Therapeutic inertia
Encyclopedia
Therapeutic inertia is a measurement of the resistance to therapeutic treatment
for an existing medical condition. It is commonly measured as a percentage of the number of encounters in which a patient
with a condition received new or increased therapeutic treatment out of the total number of visits to a health care professional by the patient. A high percentage indicates that the health care provider
is slow to treat a medical condition. A low percentage indicates that a provider is extremely quick in prescribing new treatment at the onset of any medical condition.
or high cholesterol
). In two of those visits, the provider made a change to the patient's treatment for the condition.
In Dr. Okonofua's original paper, this patient's therapeutic inertia is calculated as
where h is the number of visits with an uncontrolled condition, c is the number of visits in which a change was made, and v is the total number of visits. Therefore, the patient's therapeutic inertia is 
.
An alternative, which avoids consideration of visits where the condition was already controlled and the provider should not be expected to make a treatment change, is
. Using the above example, there are 2 changes and 4 visits with an uncontrolled condition. The therapeutic inertia is 
.
Therapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
for an existing medical condition. It is commonly measured as a percentage of the number of encounters in which a patient
Patient
A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....
with a condition received new or increased therapeutic treatment out of the total number of visits to a health care professional by the patient. A high percentage indicates that the health care provider
Health care provider
A health care provider is an individual or an institution that provides preventive, curative, promotional or rehabilitative health care services in a systematic way to individuals, families or communities....
is slow to treat a medical condition. A low percentage indicates that a provider is extremely quick in prescribing new treatment at the onset of any medical condition.
Calculation
There are two common methods used in calculating therapeutic inertia. For the following examples, consider that a patient has five visits with a health provider. In four of those visits, a condition is not controlled (such as high blood pressureHypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
or high cholesterol
Hypercholesterolemia
Hypercholesterolemia is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic derangement that can be caused by many diseases, notably cardiovascular disease...
). In two of those visits, the provider made a change to the patient's treatment for the condition.
In Dr. Okonofua's original paper, this patient's therapeutic inertia is calculated as
where h is the number of visits with an uncontrolled condition, c is the number of visits in which a change was made, and v is the total number of visits. Therefore, the patient's therapeutic inertia is .An alternative, which avoids consideration of visits where the condition was already controlled and the provider should not be expected to make a treatment change, is
. Using the above example, there are 2 changes and 4 visits with an uncontrolled condition. The therapeutic inertia is .Reception
Therapeutic inertia was devised as a metric for measuring treatment of hypertension. It has now become a standard metric for analysing treatment of common comorbidities such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Healthcare feedback reporting processes and intervention studies focused on therapeutic inertia reduction have been shown to increase control of hypertension (as well as diabetes and hyperlipidemia).External links
- OQUIN: The OQUIN:Hypertension Initiative at MUSCMedical University of South CarolinaThe Medical University of South Carolina opened in Charleston, South Carolina in 1824 as a small private college for the training of physicians. It is one of the oldest continually operating school of medicine in the United States and the oldest in the Deep South...
performed the initial study and reporting on therapeutic inertia.