Objective: To develop, implement, and evaluate a depression screening program performed by pharmacists in the community setting; to determine the ability of this screening to identify and refer patients with symptoms of depression; and to determine whether physician referral results in initiation or modification of treatment.
Design: Prospective study.
Setting: 32 locations of a large grocery chain pharmacy in the Cincinnati and Dayton, OH, area from February 8, 2010, to March 30, 2011.
Patients: 3,726 patients 18 years or older.
Intervention: Patients were screened for depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Patients who screened positive on the two-item PHQ (PHQ-2) then were given the nine-item PHQ (PHQ-9). Patients who screened positive on the PHQ-9 were referred to their physician. Pharmacists followed up with these patients to determine the action that was taken following the screening.
Main Outcome Measures: Number of patients with a positive PHQ-9, number of patients referred to their physician, and number of patients for whom treatment was initiated or modified as a result of screening.
Results: 3,726 patients were screened for depression by pharmacists during the study period. A total of 67 (1.8%) patients screened positive on the PHQ-2. Of the patients who completed the PHQ-9, approximately 25% met the criteria for consideration of diagnosis and were referred to their physician. Five patients presented with suicidal thoughts and were referred for urgent treatment. Approximately 60% of patients with a positive PHQ-9 had initiated or modified treatment at the time of follow-up.
Conclusion: A screening program for depression was successfully developed and implemented in the community pharmacy setting. Using the PHQ, pharmacists were able to quickly identify undiagnosed patients with symptoms of depression. The majority of patients with a positive screening had initiated or modified treatment at the time of follow-up.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1331/JAPhA.2013.11176 | DOI Listing |
Blood Adv
January 2025
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States.
In this study, we first analyzed data from 147 patients with solitary plasmacytomas treated at the Mayo Clinic between 2005 and 2022 and then expanded our investigation through a systematic review and meta-analysis of 62 studies, encompassing 3,487 patients from the years 1960 to 2022. Our findings reveal that patients with up to 10% clonal plasma cells in their bone marrow (BM), denoted as plasmacytoma +, had a significantly reduced median disease-free survival (DFS) of 15.7 months vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Assisted partner services (APSs; sometimes called index testing) are now being brought to scale as a high-yield HIV testing strategy in many nations. However, the success of APSs is often hampered by low levels of partner elicitation. The Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (CASI)-Plus study sought to develop and test a mobile health (mHealth) tool to increase the elicitation of sexual and needle-sharing partners among persons with newly diagnosed HIV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Internet Res
January 2025
Department of Radiation Oncology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Background: Primary intracranial germ cell tumors (iGCTs) are highly malignant brain tumors that predominantly occur in children and adolescents, with an incidence rate ranking third among primary brain tumors in East Asia (8%-15%). Due to their insidious onset and impact on critical functional areas of the brain, these tumors often result in irreversible abnormalities in growth and development, as well as cognitive and motor impairments in affected children. Therefore, early diagnosis through advanced screening techniques is vital for improving patient outcomes and quality of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOcul Immunol Inflamm
January 2025
Universiti Malaya Eye Research Centre (UMERC), Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Purpose: To shed light on one of the ocular adverse effects related to pembrolizumab.
Method: Case report and literature review.
Result: A 53-year-old gentleman with underlying Stage III B renal cell carcinoma with lung metastasis and gout presented in June 2021 with bilateral red eyes following Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination.
Neurology
February 2025
Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Determining the level of consciousness in patients with brain injury-and more fundamentally, establishing what they can experience-is ethically and clinically impactful. Patient behaviors may unreliably reflect their level of consciousness: a subset of unresponsive patients demonstrate covert consciousness by willfully modulating their brain activity to commands through fMRI or EEG. However, current paradigms for assessing covert consciousness remain fundamentally limited because they are insensitive, rely on imperfect assumptions of functional neuroanatomy, and do not reflect the spectrum of conscious experience.
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