Low medication adherence is a real, complex problem for older patients receiving polypharmacy. We found that the increasing number of drugs prescribed at hospital discharge is correlated to non-adherence and a high percentage of patients did not understand the purpose of their medications. Simplification of drug regimens and reduction of pill burdens as well as better explanations of the reason for the medications should be targets for intervention.

Bergamo province was badly hit by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. We organised a public-funded, multidisciplinary follow-up programme for COVID-19 patients discharged from the emergency department or from the inpatient wards of ‘Papa Giovanni XXIII’ Hospital, the largest public hospital in the area. As of 31 July, the first 767 patients had completed the first post-discharge multidisciplinary assessment. Patients entered our programme at a median time of 81 days after discharge. Among them, 51.4% still complained of symptoms, most commonly fatigue and exertional dyspnoea, and 30.5% were still experiencing post-traumatic psychological consequences. Impaired lung diffusion was found in 19%. Seventeen per cent had D-dimer values two times above the threshold for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (two unexpected and clinically silent pulmonary thrombosis were discovered by investigating striking D-dimer elevation). Survivors of COVID-19 exhibit a complex array of symptoms, whose common underlying pathology, if any, has still to be elucidated: a multidisciplinary approach is fundamental, to address the different problems and to look for effective solutions.

This observational study describes the characteristics of the education programmes used in Italian PD-centres, evaluating a possible relationship between programmes and peritonitis rates. The survey involved 150 non-paediatric public dialysis centres in Italy. The data were collected by a questionnaire and evaluated with SPSS software. Descriptive statistics of synthesis were calculated, Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon's test were used to verify the differences in the replies, and association between variables was tested with Pearson correlation and Pearson's chi2 test. 120 dialysis centres took part in the survey and reported a median incidence of peritonitis of 1/29 months. Training occurs in all the centres, while pre-dialysis education, home visits and re-training take place in 38.3%, 50% and 44.2% respectively. A lower peritonitis rates proves to be correlated to these activities rather than to presence of specialised personnel, to ratio nurses-patients or training time.

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INTRODUZIONE: il contropulsatore aortico (IABP: Intra Aortic Balloon Pump) è un device utilizzato in pazienti in shock cardiogeno. L’inserimento a livello femorale obbliga la persona all’allettamento e i rischi maggiori sono complicanze vascolari e compartimentali a livello dell’arto inferiore dove è posizionato.