A proposed steroid card model for palliative care patients

Abstract

Background. Poor medication compliance and control may diminish the effectiveness of the prescribed therapy and might threaten the patient’s health. It is a substantial issue in palliative care as almost one-third of patients fail to conform to their therapeutic regimens. Non-compliance may lead to more admissions, longer stay at hospital and more short-term and long-term morbidity and mortality.

Purpose. Tools have to be implemented to limit non-compliance and ensure that patients are able, with encouragement and supervision, to monitor their treatment progress. Medication card is an excellent candidate, since it retains the essential information of the patient, doctor and the prescribed drug, and it also provides convenience, as patients are able to check their progress in real-time, and keep an eye on potential side effects and complications. This paper describes a model created of patient-version of steroids medication card that fulfill the abovementioned goal and provide this service to the palliative care patients.

Methods. The research was guided and supervised by palliative care specialists and nurses, and I approached multiple patients to calibrate the language and structure for simplicity and clarity. Furthermore, I reviewed official medication card forms produced by major hospices in order to configure the appropriate composition and format of the card. This work is expected to facilitate control and monitoring of steroid regimens palliative care settings.