Objectives: To describe health literacy, patient activation, and functional capacity in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and to evaluate the associations of health literacy and activation level with functional capacity. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving patients with rheumatoid arthritis was carried out at the rheumatology service of a teaching hospital. Health literacy was assessed by applying the short version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults. Patient Activation was measured by using the summarized version of the Patient Activation Measure. The Health Assessment Questionnaire was applied to evaluate functional capacity. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were also collected to carried out univariate and multivariate analyses by using logistic regression. Results: The sample was composed of 179 patients, of whom 90.5% (n = 162) were women. The participants’ average age was 58.3 ± 11.4 years. The prevalence of patients with inadequate or marginal health literacy was high (67%). In contrast, 74% of the patients showed high activation levels. The average score on the Health Assessment Questionnaire was 1.08 ± 0.7. Adequate health literacy was negatively associated with higher Health Assessment Questionnaire scores (OR = 0.42; 95% CI 0.20 – 0.86; p = 0.018), and high activation levels were negatively associated with moderate to severe functional limitation (level 3/moderate activation level – OR = 0.24; 95% CI 0.10 – 0.56; p = 0.001; level 4/high activation level – OR = 0.22; 95% CI 0.08 – 0.50; p = 0.000). Conclusion: Health professionals must be aware of health literacy and activation levels of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, given that interventions to improve them represent an opportunity to increase functional capacity.

No abstract

No abstract

Objective: A drug interaction (DI) is the clinical event in which the effect or action of one drug is modified by the presence of another. Because of potential harms and low consistency of available information, it is critical to assess the clinical relevance of DI. This study aimed to identify and evaluate the clinical consequences of DI in the pharmacotherapy of patients followed in a primary care Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM) services. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was based on the analysis of the CMM records all the patients that used at least two medications and attended to at least three CMM consultations from August 2015 to March 2016 (n=88). Potential DI were identified among the medications used in the initial consultation of CMM using Micromedex® Drug-Reax® software. The DI were classified as “monitorable” (when its clinical consequences could be monitored by effectiveness or safety paremeters) or non-monitorable, and their clinical consequences were evaluated by analysis of CMM records. Results: Among the studied population 95.5% of the patients had at least one potential DI in their pharmacotherapy, totaling 493 potential DI. Of all the potential DIs identified, 90.9% were monitorable, and the majority of these monitorable DI presented no clinical consequences (62.7%). For 63.9% of the DI with clinical impact, the pharmacist adopted direct or indirect measures that would favor the resolution or reduction of the clinical impact of DIs. Conclusion: The CMM service facilitates the management of DIs since its decision-making method calls for monitoring of the effectiveness and safety parameters, individualizing the management of DIs according to the patient’s needs and their clinical consequences.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease that compromises patients’ quality of life and it demands an indispensable and complex pharmacological treatment. The aim of the present study was to understand patients’ experiences with the pharmacological treatment of RA. In order to explore this area, interviews were conducted with patients with RA followed at an outpatient clinic. Merleau-Ponty’s theoretical framework was applied to understand the investigated phenomenon by using the essential structures of the experience (time, space, relationships with other people, and sexuality, all of which are anchored in the body). These were used to describe the central meanings of the patients’ medication experience. The data showed that patients experienced ambiguity during the RA treatment and that it pervaded all the essential structures of the experience. The experiences that emerged from data analysis were: “waiting for the proper treatment”; “hoping for its effectiveness and safety”; “rediscovering spaces lost because of the disease”; and “self-management in controlling symptoms”. Understanding these experiences allows for the healthcare team to offer more comprehensive, holistic and effective care, contributing to better health outcomes.