Publications by authors named "Andrea Salazar-Ospina"

Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to validate the 4C and NEWS2 score systems for predicting in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients in Colombia, analyzing their effectiveness before and after vaccination started.
  • Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis in three hospitals from June 2020 to April 2022, finding that the 4C score had a higher accuracy (AUC 0.75) compared to the NEWS2 score (AUC 0.68) across both time periods.
  • Results indicated that the 4C score maintained reliable predictive performance even as vaccination changed the pandemic landscape, making it a valuable tool for assessing mortality risk in this population.
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Background: Drugs with fiscalized substances without a correct prescription may lead to undesirable side effects. Pharmacy staff needs to improve their competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) to contribute to providing ambulatory pharmacy services and minimizing medication errors. Continuing education programs (CEP) could favor access to relevant and quality information on health promotion, disease prevention, and the rational use of drugs.

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Objective: To identify and summarize the processes implemented and the  activities performed by community and hospital-based pharmacists during the  COVID‑19 pandemic.

Method: A scoping review was carried out of the PubMed/Medline database  with the aim of identifying articles published until 30 June 2021. The PRISMA  recommendations for this type of review were followed.

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Background The World Health Organization considers medication errors to be an issue that requires attention at all levels of care, to reduce the severe and preventable harm related to drug therapy. Different standards for clinical pharmaceutical practices have been proposed by various organizations across the world, where the pharmacist, as part of the multidisciplinary health team, can help improve patient safety. Objective To assess the impact of the introduction of a clinical pharmacy practice model on medication error in patients of a university hospital.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess pharmacy staff skills and practices when dispensing tramadol in Medellin, Colombia, using a cross-sectional design and the simulated patient technique.
  • Out of 305 pharmacies visited, most staff lacked proper communication about tramadol's side effects and precautions, particularly for pregnant or lactating patients, with only a small percentage providing any useful information.
  • The findings highlight the need for improved training and continuing education for pharmacy staff to enhance their counseling abilities regarding the safe use of fiscalized drugs like tramadol.
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Pharmacists play a vital role in public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this chapter, we present the most significant contributions that pharmacists could make to communitarian and hospital settings. It includes the provision of essential services, such as continuous access to medication and supplies, support to medical services, education and information to the population and the health team to reduce the misuse of medications, patient monitoring and follow-up, and the detection and referral of suspected cases of COVID-19.

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Background: Health disorders, due to the use of drugs with fiscalized substances, including controlled substances, have become a common problem in Colombia. Multiple reasons can help explain this problem, including self-medication, since access to these drugs may be easier. Also, there is a lack of knowledge that these drugs are safer than illicit drugs.

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Colombia confirmed its first case of the COVID-19 on March 6th, 2020. On March 16th, 2020, 54 cases have been confirmed (36 imported and 18 associated), therefore, Colombia is at highest alert, and it is now trying to avoid or minimize the last stage of "community transmission". We present a route proposal that shows how the community pharmacist may develop his responsibility to contribute to the early detection and appropriate referral of possible cases of the COVID-19.

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Background: Pharmaceutical care (PC) through the Dader method (DMet) vs. the usual care process (UCP) significantly reduced psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency service consultations during one year of follow-up of outpatients with bipolar I disorder (BD-I). To date, the effect of long-term PC on the use of health services by BD-I patients once pharmacist intervention has ended is unknown.

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Snakebite envenomation is a life-threatening disease that was recently re-included as a neglected tropical disease (NTD), affecting millions of people in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Improvement in the therapeutic approaches to envenomation is required to palliate the morbidity and mortality effects of this NTD. The specific therapeutic treatment for this NTD uses snake antivenom immunoglobulins.

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Background: Bipolar I disorder (BD-I) is a chronic illness characterized by relapses alternating with periods of remission. Pharmacists can contribute to improved health outcomes in these patients through pharmaceutical care in association with a multidisciplinary health team; however, more evidence derived from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is needed to demonstrate the effect of pharmaceutical care on patients with BD-I.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a pharmaceutical intervention using the Dader Method on patients with BD-I, measured by the decrease in the number of hospitalizations, emergency service consultations, and unscheduled outpatient visits from baseline through 1 year of follow-up.

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Background: Bipolar I disorder (BD-I) is a chronic mental illness characterized by the presence of one or more manic episodes, or both depressive and manic episodes, usually separated by asymptomatic intervals. Pharmacists can contribute to the management of BD-I, mainly with the use of effective and safe drugs, and improve the patient's life quality through pharmaceutical care. Some studies have shown the effect of pharmaceutical care in the achievement of therapeutic goals in different illnesses; however, to our knowledge, there is a lack of randomized controlled trials designed to assess the effect of pharmacist intervention in patients with BD.

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Abstract Context: Therapy for leukemia has a limited efficacy. There is a need to search for alternative anti-leukemia therapies. Persea americana Mill var.

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