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Improving the Safety of IV Drug Delivery: Interpreting Current Standards To Improve Practices
Various recommendations are available
to help health systems improve their
intravenous (IV) drug delivery processes.
One of the more significant guidelines
came out of the Second Consensus
Development Conference on the Safety
of Intravenous Drug Delivery Systems,
held in August 2008, which reflects the
standards put forth in the United States
Pharmacopoeia (USP) Chapter <797>
guidelines and the Joint Commission’s
medication management standards.
To request a free hard copy of this Bench to Bedside article, please email your full name, mailing address, and institution to pharmacypracticenews@mcmahonmed.com
NOVEMBER, 2009 |
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Clinical Use of Desirudin, a New Subcutaneously Administered Direct Thrombin Inhibitor
Thrombin is a serine protease that plays
a pivotal role in the coagulation process.
It is produced via stepwise activation of
proenzymes following vascular injury.
Once formed, thrombin converts soluble
fibrinogen to insoluble fibrin. It also stimulates platelets and enhances production of additional thrombin, facilitating blood clot stabilization. Higher thrombin concentrations are associated with denser, more rigid clots.
To request a free hard copy of this Bench to Bedside article, please email your full name, mailing address, and institution to pharmacypracticenews@mcmahonmed.com
NOVEMBER, 2009 |
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Improving the Safety of IV Drug Delivery
In 2000, Bates et al published a consensus
document with the goal of helping
health systems balance cost, quality,
efficiency, and safety of IV drug delivery
systems in relation to the medication-use
process as a whole. The expert panel
concluded that manufacturer-prepared,
point-of-care (POC)–activated, and pharmacy-
based IV admixture programs were
superior to other types of products for
IV drug delivery (IV push, volume control
chambers, and augmented IV push
systems).
To request a free hard copy of this Bench to Bedside article, please email your full name, mailing address, and institution to pharmacypracticenews@mcmahonmed.com
SEPTEMBER, 2009 |
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Medication Safety and Quality Part 3: Managing High-Alert Medications
The Institute of Medicine has estimated
that at least 1.5 million preventable
adverse drug events occur annually in
the United States. Winterstein and colleagues
have identified that inappropriate
use of anticoagulants, overdoses of opiates,
and inappropriate dosing and monitoring
of insulin account for at least 50%
of all preventable adverse drug events.
APRIL, 2009 |
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Medication Safety and Quality Part 2: Education and Professional Development
The advancement of medication safety
and quality initiatives has led to a greater
need for education and professional
development programs. In addition to
the internal assessment of medicationuse
safety, health care organizations are
increasingly adopting national patient
safety practices and standards to optimize
patient care. In doing so, medication
safety and quality competencies, in addition
to the clinical and operational training
obtained through traditional educational
experiences, are needed.
FEBRUARY, 2009 |
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Medication Safety and Quality Part 1: Building a Medication Safety Team in a Health System
Patient safety is a top priority for all
major health care organizations, government
agencies, and health care payers.
The grassroots movement for patient
safety was highlighted in the Institute
of Medicine (IOM) report entitled “To
Err Is Human,” which suggested that
between 44,000 and 98,000 people die
each year as a result of medical misadventures,
ranking medical errors among
the top 10 causes of death in the United
States.
DECEMBER, 2008 |
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INVEGA® (paliperidone): An Important Agent for the Treatment of Patients With Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia—a biological disease that manifests as a collection of related problems in behavior, thoughts, and feelings—affects with an estimated lifetime prevelence between 0.5% and 1%. The symptoms of schizophrenia, which can fluctuate in severity and duration over a person’s lifetime, can be clustered into groups of related indicators designated as positive, negative, cognitive, and affective. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, and other types of thought disorders. Negative symptoms include alogia, avolition, and flat affect.
NOVEMBER, 2008 |
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Reformulated ZOSYN: USP <788> Compliance and Expanded Compatibility
Zosyn® (piperacillin/tazobactam) is an
intravenous antibiotic combination product
of piperacillin (a semisynthetic penicillin)
and tazobactam (a ß-lactamase
inhibitor). It is indicated for the treatment
of patients with moderate to severe
infections caused by piperacillin-resistant,
piperacillin/tazobactam-susceptible
strains of indicated organisms.
DECEMBER, 2007 |
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Two Hospitals Successfully Balance Custom and Premix Solutions
The first two parts of this educational
series provided a detailed account of the
benefits of using manufactured, premix
drug and parenteral nutrition (PN) solutions.
The articles focused on reasons
why most hospitals and health systems
already rely on premix intravenous (I.V.)
drug infusions and why an increasing
number of facilities have begun to adopt
premix PN.
MARCH, 2007 |
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