Clozapine clinical toolkit optimizes inpatient clozapine monitoring.

Introduction: Clozapine is the most effective antipsychotic in the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia; however, its use is challenging due to the risk of severe adverse effects. Despite the risks associated with clozapine, there is no mandatory monitoring in Canada beyond hematologic testing for agranulocytosis surveillance. This study focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a clozapine clinical toolkit (CTK) targeted at optimizing inpatient clozapine use.

Valproic Acid-Associated Hyperammonemia: A Systematic Review.

Background: Hyperammonemia is an adverse effect that poses clinical uncertainty around valproic acid (VPA) use. The prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic hyperammonemia and its relationship to VPA concentration is not well established. There is also no clear guidance regarding its management.

Improving opioid stewardship programs through shared decision-making.

Opioid stewardship has emerged as an innovative systems-level approach designed to reduce inappropriate opioid prescriptions and improve patient safety in acute care settings. Modeled on the successes of antimicrobial stewardship programs, key distinctions exist; in particular, the inherent subjectivity of managing acute pain is an important consideration of opioid stewardship that differentiates it with the more objective features of antibiotic selection. Shared decision-making, with pharmacists playing a central role, is regarded as an integral part of patient care and plays a vital role in managing pain.

Moving Away From a "One Size Fits All" Model: Ensuring Opioid Stewardship Includes People Who Use Drugs.

The opioid-driven overdose crisis has had devastating effects across North America, resulting from a complex interplay between individual, social-structural, and environmental factors. Changing approaches to pain management, increased heroin use, and potent synthetic opioids infiltrating the drug supply are compounded by both lack of access to opioid use disorder treatment and surrounding stigma. Inappropriate opioid prescribing practices in healthcare settings have played a central role, and in recent years, there has been increasing interest in implementing hospital-based opioid stewardship programs aimed at improving safety and monitoring opioid prescribing.

Evaluating a Pharmacist-Led Opioid Stewardship Initiative at an Urban Teaching Hospital.

Background: Deaths due to overdose from illicit drugs have risen in Canada, despite various community-led harm reduction programs. There have been limited pharmacist-led inpatient initiatives aimed at reducing opioid harm. The authors' group recently developed and implemented the Medication and Risk Factor Review, Optimize, Refer at Risk Patients, Educate and Plan (MORE) tool, a systematic checklist designed to help pharmacists follow and enhance the safety of in-hospital opioid prescribing.

Designing a Pharmacist Opioid Safety and Intervention Tool.

Background: Despite the recent increase in opioid overdoses across Canada, few pharmacy-led initiatives have been implemented to address issues related to opioid prescribing in the hospital setting.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to develop a clinical tool, intended for use by hospital pharmacists and informed by best practices from the literature, that would provide a structured approach to enhancing the safety of opioid prescribing. The secondary objective was to collect pharmacists' opinions about the feasibility and utility of this tool.

Levofloxacin Use in the Neonate: A Case Series.

We report 6 cases of intravenous levofloxacin use to treat multidrug-resistant nosocomial respiratory infections in neonates with a postmenstrual age ranging from 27 to 42 weeks. Because of a lack of neonatal-specific information for levofloxacin, the usual pediatric dosage (10 mg/kg per dose every 12 hours) was used in these patients. Clinical cure occurred in 5 of the 6 patients.

Characterizing the inpatient care of young adults experiencing early psychosis: A medical record review.

Aim: To characterize the inpatient care received by individuals experiencing early psychotic episodes in an inner city hospital.

Method: Medical records of patients admitted between April 01, 2013, and March 31, 2015, to a psychiatric ward at an inner city hospital were retrospectively examined. Included in the study are patients who were 25 years of age or younger and were hospitalized for psychotic symptoms.

The Therapeutic Effects of Camel Milk: A Systematic Review of Animal and Human Trials.

The clinical effectiveness and value of camel milk as a therapeutic agent is currently unclear. MEDLINE (1946 to March 2016), EMBASE (1974 to March 2016), and Google Scholar were searched using the following terms: milk, bodily secretions, camels, camelus, camelini, camelidae, dromedary, bactrian camel, body fluid, and bodily secretions. Articles identified were reviewed if the study was investigating the use of camel milk for the potential treatment of diseases affecting humans.

Incentives in Rheumatology: the Potential Contribution of Physician Responses to Financial Incentives, Public Reporting, and Treatment Guidelines to Health Care Sustainability.

Concerns about the sustainability of current health care expenditure are focusing attention on the cost, quality and value of health care provision. Financial incentives, for example pay-for-performance (P4P), seek to reward quality and value in health care provision. There has long been an expectation that P4P schemes are coming to rheumatology.