Safemedicate

  Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a wearable patch that can be applied on the skin, painlessly delivering drugs using ultrasonic waves that create tiny channels for medication to be absorbed into the body. According to the researchers, the patch could be adapted for the delivery of hormones, muscle relaxers, and other drugs through the skin. Using ultrasound for transdermal drug delivery It was already known that ultrasound exposure can enhance the skin’s permeability to small-molecule drugs. However, the development of the wearable patch meant there was no need for any bulky equipment, as is usually required for existing techniques. The patch consists of disc-shaped piezoelectric transducers, with each disc embedded in a cavity filled with liquid solution of drug molecules. When an electric current is applied, the piezoelectric elements generate pressure waves in the liquid, creating bubbles with microjets that can penetrate thro...

  A development that will interest many professionals seeking to optimise safe drug dosage calculations is the discovery by an international group of researchers that patients who have their medication doses matched to their DNA, experience a 30% reduction in side effects. Led by Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands, the U-PGx consortium also includes such institutions as Uppsala Universitet in Sweden, the University of Liverpool in the UK, and InstitutfürKlinischePharmakologie in Stuttgart, Germany. Henk-Jan Guchelaar, Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at LUMC, coordinated the study. What did the study find out about the matching of medication doses to DNA? There are clearly issues with current “one-size-fits-all” approaches to prescribing medication; patients naturally vary in their genetic information, which means one patient’s response to a specific drug can often be quite different to someone else’s. Some individuals, for example, process medicati...

  There may be a need for medications, especially those for children, to be prescribed in accordance with the bodyweight of the patient, or even their body surface area (BSA). Medication dosage calculations that account for a person’s weight are particularly common on paediatric wards.  The bodyweight of an adolescent for example will be significantly more than that of a newborn baby. As such, it is easy to understand the importance of accurately prescribing the correct dose to be administered. safeMedicate will teach you the importance of factoring in the patients bodyweight or BSA when calculating and administering certain drugs, for example, antibiotics, drugs used to treat epilepsy or drugs administered during or following surgical procedures.  The role of our own learning environments in ensuring accurate dosage The safeMedicate suite of programs – offered by the market-leading company Authentic World Ltd – encompasses a range of learning and assessment modul...

  In a story that further highlights the critical importance of developing and assessing the competencies required for safe medication practice associated with bodyweight and body surface area dosage problems - Pharmacy Times recently reported a prescriber error for a three-month-old patient. What was the background of this case?  Writing for the news outlet, Michael J. Gaunt, PharmD – a senior director of error reporting programs at the Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Institute for Safe Medication Practices – stated that an oral liquid medication (Propranolol) had been prescribed for a 7.2kg infant with a fast-growing benign vascular tumour, infantile hemangioma.  According to the Pharmacy Times article, the pharmacy reached out to the physician’s office to seek clarity about the medication order.  On arrival to pick up the prescription, the parent was dispensed 20 mg/5 mL (4 mg/mL) of Propranolol. The following instructions accompanied the medication order: “Ad...

  Pfizer has said that according to new data, three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine showed 80% effectiveness against symptomatic omicron infection in children aged from six months to under five years old. The development, which will be of interest to many medical professionals with an interest in making safe prescribing calculations, is thought to potentially pave the way for younger children to be given doses of the vaccine as soon as the early summer.  Pfizer did sound a note of caution about the finding however, stating that the calculation had been based on the diagnosis of just 10 cases among research participants by the end of April. According to the study rules, a minimum of 21 cases are required to formally ascertain effectiveness.  Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Pfizer, commented: “Our COVID-19 vaccine has been studied in thousands of children and adolescents, and we are pleased that our formulation for the youngest children… ...

  There has been much focus in the UK news media lately on low supplies of an in-demand form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This medication helps address symptoms of the menopause – such as hot flushes, night sweats and mood swings – by replacing hormones, such as oestrogen, that are at a lower level in those approaching the menopause. Not all menopausal women are able to take HRT or wish to do so. However, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), it is believed that as of 2019, approximately one million women in the UK used the treatment.  But with many concerns in the UK at the moment centring on an apparent shortage of Oestrogel – which is a specific type of HRT – what can be done for those who are struggling to obtain this product?  What is Oestrogel, and why is it proving so difficult to come by lately?  Oestrogel is an HRT that comes in the form of a gel, and is applied to the skin once a day. Family GP and women...