Position paper update: gastric lavage for gastrointestinal decontamination.

Context: The first update of the 1997 gastric lavage position paper was published by the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists in 2004. This second update summarizes the 2004 content and reviews new data.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature from January 2003 to March 2011 yielded few studies directly addressing the utility of gastric lavage in the treatment of poisoned patients.

Position paper update: ipecac syrup for gastrointestinal decontamination.

Context: An update of the first position paper on ipecac syrup from 1997 was published by the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the European Association of Poison Centres and Clinical Toxicologists in 2004. The aims of this paper are to briefly summarize the content of the 2004 Position Paper and to present any new data.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature from the year 2003 forward.

Prevention of kidney injury following rhabdomyolysis: a systematic review.

Objective: To conduct a systematic literature review to evaluate evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of rhabdomyolysis-associated acute renal failure (ARF).

Data Sources: PubMed (1966-December 2012), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Science Citation Index, and Cochrane databases (1970-December 2012) were searched. There were no language restrictions.

Instructional scaffolding to improve students' skills in evaluating clinical literature.

Objective: To implement and assess the effectiveness of an activity to teach pharmacy students to critically evaluate clinical literature using instructional scaffolding and a Clinical Trial Evaluation Rubric.

Design: The literature evaluation activity centered on a single clinical research article and involved individual, small group, and large group instruction, with carefully structured, evidence-based scaffolds and support materials centered around 3 educational themes: (1) the reader's awareness of text organization, (2) contextual/background information and vocabulary, and (3) questioning, prompting, and self-monitoring (metacognition).

Assessment: Students initially read the article, scored it using the rubric, and wrote an evaluation.

Guidelines for submitting adverse event reports for publication.

Publication of case reports describing suspected adverse effects of drugs and medical products that include herbal and complementary medicines, vaccines and other biologicals and devices is important for postmarketing surveillance. Publication lends credence to important signals raised in these adverse event reports. Unfortunately, deficiencies in vital information in published cases can often limit the value of such reports by failing to provide enough details for either (i) a differential diagnosis or provisional assessment of cause-effect association, or (ii) a reasonable pharmacological or biological explanation.