Drug–drug interactions (DDIs) are defined as two or more drugs interacting in such a manner that the effectiveness or toxicity of one or more drugs is altered. DDI in patients receiving multidrug therapy is a major concern. The aim of the present study was to assess the incidence and risk factors of DDIs in patients admitted in cardiology unit of a teaching hospital. A prospective, observational study was carried out for a period of 3 months (April–July 2009). During the study period, a total of 600 prescriptions were analyzed and it was found that 88 patients had at least one DDI. The percentage of DDIs was higher in females compared to males (56.82% vs. 43.18%). DDIs were observed more in the age group of 60 years and above (57.96). Patients with more than 10 prescribed drugs developed DDIs more frequently [58 (65.91%)]. Heparin [55 (62.25%)] and aspirin [42 (47.72%)] were the most common drugs responsible for DDIs. Bleeding was the commonest clinical consequence [76 (86.63%)] found in this study population. On assessment of severity of DDIs, majority of the cases were classified as moderate in severity (61.36%). Aging, female gender and increase in concurrent medications were found to be associated with increased DDIs. Patients having these risk factors can be actively monitored during their stay in the cardiology department to identify DDIs.
Paraquat is a bipyridilium herbicide used widely in our country and is a highly toxic compound. A 16-year-old female patient was admitted to the emergency department of our tertiary care hospital in South India with the history of alleged consumption of paraquat poison. Since there is dearth of high quality evidence- based treatment for this poisoning, different treatment modalities have been tried to manage patient's condition. In this case, none of the strategies could work well. Most of the patients reported with paraquat intoxication are from agricultural background; usually such patients cannot afford the treatment expenses. This paper presents a fatal case of acute poisoning with paraquat who succumbed to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Context: Patient counseling is the mainstay for prevention and management of diabetic foot ulcer. Hence, patient information leaflet (PIL) can act as an educational material for imparting patient education regarding diabetic foot care for better patient outcome.Aim: The objective of this study was to develop and to assess the readability of PIL for diabetic foot ulcer.Materials and Methods: Various online resources such as Patient UK and Micromedex data base were used to prepare PILs on diabetic foot ulcer. Physicians were validated the content of the leaflet. Leaflet was designed and modified according to the physician's suggestions. PILs-readability was checked online by using the website www.readability-score.com and calculated Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) and Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FK-GL). Layout and design features of the PILs were assessed by using Baker Able Leaflets Design (BALD) method.Results: Readability of the leaflet was assessed by using the FRE and FK-GL scores. After initial assessment leaflets were modified to achieve ideal readability scores. The best FRE score achieved was 69.9 and FK-GL score achieved was 7.1. The BALD score was 27.Conclusions: PILs prepared had ideal readability score and layout design. The leaflet's estimated FRE and FK-GL scores rate showed that it was fairly easy readable.
Objective:Adverse drug events (ADEs) are drug-related events which continue to pose serious challenges to the safety of patients. There are a number of ways to monitor ADEs, and the use of indictors to screen them provides an alternative method for detecting them. This method helps to assess the safety of drugs by the manual record review technique. The aim of this work was to develop a list of indicators to use in medical units of the study hospital to identify ADEs.Setting:Tertiary care teaching hospital in India.Method:An initial list of ADE indicators based on published literature was developed by a panel of three experts. The list of indicators was subjected to review by a Delphi panel of five members. The Delphi panel reviewed the list of valid indicators and also suggested an addition of new indicators. The final list of indicators was used to review 100 previously documented ADE case reports. The case reports were screened for the presence of any of the indicators from the list. Parameters studied included number of indicators per case report and the most used indicators.Results:From the literature, a 72 item indicator list was initially prepared which was further narrowed down to a list of 63 items. The Delphi panel conducted a review with these 63 items. At the end of review, and after addition and deletion of indicators, a 49 item indicator list was finalized. When this list of indicators was used for the review of ADE case reports, 42 indicators were identified. On average, three indicators were present in the reviewed case reports.Conclusion:An indicator list was developed for identification of ADEs in the study setup. The relevance of this indicator list was demonstrated by the presence of these indicators in the previously documented ADE reports. This is the first study from India to report on the development of ADE indicators, which might provide an alternative method to detecting ADEs in the setup of future studies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.