Table 4 Interventions with combination messages (to reduce and increase medicines use)
From: Bridging evidence-practice gaps: improving use of medicines in elderly Australian veterans
Intervention number and topic (number of veterans targeted) | Targeted therapy | Proportion of veterans on targeted therapy at baseline (%) | 24 month pre-intervention trend | Intervention effect (%) | 20 month post intervention trend | Estimated number with changed behaviour as a result of intervention; sustained over two years post intervention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10: Constipation: a quality of life issue for veteran patients (n = 29231) | Increase use of osmotic laxatives | 1.5% | Trend increasing 0.7% per month | 1.8% (p = 0.11) | Trend increasing at greater rate 1.2% per month (p = 0.002) | 2047 (825 additional people on osmotic laxatives, 410 additional people on contact laxatives and 690 less people on bulk laxatives) |
Decrease use of contact laxatives | 2.5% | Trend increasing 0.2% per month | 3.0% (p = 0.0007) | Trend still increasing (non-significant to prior) 0.2% per month (p = 0.87) | ||
Increase use of bulk laxatives | 1.9% | Trend decreasing − 0.7% per month | 0.8% (p = 0.34) | Trend now decreasing at greater rate − 0.9% per month (p = 0.04) | ||
13: Clopidogrel (n = 16867) | Increase use of clopidogrel with aspirin | 1.5% | Trend increasing 0.8% per month | 3.0% (p = 0.018) | Trend still increasing (non-significant to prior) 0.7% per month (p = 0.4) | 1114 (825 now on aspirin with clopidogrel, 289 no longer on NSAIDs with clopidogrel) |
Reduce concurrent use of clopidogrel with NSAIDs | 1% | Trend decreasing − 0.3% per month | −5.3% (p = 0.002) | Trend still increasing (non-significant to prior) 0.1% per month (p = 0.3) |