had superficial knowledge of and a negative attitude towards medicine use. They used medicine related vocabulary uncertainly implying that they do not fully comprehend all the information that they have gained. Children realized that there may be risks when using medicines and this understanding tended to increase by age. The results of this study indicate a need to educate children about medicines. In addition to school-based medicine education, health care professionals should communicate directly with children about their medicines at an appropriate cognitive level in order to increase their understanding and skills concerning health issues.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Usefulness of the USP Medication Counselling Behavior Guidelines.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the perceived usefulness of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Medication Counselling Behavior Guidelines among Finnish community pharmacists. The Guidelines were systematically disseminated to pharmacists through a 4-year project (TIPPA 2000-2003). METHOD: A postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample (n = 734) of Finnish community pharmacists (response rate 51%). RESULTS: More than one quarter (27%) of the respondents was aware of the Guidelines. The Guidelines were made known to the respondents mostly via a book on patient counselling skills (41% of those knowing the Guidelines), continuing education (37%), and in-house training (28%). Over 60% of those who knew about the Guidelines regarded them as a good or very good instrument for learning the principles of patient counselling. The Guidelines were considered less useful as an instrument for the self-evaluation of performance in different settings. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that even though the USP Guidelines have been promoted strongly through basic and continuing education during the TIPPA Project, more than half of the respondents were not aware of the Guidelines. The Guidelines were considered more useful in learning the principles of patient counselling than learning self-evaluation of performance.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Postoperative behavioral changes in children after adenoidectomy.

BACKGROUND: Pain is a common complaint after adenoidectomy. Behavioral changes after adenoidectomy in children have been reported, and it has been concluded that postoperative pain significantly affects the occurrence of behavioral changes. Behavioral changes, when a proactive pain treatment has been used, have not been systematically studied. OBJECTIVE: To assess postoperative behavioral changes in children who have undergone day-case adenoidectomy with proactive pain treatment. DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal, randomized clinical trial. SETTINGS: Ambulatory Care Unit, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland. PATIENTS: Three hundred consecutive children, aged 1 to 10 years, who underwent day-case adenoidectomy during 1999 through 2000. INTERVENTION: In the hospital, 213 children received the first dose of ketoprofen before surgery and 87 children received the first dose at discharge. For pain treatment after discharge, patients were given ketoprofen tablets or suppositories on a regular basis for 72 hours. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of postoperative behavioral changes were evaluated with 3 consecutive questionnaires, at baseline before surgery, 1 week after surgery, and 3 weeks after surgery. RESULTS: A total of 294 questionnaires (98%) were returned after 1 week and 255 questionnaires (85%) after 3 weeks. Most children (91%) had pain after discharge and the mean for pain cessation was 3 days (range, 0-8 days). The mean of ketoprofen doses after discharge was 6 (range, 1-24 doses). Most of the children showed no or only trivial postoperative behavioral changes, and, furthermore, at 3 weeks, more positive than negative changes were reported. The child's age was a significant factor (P<.05) in affecting behavioral changes for all domains. Other significant factors were the worst pain at rest (P =.04) and during swallowing (P =.02) for daytime function disturbances, and fear of separation from parents (P =.03) for sleep disturbances. CONCLUSION: Day-case adenoidectomy with proactive pain treatment seems to result in a negligible incidence of behavioral troubles in children.

Adenoidectomy↗

PubMed2002

Drug use by patients visiting primary care physicians due to nonacute musculoskeletal pain.

Seeking care for prolonged musculoskeletal pain is very common in primary care. We aimed to analyse the pain-related drug use patterns among primary care patients with musculoskeletal pain. The study population consisted of 358 adults visiting a primary care physician due to nonacute musculoskeletal pain. Pain-related medication use, sociodemographic data and pain-related factors were recorded. Depression and mental distress were assessed using the 13-item Beck's Depression Inventory and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. A chi2 test and logistic regression analysis were used to study the associations between drug use and background factors. The physicians diagnosed musculoskeletal pain in 572 patients. Patients' response rate was 63%. Of these patients, 63% had used prescription drugs and 46% over-the-counter (OTC) drugs during the week preceding the visit. Three out of ten patients (28%) had used drugs daily and 29% had used more than one drug simultaneously due to pain. One out of six patients had used sedatives or hypnotics. The use of prescription drug was closely related to the severity of pain and to the previous visits due to present pain. OTC drug use was associated with living alone. Depression or mental distress associated closely with daily use, multiple drug use and especially hypnotic or sedative use. Among primary care patients with musculoskeletal pain, daily drug use and multiple drug use as well as the use of sedatives or hypnotics are common. These drug use patterns are associated as closely with sociodemographic factors or mental distress or depression as with pain severity.

Adult↗