Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics
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Medication errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality especially with antineoplastic drugs, owing to their narrow therapeutic index. Gravimetric workflow software systems have the potential to reduce volumetric errors during intravenous antineoplastic drug preparation which may occur when verification is reliant on visual inspection. Our aim was to detect medication errors with possible critical therapeutic impact as determined by the rate of prevented medication errors in chemotherapy compounding after implementation of gravimetric measurement. ⋯ Introduction of a gravimetric preparation system for antineoplastic agents detected and prevented dosing errors which would not have been recognized with traditional methods and could have resulted in toxicity or suboptimal therapeutic outcomes for patients undergoing anticancer treatment.
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Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are commonly used for various psychiatric conditions and neuropathic pain syndromes. SNRIs inhibit the reuptake of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE); however, NE reuptake inhibition is thought to be the primary mediator for their analgesic effect. ⋯ The varying selectivity for 5-HT and NE among the SNRIs may help explain the therapeutic dosing required for neuropathic pain as well as dose-related adverse effects. It is important to understand the pharmacologic differences among SNRIs, in addition to the data from clinical trials, to guide their safe and effective use.