Suchergebnisse

Part I. Principles and Practice of Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety -- Overview of Drug Safety -- An Overview Of Immunological Reactions To Drugs -- Predisposing Factors for Adverse Drug Reactions -- Drug interactions and their management -- Economics of medication safety -- Principles Of Pharmacovigilance And Drug Regulation -- Clinical Trials Safety Data -- Causality Assessment in Pharmacovigilance -- A Retrospective and Prospective Look at Pharmacoepidemiology -- Communicating drug safety -- Patient involvement in pharmacovigilance -- Collaborative Approaches to Establishing and Implementing Pharmacovigilance Systems -- Part II. Safer Prescribing and Drug use in Practice -- Medication Errors in Healthcare -- Spontaneous Reporting Systems -- Methods to Identify, Prevent, Predict and Manage Adverse Drug Reactions in Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Practice -- Ethics in Pharmacovigilance -- Information Sources for Drug Safety and Communicating Risks in Clinical Practice -- Polypharmacy and Deprescribing -- Medication Prescribing and Safety Monitoring in Paediatrics -- Prescribing and Safety Monitoring in the Older Person -- Safe Prescribing and Drug use in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding -- Safe Prescribing in Patients with Renal and Hepatic Diseases -- Clinical Application of Pharmacogenomics in Improving Drug Safety.

Harm with inappropriate and irrational use of medications is a global challenge. The need for and patient access to medicines optimisation services is apparent globally and amplified in India due to multiple reasons. Clinical pharmacists are ideally placed to promote patient safety with medicines use optimisation and other pharmaceutical care services through appropriate legislative, policy, and compensation mechanisms to achieve optimal patient outcomes. The need is for a move at a global level, an enabling organisational structure at Pharmacy Councils and in practice regulations, particularly in countries where clinical roles are still in infancy. This narrative describes the current status and future needs for development of medicines optimisation services across sectors through regulatory and organisational reforms at the Pharmacy Council of India with additional registration, continuing professional development, renewal and licensing requirements for clinical pharmacists to respond to patient and societal needs in India.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the perspectives of ethnic minority community leaders in relation to: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their communities; and their community's perception, understanding and adherence to government guidelines on COVID-19 public health measures. DESIGN: A phenomenological approach was adopted using qualitative semistructured interviews. SETTINGS: Community organisations and places of worships in the West Midlands, England. PARTICIPANTS: Community leaders recruited through organisations representing ethnic minority communities and religious places of worship. RESULTS: A total of 19 participants took part. Participants alluded to historical and structural differences for the observed disparities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Many struggled with lockdown measures which impeded cultural and religious gatherings that were deemed to be integral to the community. Cultural and social practices led to many suffering on their own as discussion of mental health was still deemed a taboo within many communities. Many expressed their community's reluctance to report symptoms for the fear of financial and physical health implications. They reported increase in hate crime which was deemed to be exacerbated due to perceived insensitive messaging from authority officials and historical racism in the society. Access and adherence to government guidelines was an issue for many due to language and digital barriers. Reinforcement from trusted community and religious leaders encouraged adherence. Points of support such as food banks were vital in ensuring essential supplies during the pandemic. Many could not afford or have access to masks and sanitisers. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ethnic minority communities. Government agencies and public health agencies need to integrate with the community, and community leaders can enable dissemination of key messages to deliver targeted yet sensitive public health advice which incorporates cultural and ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on public access to health services. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on commonly prescribed first-line antibiotics in English primary care. A secondary analysis of publicly available government data pertaining to primary care prescribing was conducted. A list of twenty first-line antibiotics used to treat common infections was developed following the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines. All primary care prescription and cost data pertaining to commonly prescribed first-line antibiotics in England between March and September of 2018–2020 were extracted and adjusted for inflation. Analysis suggests prescribing of antibiotics significantly reduced by 15.99% (p = 0.018) and 13.5% (p = 0.002) between March and September 2020 compared with same time period for 2018 and 2019, respectively. The most noticeable decrease in 2020 was noticed for prescribing for meningitis (−62.3%; p = 0.002) followed by respiratory tract infections (−39.13%; p = 0.035), in terms of indications. These results are suggestive of reduced transmission of infections in the community due to national lockdowns, social distancing and hygiene practices. In addition, the impact of reduced face-to-face consultations in general practices needs to be investigated as a potential reason for reduced prescribing. The pandemic also offers an opportunity to rationalize antibiotics use in the community.