(1) Objectives: Clinical pharmacists are now playing a significant role in hospitals aiming to reduce medication errors, adverse drug reactions, and healthcare costs. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the interventions provided by a clinical pharmacist in the intensive care unit at the King Faisal Hospital in Taif city. (2) Methods: For this single-center retrospective study, patients were included from December 2021 to May 2022. In the present study, all the interventions of clinical pharmacists made over six months were included. The Intensive care unit (ICU) ward was covered by three clinical pharmacists, and the interventions made were categorized into four groups: (1) interventions related to indications; (2) interventions regarding safety; (3) interventions regarding dosing, and (4) miscellaneous. Descriptive statistics was applied to evaluate the results in the form of frequencies and percentages. Analysis was performed using the statistical package SPSS 20.0. (3) Results: Overall, a total of 404 interventions were recommended for 165 patients during the six- month period of study. Among them, 370 interventions (91.5%) were accepted by physicians. Among all the interventions, the majority were suggested regarding ‘indication’ (45.7%), including the addition of drugs, drugs with no indications, and duplication. The acceptance rate of clinical pharmacist intervention was 98.5%. (4) Conclusions: This retrospective study shows that clinical pharmacists played a critical role in optimizing drug therapy which could subsequently help to prevent drug-related issues and lower drug costs. More research is needed to do a thorough cost-benefit analysis.
WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE:Physical bottle characteristics differ of brand name topical glaucoma medications and local generic equivalents. This study compares the bottle characteristics of international topical glaucoma brands versus local brands from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.METHODS:Data were collected on bottle drum volume, drop volume, bottle squeezability, bottle tip diameter, labels and instructions, cap color coding, and clarity of the drug label. Density-based calculations of drops in bottle volume were assessed using an analytic balance. Bottle tip diameter was measured using 0.05 mm Vernier calipers. A Likert scale-based questionnaire was used to evaluate the subjective opinions of patients on bottle squeezability, clarity of usage and storage instructions, and the consistency of the cap color coding.RESULTS:The volumes of international brands were statistically significantly higher than the local brands (P < 0.001). A number of drops per bottle and tip diameter were comparable between the international local brands. Cap color coding was inconsistent for international and local brands. Patients were dissatisfied with the label font size. Patients reported that the international and local brands were similar in terms of the ease of opening the bottle, instilling a drop, and the clarity of the instructions; but the local brands were subjectively easier to squeeze than international brands.WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSIONS:This is the first study to compare bottle characteristics of local Saudi Arabia brands with international brands. The bottle characteristics and patient feedback were similar between the local and international topical glaucoma medications. However, there were differences between the local and international brands in drug volume, bottle squeezability. Hence, patient compliance and drop dosage may differ based on the origin of manufacture.
Medication errors can occur at any of the three steps of the medication use process: prescribing, dispensing and administration. Drug administration errors were the second most frequent type of medication error, after prescribing errors, but the latter were often intercepted; hence, administration errors were more probably to reach the patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the frequency and types of drug administration errors in a Taif hospital ward. Prospective study based on a disguised observation technique in nine wards in a general hospital in Taif, Saudi Arabia (800 beds). A pharmacist accompanied nurses and witnessed the preparation and administration of drugs to all patients during the three drug rounds on each of six days per ward. The main outcomes were the number, type and clinical importance of errors and associated risk factors. The drug administration error rate was calculated. Relationships between the drug dose frequency, dosage form and types of medication administration error were measured. A total of 7105 medications administered by 250 nursing staff members to 700 patients were observed. Observers intervened in seven administrations. There are 1769 medication administration errors confirmed. The most common medication administration errors were drug preparation error (40.56%, n =727) then, improper dose error (18.58%, n=333); the most common drug class error was Antibiotic (38.9%, n =399) then Analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs (17%, n =176). The most drug dose frequency had Drug preparation error was seen in a drug used three times a day by 484. MAEs were more likely to occur in the evening shift compared to the morning and afternoon shifts. The study indicates that the frequency of drug administration errors in developing countries such as Malaysia is similar to that in developed countries.
COVID-19 has affected 550,369 confirmed cases, with 8,856 fatalities. COVID-19 was more common in adults over 15 during the early outbreak, and the proportion of confirmed cases among youngsters was relatively low. In addition, children with COVID-19 are asymptomatic or have mild clinical symptoms compared to adults. The present study reviewed the clinical features, signs, symptoms, and effect of COVID-19 in children. This review was performed through an electronic literature search for relevant studies identified using keywords on the MEDLINE database between 2020 and 2021, inclusive: COVID-19, COVID-19 in children, Coronavirus, novel Coronavirus in children, COVID-19 symptoms in children, COVID-19 effect in children. Similar keywords were used to peruse and identify relevant articles on Google Scholar. The articles were chosen based on defined inclusion criteria. The current review included papers published between 2020 and 2021. The review was written under specific titles in the discussion part.This review concluded that children of all ages are susceptible to getting COVID-19 due to human-to-human transmission. COVID-19 has a milder clinical course, quicker recovery, and a better prognosis in children than adults. Infants less than one year and children with underlying chronic disorders were at higher risk of having severe forms of COVID-19. Septic shock, toxic encephalopathy, multiple organ failure syndromes, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and status epilepticus were the most common consequences identified in children with severe forms of COVID-19. Infection prevention by isolation of diseased children is critical, as is thorough surveillance, early diagnosis of illness complications, and the ability to treat patients on time while preventing secondary dissemination.
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