Improving the quality of medication administration practices in a tertiary Australian hospital: a best practice implementation project.

Introduction: Medication safety is an important health priority that focuses on preventing harm from medication-related events. Unsafe medication administration practices can lead to errors, which can cause avoidable injury (or harm) to patients.

Objectives: This paper reports on an evidence implementation project conducted in a large tertiary hospital in Australia to improve nursing compliance with best practice recommendations for medication administration.

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin: a biochemical marker for acute kidney injury and long-term outcomes in patients presenting to the emergency department.

Introduction: Creatinine has limitations in identifying and predicting acute kidney injury (AKI). Our study examined the utility of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in predicting AKI in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED), and in predicting the need for renal replacement therapy (RRT), occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and all-cause mortality at three months post visit.

Methods: This is a single-centre prospective cohort study conducted at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Association of Bcr-Abl Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors With Hepatitis B Virus Reactivation Requiring Antiviral Treatment in Taiwan.

Importance: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) highlighted the potential risk of hepatitis B reactivation that was associated with Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment and has required updated product labels.

Objective: To examine the association between hepatitis B flare and exposure to Bcr-Abl TKIs compared with non-Bcr-Abl TKIs.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This nested case-control study included patients who entered a hepatitis B carrier cohort in Taiwan after January 1, 2005.

Risk factors of ifosfamide-related encephalopathy in adult patients with cancer: A retrospective analysis.

Background/purpose: Ifosfamide, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent, has been frequently associated with encephalopathy. A larger-scale study was conducted to identify risk factors of ifosfamide-related encephalopathy, including hepatic function.

Methods: Adult patients who had completed at least one cycle of ifosfamide between January 2008 and December 2010 were included.

Predictors of toxicity of weekly docetaxel in chemotherapy-treated non-small cell lung cancers.

Weekly docetaxel seems to be safe and effective compared with traditional tri-weekly docetaxel as a second-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. However, the risk factors for severe toxicity of weekly docetaxel in this group of patients are not well-described. Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer receiving weekly docetaxel as second- or third-line treatment at a medical center between 1999 and 2003 were identified from cancer registry and pharmacy records.