Penicillin de-labelling in vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: comparison of approaches, outcomes and future directions.

Background: Inaccurate penicillin allergy labels lead to inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions and harmful patient consequences. System-wide efforts are needed to remove incorrect penicillin allergy labels, but more health services research is required on how to best deliver these services.

Methods: Data was extracted from five hospitals in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from October 2018-May 2022.

Evaluation of a symptom-triggered protocol approach to the management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome in older adults.

Objectives: To evaluate whether implementation of symptom-triggered administration of a benzodiazepine protocol reduces the severity (total cumulative dose), duration, and complications of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS).

Design: Retrospective health record review.

Setting: Tertiary care center in Vancouver, Canada.

Diagnostic reasoning by hospital pharmacists: assessment of attitudes, knowledge, and skills.

Background: Hospital pharmacists participate in activities that may be considered diagnostic. Two reasoning approaches to diagnosis have been described: non-analytic and analytic. Of the 6 analytic traditions, the probabilistic tradition has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy and reduce unnecessary testing.

Drug use evaluation of moxifloxacin (avelox) using a hand-held electronic device at a canadian teaching hospital.

Background: The use of moxifloxacin (Avelox) has increased at Vancouver General Hospital since its introduction onto the formulary in 2002. It is unclear, however, whether the use of the drug is optimal according to its indication. Hand-held electronic devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), are novel tools that can be used during routine patient care to collect data for drug use evaluation (DUE) reviews.

Evaluation of the use of inhaled medications by hospital inpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasing. Patients with COPD are treated with a variety of inhaled medications. Previous studies evaluating inhaler technique have had varied results but have generally found high rates of misuse of these devices.