Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2019 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 7 Articles
The number of transgender and gender-diverse patients seeking medical care in the United\nStates is increasing. For many of these patients, pharmacotherapy is a part of their gender-affirming\ntransition. Effective instructional methods and resources for teaching pharmacy students about\nthis patient populationâ??s social considerations and medical treatments is lacking. Three hours of\neducational material on caring for transgender patients was added to a third-year course in a four-year\nDoctorate of Pharmacy program in the United States. The content included cultural, empathy, and\nmedical considerations. Students in the course were given a survey to assess their perception of\neach instructional methodâ??s effectiveness and self-assess their confidence in providing competent\ngender-affirming care to transgender people before and after the learning session. The survey\nresponse rate was 36% (54/152). Studentsâ?? self-assessed confidence to provide competent care to\npeople who are transgender increased significantly. Before the learning session, the median confidence\nlevel was 4/10 (Interquartile range (IQR) 3â??6), after the class session, the median confidence increased\nto 7/10 (IQR 6â??8, p < 0.01). Students rated the pre-class video, jeopardy game, and patient panel as\nmost helpful to improving their skills. The addition of transgender-related patient care material into\nthe Doctorate of Pharmacy curriculum significantly increased the studentsâ?? confidence to provide\ncompetent care to people who are transgender....
Many poor-quality medicines are supplied to patients mainly in developing countries.\nNo systematic survey on counterfeit medicines has been conducted in Myanmar since 1999.\nThe purpose of this study was to investigate the current situation of substandard or counterfeit\nmedicines in Myanmar. Samples of oral medicines, cefuroxime axetil (CXM), donepezil hydrochloride\n(DN) and omeprazole (OM), and injections, ceftriaxone sodium (CTRX), and gentamicin sulfate (GM),\nwere collected from pharmacies, hospitals, and wholesalers in Yangon, Myanmar in 2014. Authenticity\nand quality were verified. There were 221 (94%) foreign medicines among 235 collected samples.\nFive samples of GM and 1 DN sample were not registered with the Food and Drug Administration,\nMyanmar. In quality analysis, 36 samples out of 177 (20.3%) did not pass quantity tests, 27 samples\nout of 176 (15.3%) did not pass content uniformity tests, and 23 out of 128 samples (18.0%) did\nnot pass dissolution tests. Three of the unregistered GM samples failed in both identification and\nmicrobial assay tests. Counterfeit GM is being sold in Yangon. Also, the quality of OM is a matter of\nconcern. Poor-quality medicines were frequently found among the products of a few manufacturers.\nRegular surveys to monitor counterfeit and substandard medicines in Myanmar are recommended....
Background: Bacterial resistance is a major public health problem worldwide. One solution\nto this scourge is to sensitize the general public on rational use of antibiotics. Our goal was to assess\npeopleâ??s knowledge and opinions about antibiotic use and bacterial resistance in an urban setting.\nMethod: We performed a cross-sectional study. A convenience sampling was done. A questionnaire\nwas administered to 400 persons during face-to-face interviews. Results: Most respondents thought\nthat antibiotics are effective against colds/flu (69.8%), cough (72.3%) and sore throat (64.4%). At the\nsame time, 42.8% stated that antibiotic therapy can be stopped as soon as the symptoms disappear.\nOnly 8.8% and 41.8% of people knew that handwashing and vaccination prevented bacterial resistance.\nGlobally, 7% of people had a good knowledge. Socio-demographic variables were not associated\nwith the level of knowledge. The main sources of information were entourage and pharmacy\nstaff. Regarding the opinions, 78.3% of surveyed participants the people thought that that people\noveruse antibiotics. Additionally, 28% said that they have no role to play against bacterial resistance.\nConclusion: People living in an urban setting had a low knowledge about antibiotic use and bacterial\nresistance. There is a need to implement awareness campaigns. Further studies on population\npractices toward antibiotic use are necessary....
Medication reconciliation is an important aspect of a patientâ??s care process that is\nideally performed by clinical pharmacists. Despite literature supporting this process in other\npatient populations, cystic fibrosis (CF) lacks research in this area. To address this, we designed a\nretrospective, multi-centered, non-controlled, cross-sectional study at four CF Foundation-accredited\ncenters in the United States to evaluate the medication reconciliation process for adult and pediatric\nCF patients by documenting the number of home medications reconciled by clinical pharmacists\nand the number of patients with home medications that did not align with the current CF guidelines\npublished in 2013. There were 105 adult patients and 72 pediatric patients included in the study\nanalysis with a mean number of medications reconciled by clinical pharmacists of 17.4 (standard\ndeviation (SD) 6.7) for adults and 13 (SD 4.6) for pediatric patients. The mean number of discrepancies\nfrom guidelines per patient was 1.61 (SD 1.2) for adult patients and 0.63 (SD 0.9) for pediatric patients.\nPharmacists play an essential role in identifying and managing medication interactions and further\nresearch is necessary to investigate pharmacist impact on medication reconciliation....
Purpose. Self-medication practice is often associated with irrational medication use. The aim of this study was to assess selfmedication\npractices among community of Harar City and its surroundings, Eastern Ethiopia. Methods. A cross-sectional study\nwas conducted through exit interview in selected drug outlets of Harar City among 370 clients from March to April, 2017.The data\nwas coded and entered into epi-data and processed and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results. Many participants practiced selfmedication\nto alleviate their headache (30.30%), to treat their respiratory disorders (29.50%), and to treat their gastrointestinal\ndisorders (27%). More than half (57.8%) of study participants declared that they were practicing self-medication due to prior\nexperience and seeking less expensive service (20.50%). Two-fifths of them (40.3%) reported pharmacy professionals as source\nof information while 18.9% of respondents were advised by neighbors, friends, or relatives. About one-third (31.9%) of them did\nnot have any source of information for self-medication practice. The most common type of drug used for self-medication by the\nparticipantswas analgesic (42.2%).Approximately one-third (31.1%) of the subjectswere expecting to be counseled by the pharmacy\nprofessionals about the drug side effects and to be helped in selecting their self-medication drug (30.3%). Conclusion. Varieties of\nmedications were used among study participants ranging from antipain to that of antibiotics for different complaints including\nheadache, respiratory complaints, and gastrointestinal problems. Experience with drugs and diseases as well as affordability were\nfrequently reported reasons for self-medication practice. Participants had different views toward the role of pharmacy professionals.\nHence, it is very important to educate patients on responsible use of medications and create awareness on the role of pharmacist in\nself-selectedmedication use in community....
Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) is a condition which complicates 1 in every 10 pregnant women. PIH is one of the main risk factor for increasing cardio vascular disease in women and other complications. PIH is also responsible for both maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality rate. So it was necessary to assess the prevalence, to identify the risk factors and to assess the prescription pattern of PIH, whereby the further complications in pregnant women and foetus can be prevented to a larger extend. The objectives of the present study were to assess the prevalence of pregnancy induced hypertension, identification of the risk factors and prescription pattern of pregnancy induced hypertension. This was a prospective observational study which was carried out for a period of six months at OBG department of Basaveshwara Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chitradurga, Karnataka. The prevalence of pregnancy induced hypertension was found to be 21%. The risk factors identified for PIH in this particular study was pregnant women with age>30, pregnant women who were obese, pregnant women with a family history of PIH and previous pregnancy induced PIH, pregnant women who didn’t have a regular antenatal care checkups had PIH. The most commonly prescribed drug was calcium channel blockers (i.e., amlodipine and nifedipine), followed by diuretics (i.e., furosemide and spironolactone combination and mannitol), mixed alpha and beta blockers (i.e., labetalol), centrally acting sympatholytics (i.e., methyl dopa) and beta blockers (i.e., atenolol). The prevalence of PIH was comparatively more in this study. The risk factors identified in this study were found to have a significant association with PIH. The most commonly prescribed drugs had a positive impact on the study subjects....
Introduction: The correct use of a prescribed inhaler device is crucial for achieving\nsuccessful disease management in asthma. This study investigates non-verbal, demonstrational\nvideos as a method of teaching inhaler naïve individuals how to use a dry powder inhaler\n(DPI). Methods: Video instructions for four DPIs were examined using a mixed methodology;\n31 inhaler-naïve individuals participated in the study. Participants were each shown a\ndemonstrational video of one the four inhalers, after each video the participant demonstrated\nhow they would use the inhaler. After demonstrating the use, participants crossed over to the next\ninhaler. The demonstrations were videotaped. A common questionnaire was filled at the beginning\nof the study and four inhaler-specific questionnaires which were filled out by the participant\nafter each inhaler demonstration. Results: The frequency of participant error varied between\ninhalers. When asked about how they perceived the video instructions, participants often stated\nthey would have liked to receive feedback on their performance. The importance of feedback was\nfurther highlighted by the fact that participants tended to overestimate their own inhaler technique.\nConclusion: Non-verbal videos may be more efficient for some DPIs than for others as a method for\nproviding inhaler instructions. Lack of feedback on the participantsâ?? inhaler performance emerged\nas a clear shortcoming of this educational method. Some steps in the inhalation process may be\nharder for individuals to remember and therefore require extra emphasis in order to achieve correct\ninhaler technique....
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