The Impact of Clinical Pharmacist-Driven Weekend Antimicrobial Stewardship Coverage at a Quaternary Hospital.

Background And Objective: Extending a consistent pharmacy antimicrobial stewardship weekend service was a newly implemented initiative. We sought to evaluate the impact of incorporating an Infectious Diseases (ID)-trained clinical pharmacist into an antimicrobial stewardship program (AMS) during weekends.

Results: The number of documented interventions was 451 on 362 patients compared to 115 interventions on 108 patients during the pre-implementation period ( = 0.

Analysis of Pharmacist Interventions in Adult COVID-19 Patients Admitted to a Tertiary Care Hospital.

: Pharmacists are integral members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team who, with their skills, knowledge, and training, are well positioned to prevent, identify, and manage medication-related issues. Many published articles related to COVID-19 management have highlighted the important role of the pharmacists in assuring the safe, effective, and cost-effective use of medications. During such challenging times of COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in a high demand on medical resources and healthcare providers, pharmacists are well positioned to contribute and add more efforts to the healthcare system to achieve best use of the available resources including medications and providing high quality pharmaceutical care to help the patients and support the healthcare providers.

The Strategic Role of Healthcare Professionals in the Battle Against COVID-19: Do We Really Need Help from Community Pharmacists?

Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, was recognised in December 2019 as the centre of an outbreak of an unknown originator of pneumonia. Intense concentrations of illness spread throughout China and, ultimately, globally. Consequently, on 7th January, 2020, Chinese researchers identified a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in an affected person in Wuhan as the cause.

Incorporating a clinical oncology pharmacist into an ambulatory care pharmacy in pediatric hematology-oncology and transplant clinic: Assessment and significance.

Background: Beta thalassemia patients, post-bone marrow transplant, and leukemia patients require long term therapy with an intense care follow-up especially for pediatric hematology-oncology origin. Emergence of side effects and noncompliance to therapy lead to reduced efficacy of medicines resulting in relapse of diseases. There is an increasing fact to support the incorporation of a pharmacist into clinical team due to their distinctive skills.

A review of Osimertinib in NSCLC and pharmacist role in NSCLC patient care.

Lung cancer is a complex, genetically heterogeneous disease. It is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents the majority of the diagnosed lung cancer cases.

Valproate Interaction With Carbapenems: Review and Recommendations.

Valproic acid is a commonly used antiepileptic drug. Combining valproate derivatives with carbapenem antibiotics is associated with a potential drug interaction that decreases serum concentration of valproate and may expose the patient to uncontrolled seizure risk from valproate subtherapeutic concentration. Raising awareness of this drug interaction among health care providers including emergency department physicians, neurologists, and pharmacists is highly needed.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Patients.

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Severe complications have been reported to occur in 33% of patients with COVID-19 and include acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute renal failure, acute respiratory injury, septic shock, and severe pneumonia. Currently, there is no specific treatment or approved vaccine against COVID-19 and many clinical trials are currently investigating potential medications to treat COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 outbreak: How can pharmacists help?

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large family of viruses that cause disorders ranging from a mild cold to severe disease. Some of the CoVs are zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans. In December 2019, the world awoke to a new zoonotic strain of CoV that was named SARS-CoV-2 (standing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), which has been classified as a high-consequence infectious disease.

Phenytoin-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis: Review and recommendations.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a serious, life-threatening skin reaction characterized by severe exfoliation and destruction of the epidermis of the skin. In most TEN cases, drugs are believed to be the causative agent; antipsychotics, antiepileptics, and other medications such as sulfonamides are among the most common causes of drug-induced TEN. Phenytoin, a commonly prescribed medication for seizure, was found to cause TEN.

Evidence-based pharmaceutical care: The next chapter in pharmacy practice.

Introduction: Pharmacy is a very dynamic profession and the role of the pharmacist is improving with the expansion of the scope of services and the introduction of new subspecialties over time. Moving from being medication dispensers to outcome-oriented and patient-focused care providers; pharmacists will carry more responsibility and commitment to improve their knowledge and practice. Being updated and evidence-based is a key tool to achieve effective pharmaceutical care services.

Practical issues with high dose methotrexate therapy.

Methotrexate (MTX) is an antifolate cytotoxic medication used to treat certain types of cancer and at lower doses for rheumatic diseases. MTX has many serious adverse effects, such as myelosuppression, hepatic, renal and pulmonary disorders. For safe and effective use of high dose methotrexate (HDMTX) certain precautions should be followed.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy: rationale, applications, and limitations.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy, involving the administration of certain chemotherapeutic agents directly to the intraperitoneal cavity, was developed as a novel therapeutic strategy early in the 1950s. Intraperitoneal administration of chemotherapy results in higher intraperitoneal concentration of the cytotoxic medications and minimal systemic exposure than observed with intravenous administration, which in turn may increase the efficacy of these agents with substantial reduction in systemic toxicity. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy was used successfully in peritoneal surface malignancies, including malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, pseudomyxoma peritonei, malignant ascites, sarcomatosis, and peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastrointestinal and ovarian cancers.