Therapie
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Adverse drug events are the sixth-leading cause of death in Western countries and are also more frequent in emergency departments (EDs). In some hospitals or on some occasions, ED physicians prescribe for patients who they have admitted. These prescriptions are then followed by the wards and can persist for several days. Our objectives was to determine the frequency of prescription errors for patients over 18 years old hospitalized from ED to medical or surgical wards, and whether there exists a relationship between those prescription errors and ED LOS. ⋯ Prescription errors occurred frequently in the ED. We assume that a clear communication and cooperation between EPs and consultants may help improve prescription accuracy.
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If the traffic of fake medicines may represent an economic threat for the pharmaceutical industry, it can also be responsible of safety concerns for patients. Despite fake drugs represent a real threat for public health, the intended punishments are until now only based on intellectual property rights. ⋯ Currently, the measures developed to limit this traffic concern five main areas: legislation / regulation, cooperation, enforcement, technology and communication. Communication actions should be performed to inform health professionals as the populations about the risks of using drugs purchased outside the legal drug market.
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Observational Study
[Capsaicin Cutaneous Patch: a Cost-consequences Study in a French University Hospital].
The capsaïcine 8% cutaneous patch (Qutenza®) was recently approved for the management of patients with peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP). Considering its limited clinical efficacy data, its improvement of medical benefit was determined to be 5 which was insufficient to support its reimbursement in addition to diagnosis related groups'tarifs. Nevertheless its commercialization was associated with a marked interest considering the unmet therapeutic needs for patients with PNP. ⋯ This study confirms the interest of Qutenza® for heavily pretreated, refractory patients with PNP. The clinical profile of responders has to be further investigated in large observational studies.
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New substances, also known as "designer drugs" or "legal highs" are increasingly available to drug users. Two hundred and fifteen hitherto unlisted substances have been notified by European Union member states since 2005. These synthetic drugs, which have been developed to side-step the legislation on drugs, are analogues or derivatives of existing drugs and medications. ⋯ These substances are indeed present on the French territory, as shown by data provided by the Observatoire Français des Drogues et Toxicomanies, and notifications by the French Addictovigilance network. Screening in clinical toxicology laboratories is not widespread, since these molecules are not detected by the standard screening tests, so that there is probably an under-estimation of the use of these new drugs. The legislation on these substances changes regularly, with more and more countries classifying them as "narcotics" or illegal psychotropic drugs so as to restrict their use, applying a generic classification when possible.
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Letter Case Reports
Suspicion of fenofibrate-related drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome: a case report.
We describe a DRESS syndrome induced by fenofibrate. This side effect, rarely described with fenofibrate, should be known by clinicians to stop it immediately and avoid serious complications.