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Emerson Lassen posted an update 6 hours, 20 minutes ago
Background Renal dosage adjustment for patients with reduced kidney function is a common function of clinical pharmacy service. Assessment of pharmacist’s intervention in the aspect of quality and economic impact should be conducted to evaluate the benefit of this service. Objective This study aimed to assess the quality and cost saving of clinical pharmacists’ recommendation on renal dosage adjustment among patients with reduced kidney function. Setting Eight medical wards of the Siriraj Hospital, a tertiary-care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Method A retrospective study was conducted using medical records and clinical pharmacist’s intervention database. All patients admitted to the study wards whose estimated creatinine clearance were less than 60 mL/min or presented with acute kidney injury on admission during October 2016-December 2017 were included. The targeted medications were antimicrobial agents. Main outcome measure Percentage of the concordance between pharmacists’ recommendation compared to standard dosing references and related cost saving. Results Among 158 patients, pharmacists provided 190 recommendations, including 151 (79.1%) dose reduction, 17 (8.9%) dose increase and 22 (11.5%) recommendations to provide supplemental dose after dialysis. These recommendations were 90.5% consistent with standard references. Physician accepted and complied with 89.5% of pharmacists’ recommendations. Average direct cost saving was €5,114.11 while cost avoidance was €863.47. Conclusion Trained clinical pharmacists were able to provide high-quality recommendation on dosage adjustment in these patients in accordance to standard dosing guidelines. In addition, dosage adjustment also led to a significant direct cost saving and cost avoidance from prevention of adverse drug reactions.Background Population screening for osteoporosis using bone mineral density scan is not feasible in Malaysia as this test is costly. Hence, there is a need to develop a more efficient method to screen for osteoporosis.Objectives To determine the feasibility of an interprofessional collaborative osteoporosis screening programme (IPC-OSP). learn more Methods Postmenopausal women aged ≥ 50 years, who had not been diagnosed with osteoporosis were recruited from a primary care clinic from June to August 2014. Patients were assessed for their osteoporosis risk and were counselled on prevention methods. Patients at risk were referred to the doctor with a recommendation for a bone mineral density (BMD) scan. Results Fifty out of 55 patients were recruited (response rate = 90.9%). A total 26/50 (52.0%) went for a bone mineral density scan, none were osteoporotic, 17/50 (34%) were osteopenic, 2/50 (4.0%), were started on osteoporosis medications and 14/50 (28%) modified their lifestyle to improve bone health or started on calcium supplements. Osteoporosis knowledge significantly increased from baseline to month two (46.3 ± 21.4 vs. 79.1 ± 14.3, p less then 0.001). Patients had a satisfaction score of 89.8 ± 12.4. Follow-up rates were 83.9% and 100% at months 1 (BMD appointment) and 2 (phone follow up), respectively. The intervention was successfully coordinated. Data entry was determined to be viable based on the researchers’ experience. Conclusion The interprofessional collaborative osteoporosis screening programme was found to be feasible in Malaysia.Background Medication discrepancies are a common occurrence following hospital admission and carry the potential for causing harm. However, little is known about the prevalence and potential risk factors involved in medication discrepancies in China. Objective To determine the frequency of medication discrepancies and the associated risk factors and evaluate the potential harmsof errors prevented by pharmacist trainees performing medication reconciliation process. Setting A tertiary hospital in Shanxi, China. Method Medication reconciliation was conducted at admission to four clinical departments including cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology and pneumology department between 2019 Feb 1st and 2019 Aug 31st by clinical pharmacist trainees. All unintentional medication discrepancies were presented to the expert panel to evaluate. Associations between unintentional medication discrepancies and various factors were examined. Main outcome measure The primary outcome was the prevalence of unintentional medication discrepancies as well as the associated risk factors. Results Overall, 331 patients were included (mean age 59.7 ± 15.2 years; 176 men). The reconciliation process identified 511 drug discrepancies, 98 of which were unintentional medication discrepancies; these occurred in 74 patients. The most common unintentional medication discrepancies type was omission (40.8%), followed by incorrect dose (25.5%), and 73.5% could have caused patients moderate to significant harm and complications. 5 or more drugs and 2 or more chronic diseases at admission associated with unintentional medication discrepancies in a logistic regression analysis. Conclusion Medication reconciliation performed by pharmacist trainees upon admission can reduce unintentional medication discrepancies. Patients taking 5 or more drugs and experiencing more than two chronic diseases were found to be particularly at risk.In the original article the name of author Mohd Ashraf Ganie was presented incorrectly. It is correct here.BACKGROUND Iron deficiency is a common finding in patients with previous bariatric surgery, and parenteral supplementation is frequently required. Ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) is among the preferred compounds used but may be associated with new-onset hypophosphatemia. This study was undertaken to study the prevalence of hypophosphatemia following FCM in patients with previous bariatric surgery, a population that may be at particular risk due to highly prevalent secondary hyperparathyroidism. METHODS Patients with previous bariatric surgery and iron depletion scheduled for FCM infusion were prospectively studied before and one week after FCM application. The primary endpoint was new-onset hypophosphatemia. Patients were followed until plasma phosphate had normalized without replacement. RESULTS Fifty-two patients (40 females) following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (n = 50) or sleeve gastrectomy (n = 2), with a median age of 46 years (range 22-68) and a BMI of 32.2 kg/m2 (27.5-37.3), were analyzed. Fifteen patients (29%) developed new-onset hypophosphatemia, with 11 (21%) requiring oral phosphate supplementation for a median duration of 14 days (14-25).