International journal of clinical pharmacy
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Pharmacists' knowledge and interest in developing counseling skills relating to oral contraceptives.
Possessing correct therapeutic information on oral contraceptives is an important prerequisite for the provision of sound advice to women who are using these products. ⋯ This study identifies considerable gaps among community pharmacists' knowledge of oral contraceptives. It also shows variation in willingness and choice of learning strategies among pharmacists to develop their skills in providing counseling on oral contraceptives.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Continuous versus intermittent piperacillin/tazobactam infusion in infection due to or suspected pseudomonas aeruginosa.
There is lack of information on the efficacy and safety of piperacillin–tazobactam administered by continuous infusion. ⋯ Continuous infusion of piperacillin–tazobactam is an alternative administration drug method at least similar in efficacy and safety to conventional intermittent infusion. Multivariate analysis is needed to determine whether continuous administration might be more beneficial than intermittent in certain patient subgroups.
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Knowledge of drug-related problems (DRPs) identified in the medication of home-dwelling elderly patients with polypharmacy has been based predominantly on medication reviews conducted in research settings rather than in daily practice. ⋯ By conducting a CMR community pharmacists identified a median of two DRPs in older patients with polypharmacy. Overtreatment and undertreatment accounted for 41.4 % of the DRPs identified. In dealing with DRPs, pharmacists proposed a variety of interventions of which the majority (69.9 %) was either implemented or led to alternative interventions. A set of explicit criteria should be applied during a CMR to solve and prevent DRPs.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
The effects of GLP-1 analogues in obese, insulin-using type 2 diabetes in relation to eating behaviour.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) added to insulin in type 2 diabetes patients have shown to lower body weight, improve glycaemic control and reduce total daily insulin dose in short term studies, although the individual response greatly varies. ⋯ Two year of GLP-1 RA treatment resulted in a sustained reduction of weight, HbA1c and total daily insulin dose in obese, insulin-using type 2 diabetes patients in a real life setting. Largest weight loss was achieved in patients with a predominant restraint eating pattern while a predominant external eating pattern resulted in the smallest weight reduction.
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Optimising the time of drug administration in alignment with circadian rhythms to enhance the clinical effect or minimise/avoid adverse effects is referred to as chronotherapy. Pharmacists have a key role in providing medicine related information, including counselling about the optimal time for medication administration. Where applicable, the principles of chronotherapy should underlie this aspect of medication counselling. Despite significant developments in the science of chronotherapy for specific pharmacological treatments, the perspective of pharmacists about their understanding and application of these principles in practice has not been explored. ⋯ Community pharmacists contribute to the safe and effective use of medications in providing the patients with information on optimal timing of drug administration during counselling. Further education, practical training and access to information may help pharmacists in translating principles of chronotherapy into the practice.