British journal of clinical pharmacology
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Br J Clin Pharmacol · Jun 2003
Teaching safe and effective prescribing in UK medical schools: a core curriculum for tomorrow's doctors.
There is a pressing need for medical graduates to be fully prepared to take on the responsibilities of prescribing and to be able to respond to continual inevitable rapid changes in therapeutics. The curricula in UK medical schools were greatly influenced by Tomorrow's Doctors, published by the General Medical Council in 1993. ⋯ While it highlights the management of disease and use of drugs as key learning objectives, it offers little specific guidance. In this document we expand on these broad statements, provide a view of how these learning objectives might be achieved, and identify the key elements of a core curriculum in prescribing and therapeutics.
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Br J Clin Pharmacol · Jun 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialPopulation pharmacokinetics of levosimendan in patients with congestive heart failure.
The aim of this study was to characterize the population pharmacokinetics of levosimendan in patients with heart failure (NYHA grades III and IV) and its relationship to demographic factors, disease severity and concomitant use of digoxin and beta-blocking agents. ⋯ The population pharmacokinetics parameters of levosimendan in this patient group were comparable to those obtained by traditional methods in healthy volunteers and patients with mild heart failure. Bodyweight influenced the clearance and the central volume of distribution, which in practice is accounted for by weight adjusting doses. None of the other covariates, including digoxin and beta-blocking agents, significantly influenced the pharmacokinetics of levosimendan.