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Background Patient education delivered by a health care provider increases patients’ understanding and adherence to medical instructions, which helps to improve patient health. Multiple challenges exist to delivering effective patient education to patients with multiple chronic conditions, including giving the necessary time, range, and types of learning materials, and assessing the level of understanding. To help overcome these challenges, it is important to study new electronic means to assist in patient education, such as the use of mobile devices, interactive media, 3-dimensional images, and multimedia educational content at the bedside. Objective The goal of this study was to address the need for blended learning strategies combining technical and workflow integration of digital patient education systems for patients with chronic conditions within and across the regular process of care. Studies are needed to evaluate the utility and benefits of these technologies for providers and patients alike. Methods A mixed-methods approach was employed including survey administration to 178 patients after they received digital patient education in person with a health care provider, and qualitative interviews with 16 nurse educators who used the mobile digital health education technology to deliver instruction to patients. Patient survey data were analyzed using chi-square statistical tests. Qualitative interviews were analyzed for user acceptance and perceived value themes. Results Patients who were counseled using a blended digital health education approach reported improved understanding of educational content (P=.034) and chronic health conditions (P<.001), were more motivated to care for themselves at home (P<.001), were more likely to say that they felt capable of making health care decisions with their doctors (P<.001) and on their own (P=.001), and were more likely to report their intention to follow their doctor’s instructions (P<.001) than were patients whose education was not computer-based. Nurse educators felt that the digital education system and content enhanced their education efforts and could be easily integrated into the outpatient clinical workflow. Conclusions Patient education for individuals with chronic conditions may be more effective than traditional formats when provided in blended digital formats supervised by a health care provider.

Background Although the incidence of breast cancer is lower in African-American women than in White women, African-American women have a decreased survival rate. The difference in survival rate may stem from poor endocrine therapy adherence, which increases breast cancer recurrence. Therefore, accessible and culturally sensitive interventions to increase endocrine therapy adherence are necessary. Objective The purpose of this concurrent convergent mixed methods study was to provide further data to guide the development of the proposed culturally sensitive mHealth app, STORY+ for African-American women with breast cancer. Methods We recruited 20 African-American women diagnosed with estrogen-positive breast cancer and currently prescribed endocrine therapy. We used a concurrent convergent data collection method to (1) assess the use of smartphones and computers related to health care and (2) identify foundational aspects to support endocrine therapy adherence for incorporation in a mobile health app. Results Overwhelmingly, the participants preferred using smartphones to using computers for health care. Communicating with health care providers and pharmacies was the most frequent health care use of smartphones, followed by exercise tracking, and accessing the patient portal. We identified 4 aspects of adherence to endocrine therapy and smartphone use for incorporation in app development. The factors that emerged from the integrated qualitative and quantitative data were (1) willingness to use, (2) side effects, (3) social connection, and (4) beliefs about endocrine therapy. Conclusions Further research is needed to develop a culturally sensitive app for African-American women with breast cancer to improve adherence to endocrine therapy. Our work strongly suggests that this population would use the app to connect with other African-American breast cancer survivors and manage endocrine therapy.

BACKGROUND Patient education delivered by a healthcare provider to a patient increases patient understanding and adherence to medical instructions, which helps to improve patient health. Multiple challenges exist to delivering effective patient education to complex patients with multiple chronic conditions, including giving the necessary time, range and types of learning materials, and assessing level of understanding. Electronic means to assist in patient education continue to advance, with the use of mobile devices, interactive media, 3D, and multi-media educational content. OBJECTIVE This study addresses the need for blended learning strategies combining technical and workflow integration of digital patient education systems for patients with chronic conditions within and across the regular process of care. Studies are needed to evaluate the utility and benefits of these technologies for providers and patients alike. METHODS Mixed methods including survey administration to patients (n=178) after receiving digital patient education in person with a healthcare provider, and interviews with providers whom used the mobile digital health education technology (n=16) to deliver instruction to patients. RESULTS Participants who were counseled using blended digital health education reported improved understanding of educational content (p=.034) and chronic health conditions (p<.001); were more motivated to care for themselves at home (p<.001); more likely to say they felt capable of making healthcare decisions with their doctors (p<.001) and on their own (p=.001); and were more likely to report their intention of following their doctor’s instructions (p<.001) than those whose education was not computer-based. CONCLUSIONS Patient education for patients with chronic conditions may be more effective when provided in blended digital formats supervised by a healthcare provider over traditional formats.

Abstract:: Nutraceuticals are the combination of Nutrition and Pharmaceuticals and refers to the ‘food’ possessing pharmaceutical properties. Classified into traditional (herbals, phytochemicals, probiotic, prebiotic) and non-traditional (fortified and recombinant) categories nutraceuticals, are mainly intended for preventing and treating diseases. Nutraceuticals possess several therapeutic activities which can be exploited to treat disorders like, cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer, inflammations, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, etc. Nutraceuicals are mainly obtained from natural sources, hence are comaparatievly safer and cheaper alternatives than pharmaceuticals, which leads to a tremendous growth and flourishing markets tothis kind of products. The main objective of this review is to determine the advancement made in the field of nutraceuticals and their potential as pharmaceutical alternative. This article focuses on present and past market scenario of nutraceuticals, their therapeutic effectsand advantages over pharmaceuticals products. Secondly, with the advancement of novel drug delivery system, the drawbacks of nutraceuticals have been resolved and efficacy has been improved which resulted in gaining the interests of scientists and researchers in this field for further improvement. Thus, we can expect the lucarative market of nutraceuticals in upcoming days. It is clear that nutraceuticals have great potential to replace the pharmaceuticals and serve for the wellbeing of mankind.