Patient compliance in English hospital - Essay Example

To summarize those earlier studies, all of them suggest, for obtaining the best results, imaging be done on naturally filled or empty bladders. For those protocols that require filled bladders prior to imaging, ensuring reproducibility in bladder filling becomes vital. The patient is usually informed to have a comfortably full bladder. Put simply, the patient is asked to comply with the prognosis program. However, when the patient voids the bladder without informing the medical personnel, a situation of non-compliance arises, resulting in errors in imaging.

Such errors more often than not are compounded by variations in the interpretation of the data. Patient non-compliance in the form of reluctance to agree for evaluation and treatment owing to significant distress, urological symptoms or erectile functions is now a documented aspect of PC (da Silva et al., 1996, p77; Roth et al., 1998, p1908). Whereas Roth et al., report the development of an acceptable approach for rapid screening for distress in PC patients; da Silva et al., recommend that Quality of Life (QoL) assessment be made mandatory to increase participation and compliance rates in future studies that consider QoL to be an important study end point.

When patient non-compliance significantly affects the medical interventions, one good strategy of overcoming the same would involve checking on the findings of researchers working on diseases other than PC wherein a similar requirement of having a reproducible bladder volume exists, how those researchers overcame the same and extrapolating those findings to PC. To begin with, usage of frequency volume charts (FV charts) is, perhaps, a better option. Abrams et al., (1996, p53) suggest keeping FV charts for seven days essentially to cover both work and leisure periods.

They also propose computerization of the FV charts as an attractive option. Similarly, based on the results obtained in a pair of related studies, Rabin et al., (1996a, p806; 1996b, p34) report greater patient compliance when an electronic voiding diary is maintained in comparison to traditional methods. In a study involving 81 women with urinary incontinence, Jorgensen et al., (1987, p42) advise the usage of one-hour pad-weighing test, which was found to be practical and useful in quantifying the degree of leakage.

Although, PC never affects women, extrapolating the observations might improve patient compliance in PC management.Continuing the discussion on similar lines, despite using the above-mentioned remedial measures, it is possible that the patients might not comply or perhaps owing to various reasons, while waiting for treatment, might void early without informing the medical personnel. This situation makes the development of strategies that do not rely on bladder volume imperative. In other words, the best option would be to implement those protocols that are independent of the 'status' of the bladder.

In the absence or non-availability of such protocols, the observations of Faithfull et al., (2001, p1864) are significant. In a