The data suggest that medication prescribing patterns in HD patients have changed. The audit identified appropriate and questionable prescribing patterns. Various prescribing patterns identified areas for improvement in care (e.g. increased use of aspirin, beta-blockers and hyperlipidaemia medications) and areas requiring further investigation (e.g. high use of anti-acid, benzodiazepine and non-aluminum/non-calcium phosphate-binding medications).
Drug record discrepancies occur frequently among patients undergoing hemodialysis. Incorporation of a pharmacist into the patient care team may increase the accuracy of the electronic drug record and avert unnecessary drug-related problems.
BackgroundHemodialysis (HD) patients are at risk for medication-related problems (MRP). The MRP number, type, and appearance rate over time in ambulatory HD patients has not been investigated.MethodsRandomly selected HD patients were enrolled to receive monthly pharmaceutical care visits. At each visit, MRP were identified through review of the patient chart, electronic medical record, patient interview, and communications with other healthcare disciplines. All MRP were categorized by type and medication class. MRP appearance rate was determined as the number of MRP identified per month/number of months in study. The number of MRP per patient-drug exposures were determined using: {[(number of patients) × (mean number of medications)]/(number of months of study)} /number of MRP identified. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation or percentages.ResultsPatients were 62.6 ± 15.9 years old, had 6.4 ± 2.0 comorbid conditions, were taking 12.5 ± 4.2 medications, and 15.7 ± 7.2 doses per day at baseline. Medication-dosing problems (33.5%), adverse drug reactions (20.7%), and an indication that was not currently being treated (13.5%) were the most common MRP. 5,373 medication orders were reviewed and a MRP was identified every 15.2 medication exposures. Overall MRP appearance rate was 0.68 ± 0.46 per patient per month.ConclusionMRP continue to occur at a high rate in ambulatory HD patients. Healthcare providers taking care of HD patients should be aware of this problem and efforts to avoid or resolve MRP should be undertaken at all HD clinics.
Renal dietitians play a pivotal role in the ongoing management of chronic kidney disease in patients on hemodialysis. Awareness of changes to clinical practice guidelines that may impact laboratory parameters associated with chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder is important for optimal patient care. In this article, the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes 2017 Clinical Practice Guideline Update recommendations related to the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in adults on hemodialysis are reviewed and treatment implications for renal dietitians discussed. Specific attention is given to the integration of updated recommendations such as the use of calcimimetics as part of a combination approach to the existing treatment paradigm. Renal dietitians can directly apply the updated clinical recommendations in the evaluation of diet composition; food additives; medication adherence challenges with phosphate binder type and use and serial monitoring of phosphorus, calcium, and parathyroid hormone levels to inform clinical decisions on treatment options for patients.
Background Some reports indicate that serum phosphorus levels in the range seen clinically among patients undergoing dialysis attenuate calcium receptor activation and modify parathyroid hormone (PTH) release from isolated parathyroid glands in vitro. Some clinicians and providers of dialysis thus have suggested that calcimimetic agents are ineffective and should not be used to manage secondary hyperparathyroidism among those undergoing dialysis when serum phosphorus concentrations exceed certain threshold levels.
Methods To determine whether hyperphosphatemia diminishes the therapeutic response to calcimimetic agents, we used data from large clinical trials to analyze the effects of etelcalcetide and cinacalcet to lower plasma PTH levels in individuals on hemodialysis who had secondary hyperparathyroidism and varying degrees of hyperphosphatemia.
Results Plasma PTH levels declined progressively during 26 weeks of treatment with either etelcalcetide or cinacalcet without regard to the degree of hyperphosphatemia at baseline. However, with each calcimimetic agent, the decreases in PTH from baseline were less at each interval of follow-up during the trials among participants with serum phosphorus levels above one of three prespecified threshold values compared with those with serum phosphorus levels below these thresholds.
Conclusions These in vivo findings are the first in humans to support the idea that hyperphosphatemia attenuates calcium receptor activation by calcium ions and by calcimimetic agents. The effect of hyperphosphatemia on the responsiveness to calcimimetic agents appears relatively modest, however, and unlikely to be significant therapeutically. The efficacy of treatment with calcimimetic agents for lowering plasma PTH levels among those with secondary hyperparathyroidism remains robust despite substantial elevations in serum phosphorus.
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