Strategies to reduce medication errors in ambulatory practice.

Medication errors generally refer to mistakes made in the processes of ordering, transcribing, dispensing, administering or monitoring of pharmaceutical agents used in clinical practice. The Institute of Medicine report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, has helped raise public awareness surrounding the issue of patient safety within our hospitals. A number of legislative and regulatory steps have resulted in hospital authorities putting in place various systems to allow for error reporting and prevention.

Variability in vascular responsiveness between Mexican-Americans and White Americans.

Ethnic differences in vascular adrenergic responsiveness have been implicated to be a potentially important mechanism which may be responsible for some of the variations in haemodynamic patterns between races. These differences may account for the variability in the prevalence of hypertension in different groups. The main aim of this study was to determine whether there was a difference in venous responsiveness to the vasoactive agents, phenylephrine and isoproterenol, between Mexican-Americans and White Americans.

Serum lipid and lipoprotein levels in Ghanaians with diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

Both diabetes mellitus and hypertension alter lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and increase the risk of coronary artery disease. We have reported previously on lipid and lipoprotein levels in healthy Ghanaians, and this study deals with the levels of these biochemical parameters in Ghanaians with diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Fasting serum lipoproteins were determined on blood samples drawn from healthy male and female Ghanaians as well as age-matched individuals with either diabetes or hypertension.

Impaired beta 2-adrenergic agonist-induced venodilation in Indians of Asian origin.

Objectives: Vascular responsiveness to infusions of vasoactive substances varies between ethnic groups. Indians of Asian origin are a rapidly growing ethnic group in the United States but have not been extensively studied. We sought to determine whether there was any difference in venous responsiveness to a local infusion of vasoactive substances between Indians of Asian origin and white subjects.

Oxybutynin-induced heatstroke in an elderly patient.

Objective: To report an elderly patient with oxybutynin-induced heatstroke and to remind clinicians of the possibility of drugs as an etiology of hyperthermia.

Case Summary: An elderly man was admitted to the emergency department in a confused state. The day of admission was the hottest of the summer months in the San Francisco area.