Staging a reflective capstone course to transition PharmD graduates to professional life.

Objective: To develop and implement a capstone course that would allow students to reflect on their development as a professional, assess and share their achievement of the college's outcomes, complete a professional portfolio, establish a continuing professional development plan, and prepare to enter the pharmacy profession.

Design: Students were required to complete a hybrid course built around 4 online and inclass projects during the final semester of the curriculum.

Assessment: Faculty used direct measures of learning, such as reading student portfolios and program outcome reflections, evaluating professional development plans, and directly observing each student in a video presentation.

Parental misinterpretations of over-the-counter pediatric cough and cold medication labels.

Objective: Concerns about the safety and efficacy of over-the-counter cold medications have led to a recent US Food and Drug Administration public health advisory against their use in children <2 years of age. Our goal was to examine caregiver understanding of the age indication of over-the-counter cold medication labels and identify factors, associated with caregiver understanding.

Methods: Caregivers of infant children (< or =1 year old) were recruited from clinics at 3 institutions.

The effect of implementing computerized provider order entry on medication prescribing errors in an emergency department.

Medication errors are a major concern in the Emergency Department (ED). We examined medication prescribing errors among consecutive adult ED patients during two 10-day periods before and during one 9-day period after implementing computerized provider order entry in an adult ED. 2,073 patients had 5,950, orders.

Behind-the-scenes of patient-centered care: content analysis of electronic messaging among primary care clinic providers and staff.

Background: Transitions to patient-centered health care, the increasing complexity of care, and growth in self-management have all increased the frequency and intensity of clinical services provided outside office settings and between visits. Understanding how electronic messaging, which is often used to coordinate care, affects care is crucial. A taxonomy for codifying clinical text messages into standardized categories could facilitate content analysis of work performed or enhanced via electronic messaging.

The epidemiology of medication prescribing errors in the emergency department.

Medication errors are a major concern in the Emergency Department (ED). We examined the epidemiology of medication prescribing errors among consecutive adult ED patients during two 10-day periods in the adult ED prior to implementing computerized provider order entry. 479 patients had no medication orders and 1,301 had 3,393 orders.

Assessment of adverse drug events among patients in a tertiary care medical center.

Purpose: Specific patient and clinical characteristics associated with an increased risk of sustaining an adverse event (AE) were identified.

Methods: AE reports for patients in a 658-bed tertiary care medical center between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2002, were analyzed. The data collected from each report included medical record number, patient sex, patient age, clinical service, date of occurrence, diagnoses, type of error, suspected medication, and severity of the AE.

Impact of citrus soft drinks relative to grapefruit juice on ciclosporin disposition.

Aims: A recent case report had suggested a citrus soft drink (Sun Drop) may have caused clinically relevant elevations in ciclosporin levels through a grapefruit juice-like mechanism via inactivation of intestinal cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). This study was conducted to investigate the effect of grapefruit juice and citrus sodas Sun Drop and Fresca, the latter soda containing 83-fold higher concentration of the proposed CYP3A4 inhibitor bergamottin than Sun Drop, relative to water on oral ciclosporin pharmacokinetics.

Methods: In a randomized four-way crossover study with a washout of at least 1 week, 12 healthy volunteers received a single oral dose of ciclosporin (Neoral) with Sun Drop, Fresca, grapefruit juice and water (control).