American Pharmacists Association

About: American Pharmacists Association is a other organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Pharmacist & Pharmacy. The organization has 2413 authors who have published 1969 publications receiving 30470 citations. The organization is also known as: APhA & American Pharmaceutical Association.

Octreotide as a Therapeutic Option for Management of Chylothorax

Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To report a case of post-cardiac surgery–induced chylothorax treated with octreotide and review the literature on octreotide efficacy.CASE SUMMARY:A 5-month-old boy with Down syndrome was admitted for atrioventricular canal repair. On admission, he was taking captopril and furosemide. On postoperative day 4, he exhibited signs of chest wheezing and crackles, but was without cough or fever. Chest X-ray revealed a moderate right-sided pleural effusion. Accordingly, a pleural catheter was inserted and drained an average of 7.14 mL/h of chylous fluid that day. Laboratory analysis of the pleural fluid revealed a triglyceride level of 89 mg/dL, without bacterial growth. Based on those findings, the diagnosis was chylothorax. Because of the continuous extensive tube drainage, octreotide 3.5 μg/kg/h was begun. The average daily chyle drainage was reduced from 7.14 one day before octreotide initiation to 0.83 mL/h on day 4 of octreotide therapy. After 4 days of therapy (postoperative day 8), octreotide w...

High-Dose Dexmedetomidine for Sedation in the Intensive Care Unit: An Evaluation of Clinical Efficacy and Safety

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Dexmedetomidine is an α2-receptor agonist used for sedation in the intensive care unit (ICU). Although dexmedetomidine is labeled for sedation in critically ill patients at doses up to 0.7 μg/kg/h, recent studies have used more liberal dosing regimens. However, to our knowledge, no study has assessed the clinical impact of doses greater than 0.7 μg/kg/h when compared to doses within the Food and Drug Administration-approved labeling.OBJECTIVE:To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of high (HD) and low (LD) dses of dexmedetomidine for sedation in the ICU.METHODS:This retrospective study included a sample of patients who received dexmedetomidine in medical, surgical, medical/surgical, and cardiothoracic ICUs between January 1, 2008, and December 1, 2009. Patients were included in the LD group if their maximum dose was less than 0.7 μg/kg/h or in the HD group if any dose was more than 0.7 μg/kg/h. Efficacy was determined by the percentage of Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale (RASS) scores...

European Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care

Abstract: Melita A Van de Vreede, BPharm, GradDipHospPharm, GradDip Health Services Management, Quality Use of Medicines Pharmacist, The Alfred, Melbourne, Victoria Address for correspondence: Melita Van de Vreede, Pharmacy Department, The Alfred, Commercial Rd, Melbourne Vic. 3004, Australia E-mail: m.vandevreede@alfred.org.au INTRODUCTION The 10th European Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare was held in London in April 2005. It was jointly sponsored by the BMJ Publishing Group which publishes the Journal of Quality and Safety in Health Care (as well as the BMJ) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement is a not-for-profit US organisation, which leads quality improvement initiatives and developed the breakthrough methodology.1 The forum was attended by over 1000 delegates from 35 countries—the majority from the UK, but also a significant number from Sweden, the Netherlands, and US. There were 30 participants from Australia, but only two pharmacists, myself and Professor Michael Dooley who presented ‘Integrating the Detection and Prevention of Prescribing Errors by Clinical Pharmacists into Incident Management Systems’. The three plenary sessions were presented by: 1. Two chief executive officers of London area networks who gave an overview of current quality improvement projects and issues facing their networks today. 2. Donald Berwick, Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement on the 100 000 Lives Campaign recently commenced in the US; and 3. Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, UK Department of Health on tackling the global challenge of patient safety, which is the forward program initiated by World Health Organization for 2005 and 2006.

This study conducted with the support of ABC News PrimeTime Live, found four clinically significant dispensing errors in 100 prescriptions processed

Abstract: A disguised-patient technique was used to study the nature and frec^jency of dispensing errors and quality of patient medication counseling in 100 randomly selected community pharmacies. Analysis of 100 prescription orders dispensed detected 24 dispensing errors, of which 4 were clinically significant. Oral counseling was provided to 64 of the patients, covering an average of 3 of the 14 categories of drug information that the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA 90׳) requires pharmacists to consider when counseling Medicaid patients. In addition to pre- scriber׳s label instructions, pharmacists provided written counseling information, including auxiliary labels and receipts, to 98% of the patients, but it covered only an average of six OBRA 90׳ categories. The results suggest that problems with the quality of community pharmacy medication counseling and dispensing accuracy require immediate attention.