Use of antipsychotic blood levels in clinician decision making: A cross-over study using clinical vignettes of patients with schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by cognitive impairment as well as positive and negative symptoms. Since many patients require lifelong medication treatment, it is essential that patients are exposed to optimal treatment strategies with a balance between efficacy and tolerability (Hasan  et al., 2012). During the course of treatment, treatment failures can arise from a number of factors related to patients (poor insight, financial constraints, missed appointments, ignoring and misinterpreting instructions, abrupt termination of treatment), healthcare providers (poor therapeutic r elationship with patients, failure to explain medications/treatment plans adequately), and health systems (unavailability of insurance coverage, poor access to healthcare services) (Young et al., 1999).
Source: Psychiatry Research - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: research