Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2015 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 9 Articles
Factors associated with antibiotic use, resistance and safety have been well documented worldwide in the literature. Nevertheless, only few studies have been conducted in Tamil Nadu. The aim of this study was to assess the patient’s attitudes toward the use and knowledge of antibiotics, survey instrument included questions about the patient’s demographic information, familiarity with various antibiotics, attitudes toward the knowledge and safety use of antibiotics and the patient’s comfort level when discussing antibiotics. 79% believed that antibiotics are safe to treat common cold and cough. 15% of females showed inadequate knowledge about the safe use of antibiotics during pregnancy and nursing. 35% kept antibiotics at home for emergency use and 39% misused antibiotics as analgesics. 35% use left-over antibiotics without physicians’ consultation while 65% use antibiotics based on a relative advice. 90% of patients indicated that they were used the antibiotics without any counselling. Hence the remedy suggested for avoid the misuse of antibiotics in the overall population are emphasizing pharmacists role and responsibility in preventing antibiotic sale without prescription and consultation approaches and strategies that make patient expectations explicit without destructing physician patient relationship....
The present study was conducted to investigate depression among addictive patients and if there is a\npossible association between general characteristics of participants including demographic variable and\ndepression. The methodology of the present study included case control study design, study sample\nincluded 36 addictive patients who received treatment at Governmental Center for Treatment and\nRehabilitation of Addiction. Study instrument was a questionnaire constructed for data collection from\nparticipants in addition to measuring depression using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Study\nfindings revealed medium to severe depression among addictive group, while control group had no\ndepression. None of the general characteristics of participants showed significant variation between the\naddictive group and the control group (P>0.05). There was in the present study not found an\nassociation between demographical data and depression....
Psoriasis is a chronic recurrent disease form of erythematous macular lesion firmly bounded, covered by the roughcoated squama, translucent white and accompanied by the Koebner phenomenon and Auspitz sign. The aim of this study was to analyze prescription profile for drug utilization in psoriasis patients using World Health Organization core indicators. A prospective observational drug utilization study was conducted in dermatology outpatient department of Tertiary care Hospital, in south India for 6 months (January-July 2014) (N = 44). The results of this study showed that the primary therapy used in patient psoriasis that have severity degrees (moderate to severe) were corticosteroids, antibiotics, retinoids and skin care. Dapsone as antibiotic which was used on 61.36% of all patients, sytemic corticosteroid which was widely used is prednisolone and clofazamine (61.36 and 38.63%) and skin care treatment used was paraffin (100%). Besides, the supportive therapy was given to psoriasis patients include antihistamines (hydroxyzine), ferrous sulphate, antiemetic agent (ondansetron), etc. The drug utilization auditing should be conducted for rational prescription, reduce medication errors and effective management in psoriasis patients....
Background: Antidepressant agents are commonly implicated in drug overdose, and the toxicological\nprofile varies between agents. Clinical data concerning overdoses are not systematically sought or\nevaluated in pharmacovigilance. The present study sought to examine the feasibility of collecting\nEmergency Department data concerning antidepressant overdose.\nMethods : Presentations to York Hospital due to intentional antidepressant overdose were studied between\n2010 and 2011. Data collected were the type of antidepressant, dose, co-ingested drugs, duration of\nhospital stay, and need for critical care. Community National Health Service prescription data were\nevaluated across York and North Yorkshire region.\nResults : There were 250 overdose episodes. These involved a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor\n(SSRI) in 183 (73.2%), and a tricyclic in 45 (18.0%), equivalent to 24 episodes per 100,000 prescription\nitems (95% CI 21-28 per 100,000) and 11 per 100,000 (8-15 per 100,000) respectively (P<0.0001).\nCitalopram was the most commonly prescribed, and associated with 22 overdose episodes per 100,000 (17-\n27 per 100,000). Fluoxetine was associated with 32 overdose episodes per 100,000 (24-41 per 100,000)\n(P=0.032 versus citalopram), whereas the lower rates were observed for amitriptyline (13, 9-17 per\n100,000) (P=0.004) and dosulepin (2, 0-10 per 100,000) (P=0.001).\nConclusions : A higher than expected number of overdose episodes involved an SSRI based on National\nHealth Service primary care prescribing, and fewer episodes involved a tricyclic antidepressant. Clinical\noutcomes differed between agents, indicating the feasibility of using Emergency Department data to detect\ndifferent patterns of toxicity between antidepressants. Further work is required to examine whether\nsystematic collection of clinical toxicology data might enhance existing pharmacovigilance systems....
Patient’s knowledge regarding medication dispensed to them is an important factor for the proper use of medicines and their well-being, improving the patient’s knowledge, suggesting them with rational ideas on proper usage of medicines yields better results in patient health status. A direct observational study was conducted in Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences a south Indian government hospital using the specially designed questionnaire. Out of 167 cases highest prescribed class of drugs were antiulceratives (65.2%), followed by NSAID’s (63.4%), antifungals were the least (0.59%) prescribed, out of 167 patients 58% patients were identifying medicines through colour, shape, size of the tablets and syrups, only 42% were able to identify through names, 67% are willing to stop medicines if they feel better without following the physician advice, 71.4% don’t even know what drugs have been prescribed for what condition, 64.8% believing that the drugs as a magical remedies for any sort of disease, 43% patients suggesting the same prescription to their intimates, only 78.3% of patients said that they discuss the drug effects with physician and 79.5% review the physician frequently, apart from this 86.7% feel that the drug information is essential for their better health. Wide range of illiteracy and low economic status are playing vital role in the patient’s knowledge and usage of drugs by the patients if there is a growth in the literacy rate the circumstances may modify healthier....
Background: In a primary health-care centre (PHCC) situated in a segregated area\nwith low socio-economic status, ââ?¬Ë?primary care triageââ?¬â?¢ has increased efficiency and\naccessibility. In the primary-care triage, the nurse sorts the patient to the appropriate\nPHCC profession according to described symptoms. Aim: The aim of this study was to\nexamine the patientsââ?¬â?¢ experience of being triaged directly to a psychologist for\nassessment. Method: Interviews were conducted with 20 patients and then analysed\nusing qualitative content analysis. Findings: The results show that patients contacting\nthe PHCC for mental health issues often are active agents with their own intent to see\na psychologist, not a doctor, as a first-hand choice when contacting the PHCC. Seeking\nhelp for mental health issues is described as a sensitive issue that demands building\nup strength before contacting. The quick access to the preferred health-care professional\nis appreciated. The nurse was perceived as a caring facilitator rather than a\ndecision maker. It is the patientââ?¬â?¢s wish rather than the symptoms that directs the\nsorting. The patientsââ?¬â?¢ expectations when meeting the psychologist were wide and\ndiverse. The structured assessment sometimes collided and sometimes united with\nthese expectations, yielding different outcome satisfaction. The results could be seen\nin line with the present goal to increase patientsââ?¬â?¢ choice in the health-care system. The\nimproved accessibility to the psychologist seems to meet community expectations.\nThe results also indicate a need for providing more prior information about the\nassessment and potential outcomes....
Poly-pharmacy is defined as the concurrent use of five or more\nmedications and is critical in individuals with multiple chronic\nmedical conditions. There are many factors affecting the incidence\nof poly-pharmacy. This study will assess the relationship between\npoly-pharmacy and factors such as age, gender, level of education,\nnumber of medications, drug interactions and comorbidities in\nelderly patients.\nMethod: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study\nconducted in a tertiary hospital in the United Arab Emirates.\nResults: A majority of 237 patients aged from 60 to 69 years with\naverage of 67�± SEM years were included in this study. A total of 89%\nof the participated patients were taking more than five medications\nand exposed to at least one poly-pharmacy episode according to its\ndefinition. It was revealed in this study that a greater exposure to\npoly-pharmacy can lead to co-morbidities. The relationship between\nage-groups and drug interactions was also measured in this study.\nThe number of drug interactions increased with increasing the\nnumber of medications taking by elderly patients. Moreover, the\nmale subjects were more frequently exposed to poly-pharmacy and\nwere found to have a greater number of co-morbidities than their\ncounterpart female subjects. Nevertheless, the highest interventions\nfrom healthcare professionals were on patients taking multiple\nmedications and aged 60 to 69 and 70 to79 years.\nConclusions: This study is additional evidence that the\nprevalence of poly-pharmacy is widespread among elderly patients.\nEvaluating the relationship between poly-pharmacy and other factors\nsuch as age, gender, level of education, number of medications,\ndrug-drug interactions, interventions and co-morbidities revealed\nthat there is a clear relationship. Therefore, educational programs\ntargeting primary care physicians, other healthcare professionals\nand elderly patients should be developed in hospital settings....
Pharmacoeconomics identifies, measures and compares the costs and consequences of drug therapy to healthcare systems and society. The perspective of a pharmacoeconomic evaluation is paramount because the study results will be highly dependent on the perspective selected. Healthcare costs can be categorized as direct medical, direct nonmedical, indirect nonmedical, intangible, opportunity and incremental costs.This article provides a brief overview about pharmacoeconomics, its utility with respect to the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Pharmacoeconomic evidences can be utilized to sustain decisions on licensing, pricing, reimbursement and maintenance of formulary procedure of pharmaceuticals. For the insurance companies to give better facility at minimum cost, India must develop the platform for pharmacoeconomics with a validating methodology and appropriate training. Endeavor of this review is to make the modern young pharmacists aware about the need of an innovative concept called pharmacoeconomics, by understanding the terminologies, method and its role in Indian health care system. The complexity of modern medication dictates that no one person, physician or pharmacist, can be aware of all aspects of drug therapy. The two fundamental components of pharmacoeconomic studies are measures of costs and measures of outcomes that are combined into a quantitative measure or ratio. It can be done using various methods like Cost-minimization analysis (CMA), Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), Cost-utility analysis (CUA) and Cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Cost involves all the resources that are used to produce and deliver a particular drug therapy. Outcomes may be positive or negative. Positive outcomes are a measure of the drug’s efficacy; negative outcomes include side effects, treatment failure and the development of drug resistance. The measures of costs and outcomes which costs to include and how outcomes are measured and valued depends on the perspective of the study. The function of pharmacoeconomics in India is in early life at present, although clinical research organizations are being formed swiftly. Certain methodology, training and initiatives are looked-for for its development....
The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of hospital pharmacists regarding quality of pharmaceutical care services\nin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, Pakistan, through qualitative as well as quantitative approach. For qualitative study, snow\nball sampling technique was used. In quantitative part, a cross-sectional study was conducted in 112 hospital pharmacists (out of 128\naccessed ones) from both private and public hospitals in six major divisions (divisions are the third tier of government in Pakistan,\nbetween the provinces and districts) of KPK. The qualitative study yielded five major themes during thematic analysis: (a) patients\nreporting, (b) lack of patient counseling, (c) lack of participation in health awareness programs, (d) pharmacists reducing the\nprescribing errors, and (e) insufficient number of pharmacists. A great proportion (67.9%) of the pharmacists was unsatisfied with\ntheir participation in health awareness programs. Findings of both phases revealed that hospital pharmacists in Pakistan are not\nactively participating in the provision of pharmaceutical care services. They are facing various hurdles for their active participation\nin patient care; major obstacles include the unavailability of sufficient number of pharmacists, lack of appropriate time for patient\ncounseling, and poor relationship between pharmacists and other health care providers....
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