Vilas A, Revsin NS, Burgos M; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1998; 12: 861 (abstract no. 42438).

Fundacion Red-Resources-Studies-Development, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ISSUES: Certain specific factors of professional practices have a direct bearing upon patient adherence, such as 1) the conditions under which the attending public health care professional must work, 2) the professional's improper training in realizing patient needs and problems, 3) the personal prejudices at work interfering in unbiased patient assessment. PROJECT: A 24-month patent follow-up study was conducted on 34 patients with adherence problems consisting of interviews to PWA friends and relatives, psychological appointments, counseling sessions, interviews with the professional teams involved, keeping track of the quality of public health care services, and systematizing the set of problems identified and solutions thereby reached. RESULTS: The above involved 14 task-group professionals from 4 different public hospitals and evidenced, among others, the following adherence hindrances 1--the professional's incomplete data on patients' work, family and social vicissitudes, 2--the health system's unacknowledgement of the bearing the caring professionals prejudices have on administering effective treatment, 3--the insufficient appointment time allotted to supposedly see patients thoroughly, 4--the lack of patient services for clearing their doubts (i.e., phone services, counseling), 5--the insufficient inter-departmental exchanges among task-group professionals regarding a some patient. The realization of such problems led to some changes in items 1, 2 and 5 above, but none in items 3 and 4. The fact that during May-November, 1997, a 47% adherence increase was evidenced among these patients in worthy of mention. LESSON LEARNED: When a treating professional's subjective factors and the patient appointment conditions are taken into consideration and modified, treatment adherence can be optimized.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Appointments and Schedules
• Counseling
• Follow-Up Studies
• Health Services Needs and Demand
• Humans
• Interviews as Topic
• Patient Education as Topic
• Professional Practice
• Public Health
• Public Health Administration
• therapy

Other ID:

• 98404422

UI: 102231236

From Meeting Abstracts