Nursing Interventions in Monitoring Patients Diagnosed with Resistant Schizophrenia under Clozapine Medication

The clinical efficacy of clozapine in the treatment of resistant schizophrenia compared to other antipsychotic agents is well documented. Clinical management, patient safety standards and patient monitoring are performed according to specific protocols in clozapine clinics. Nevertheless, there is data showing that there are significant differences, even within the same healthcare systems, regarding the management of clozapine therapeutic approach. The main factors related to this differentiation are heavy workload among healthcare professionals; differences in the way clozapine protocols are implemented and assessment data are documented; inadequate communication among the members of the interdisciplinary team or between patients and healthcare professionals. The issue of inadequate documentation and poor communication appears to be significantly restricted in clozapine clinics in which the coordinator of patients’ follow-up is a clinical specialist nurse. In that case, data show that there are fewer gaps in documentation regarding patient monitoring and clinical assessment, while it appears that (a) the frequency of follow-up visits of patients is higher; (b) mortality rates due to physical causes are lower; (c) physicians’ workload is lower with no impact of patient safety standards. Also, patients' empowerment regarding self-management skills by the clinical specialist nurse is of great importance within clozapine clinics.

Category: Volume 56, N 3
Hits: 738 Hits
Created Date: 15-09-2017
Authors: Maria N.K. Karanikola , Maria Nystazaki , Anna Hatziioannou