Cost Effectiveness of TNF-α Inhibitors in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background. TNF-α inhibitors have shown to be effective in reducing disease activity and improving the quality of life. Due to the high costs associated with acquisition of this treatment, this study was undertaken to evaluate the ICER of TNF-α antagonists (etanercept, adalimumab, and infliximab) in improving the quality of life.

Pre-operative pain sensitivity: A prediction of post-operative outcome in the obstetric population.

Context: Experimental assessments can determine pain threshold and tolerance, which mirror sensitivity to pain. This, in turn, influences the post-operative experience.

Aims: The study intended to evaluate whether the pre-operative pressure and electrical pain tests can predict pain and opioid requirement following cesarean delivery.

Predictors of post-caesarean section pain and analgesic consumption.

Background: Ideally, the intensity of postoperative pain should be predicted so as to customize analgesia. The objective of this study was to investigate whether preoperative electrical and pressure pain assessment can predict post-caesarean section pain and analgesic requirement.

Materials And Methods: A total of 65 subjects scheduled for elective caesarean section, who gave written informed consent, were studied.

Impact of drugs counselling by an undergraduate pharmacist on cardiac surgical patient's compliance to medicines.

Unlabelled: Open heart surgery is a procedure which warrants patient education about the complexity of drug regimens and lifestyle modifications. Patient nonadherence is likely to have a considerable negative impact on the patients' quality of life post-cardiac surgery.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of pharmacist intervention on patients' adherence to medication and lifestyle changes.

Development of protocols for the provision of headache and back-pain treatments in Maltese community pharmacies.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to draw up two protocols designed to help Maltese pharmacists care for consumers seeking treatment for headache and back pain and to subsequently use the protocols to assess pharmacists' management of the named conditions.

Method: The setting was a sample of 10 of the 207 community pharmacies in Malta. Two flow-chart protocols for headache and back-pain management were developed from various reference sources.