Yamaura Katsunori, Hayashi Naoko, Imazu Yoshihiro, Yoneta Yoshitaka, Uchida Emiko, Suzuki Junko
Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University.
Shibadaimon Imazu Clinic.
Yakugaku Zasshi. 2018;138(5):615-619. doi: 10.1248/yakushi.17-00118-4.
There is an urgent need to promote home medical care in Japan because of the country's superaging society. Community pharmacists are expected to play an important role as part of home medical care teams. The prevalence of nail ringworm is high among home-care patients and can cause decreases in the quality of life, including difficulty in walking due to pain caused by nail deformation and inflammation around infected nails. Nail ringworm is typically treated with oral medication. However, the condition is left untreated in many elderly patients because of the risk of drug-drug interactions or concerns about severe liver damage. Efinaconazole, a novel triazole antifungal agent, has recently become available in Japan, enabling patients with nail ringworm to be treated with a topical medication. In topical treatment, the method of application is important because of its major impact on the therapeutic effect. Therefore, pharmacists should take special care to instruct patients and caregivers on the proper use of topical efinaconazole. Adherence to oral medication can be easily monitored by checking the number of tablets or capsules remaining, but adherence to topical medication regimens is more difficult to assess because the remaining amount cannot be determined precisely by checking the outer appearance of the container. The aim of this study was to determine and improve home-care patients' adherence to topical efinaconazole treatment regimens by measuring amounts remaining in the containers using a portable electronic scale. We found that this method is useful for determining the status of topical efinaconazole use.
由于日本社会的超级老龄化，迫切需要推广家庭医疗护理。社区药剂师有望作为家庭医疗护理团队的一部分发挥重要作用。家庭护理患者中指甲癣的患病率很高，可能会导致生活质量下降，包括因指甲变形和感染指甲周围炎症引起的疼痛而行走困难。指甲癣通常用口服药物治疗。然而，由于药物相互作用的风险或对严重肝损伤的担忧，许多老年患者的病情未得到治疗。新型三唑类抗真菌药物艾氟康唑最近在日本上市，使指甲癣患者能够用外用药物治疗。在局部治疗中，给药方法很重要，因为它对治疗效果有重大影响。因此，药剂师应特别注意指导患者和护理人员正确使用外用艾氟康唑。通过检查剩余的片剂或胶囊数量可以很容易地监测口服药物的依从性，但外用药物治疗方案的依从性更难评估，因为通过检查容器外观无法精确确定剩余量。本研究的目的是通过使用便携式电子秤测量容器中剩余的量来确定并提高家庭护理患者对外用艾氟康唑治疗方案的依从性。我们发现这种方法对于确定外用艾氟康唑的使用情况很有用。
