P & T : a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management
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The Food and Drug Administration has made significant progress implementing some of the 60 provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act passed in 2016. The author discusses the successes and shortcomings of the agency's regulatory activities.
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To determine the impact of a pharmacy-led medication reconciliation program at a large community hospital. The magnitude of the benefit of pharmacy-led medication reconciliation was evaluated based on the number of medication-related discrepancies between nursing triage notes and medication histories performed by pharmacy technicians or students. Discrepancies identified by pharmacy personnel medication histories that required pharmacist intervention on physician admission orders were further classified based on expected clinical impact if the error were to be propagated throughout hospitalization. ⋯ Utilization of a pharmacy-led medication reconciliation program decreased the number of significant, serious, and life-threatening medication reconciliation errors upon hospital admission.
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Politicians in both parties and at all levels of government have raised what many call the opioid crisis to a level of public attention it has never seen before. This article reviews the approaches, including prevention, treatment, and medication-assisted therapy, being taken by federal and state authorities to combat the abuse of opioids.
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To compare the effectiveness of continuous infusion of hydrocortisone versus intermittent boluses in the resolution of septic shock. ⋯ There was no significant difference in time to resolution of septic shock between continuous infusion (200 mg per day) and intermittent boluses (50 mg every six hours) of hydrocortisone. There were also no statistically significant differences in overall hospital length of stay, ICU length of stay, and 28-day all-cause in-hospital mortality. However, there was a significant difference in the incidence of hyperglycemia between the two groups, with patients in the bolus group experiencing more hyperglycemia than those in the continuous infusion group.
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The primary objective was to assess whether the use of intravenous acetaminophen (APAP) in the ambulatory surgery setting is associated with a decreased length of stay in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). The secondary outcomes evaluated were pain scores, opioid consumption, and total cost of analgesics used in the PACU. ⋯ Intravenous APAP use in EENT ambulatory surgery is not associated with decreased PACU length of stay. However, it may decrease postoperative pain following EENT procedures.