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Content ArticleMedicines reconciliation is the process of compiling a complete list of a person’s current medicines. When a patient registers at a new primary care setting, medicines reconciliation contributes to patient safety and continuity of care. This article in The Pharmaceutical Journal explores how to optimise the multidisciplinary team and involve pharmacy technicians in the process, using four case scenarios. The article aims to help those working in community pharmacy teams to: identify potential risks and appropriate management strategies for new patients with complex medication needs, including those with chronic conditions and those requiring specialist care. understand the importance of timely referrals, communication with specialists, and adherence to guidelines in ensuring safe and effective medication management. recognise the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration and patient-centred approaches in addressing the diverse healthcare needs of patients, particularly those from other cultural backgrounds. You can access this article by signing up for a free account with The Pharmaceutical Journal.
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Content ArticleChildren are at higher risk of medication errors due to the complexity of drug prescribing and administration. Intravenous (IV) paracetamol overdose differs from overdose by ingestion as there is no enteral absorptive buffering. This study outlines the first national UK data focusing on paediatric IV paracetamol poisoning. The data show that unintentional IV paracetamol overdose appears to occur more frequently in young children. A significant proportion of errors were calculation errors, which were often 10-fold errors. While these errors have the potential to cause serious harm, thankfully most cases were asymptomatic. Errors with IV paracetamol might be reduced by electronic prescribing support systems, better communication regarding administration and consideration of whether other routes are more appropriate.
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Content Article
Parkinson's Disease awareness video
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Neurological conditions
In this film the team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust provide an overview of Parkinson's and why it is important that medication is administered properly and on time. They also talk about improvements they have made in their own practice, and offer tips around medication management for Parkinson's.- Posted
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Content ArticleThe latest report in Public Policy Project’s Medicines and Pharmacy programme calls for transformation across the pharmacy sector to unlock medicines optimisation which creates true system value. The report highlights that medicines optimisation has significant potential to contribute to delivering integrated care priorities, such as improving population health and reducing inequalities. As ICSs grapple with financial challenges, medicines, as the second highest cost to the NHS, represent a critical opportunity to improve patient outcomes and deliver better value for money.
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Content ArticlePeople with Parkinson’s need their medication on time every time. Yet over half of people with the condition don’t get their medications on time in hospital. This can cause stress, anxiety, immobility, severe tremors, and in some extreme cases death. Parkinson's UK are campaigning to make sure that no one with Parkinson’s is worried that they will leave hospital more unwell than when they went in. Whether you have Parkinson’s, support someone who does, work in the health and care system or campaign to improve it, you can take action to make hospitals and care homes safer. Together we can get more people to understand how big this problem is. And we can put pressure on the right people, across the UK, to change hospital policies, improve prescribing in hospitals and make sure staff are trained to give time critical medication.
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News Article
Almost half of antidepressant users could quit with GP support, study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost half of long-term antidepressant users could stop taking the medication with GP support and access to internet or telephone helplines, a study suggests. Scientists said more than 40% of people involved in the research who were well and not at risk of relapse managed to come off the drugs with advice from their doctors. They also discovered that patients who could access online support and psychologists by phone had lower rates of depression, fewer withdrawal symptoms and reported better mental wellbeing. Prof Tony Kendrick, of Southampton University, who was the lead author of the research, said the findings were significant because they showed high numbers of patients withdrawing from the drugs without the need for costly intense therapy sessions. He said: “This approach could eliminate the risk of serious side-effects for patients using antidepressants for long periods who have concerns about withdrawal. “Offering patients internet and psychologist telephone support is also cost-effective for the NHS. Our findings show that support not only improves patient outcomes but also tends to reduce the burden on primary healthcare while people taper off antidepressants.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 June 2024- Posted
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EventuntilMedication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in healthcare, with an estimated 1.3 million people impacted in the U.S. each year. Preventable medication errors cost the nation more than $21 billion annually across all care settings, representing a serious public health concern, as well as an economic burden on our healthcare system. Join AHRQ’s expert panel of speakers to hear how quality improvement approaches and digital healthcare interventions such as clinical decision support tools are reducing medication errors, improving provider effectiveness, and enhancing patient safety in a variety of clinical care settings. At the conclusion of this Webinar, participants should be able to: Discuss how an e-prescribing tool can reduce medication discrepancies and improve patient safety by enhancing communication between pharmacists and providers. Identify how clinical decision support systems can significantly reduce the prescribing of potentially inappropriate medications to older patients at the time of discharge from the emergency department setting. Explain how outcome measures, such as the Wrong-Patient Retract-and-Reorder measure, can be developed and used to detect medication errors in electronic orders. Register
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Content ArticleTopiramate is now contraindicated in pregnancy and in women of childbearing potential unless the conditions of a Pregnancy Prevention Programme are fulfilled. This follows a review by the MHRA which concluded that the use of topiramate during pregnancy is associated with significant harm to the unborn child. Harms included a higher risk of congenital malformation, low birth weight and a potential increased risk of intellectual disability, autistic spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children of mothers taking topiramate during pregnancy.
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News Article
Global alert issued over fake Ozempic drugs
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A global alert about fake versions of Ozempic - which has become popular as a way of losing weight - has been issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). The drug is sometimes known as a "skinny jab" despite its main purpose being a treatment for type 2 diabetes. The WHO said the fake medicines could pose a danger to health. The organisation advised people to source the drug only through reputable sources, such as a doctor, rather than obscure sites online or through social media. The active ingredient in Ozempic - semaglutide - helps people with type 2 diabetes control the amount of sugar in their blood. However, the weekly injection also signals to the brain that we're full. So the drug helps people lose weight by reducing the urge to eat. People without diabetes have been getting hold of the drug as a weight-loss medication, which has led to shortages for people with type 2 diabetes and created a market for counterfeit drugs. “[We advise] healthcare professionals, regulatory authorities and the public be aware of these falsified batches of medicines,” said Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO assistant director general for essential medicines and health products. "These falsified products could have harmful effects to people’s health," WHO said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 June 2024- Posted
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Content ArticleThis WHO Medical Product Alert refers to three falsified batches of OZEMPIC (semaglutide). This falsified product has been detected in Brazil (October 2023), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (October 2023), and the United States of America (December 2023), and was supplied in the regulated supply chain. OZEMPIC (semaglutide) is from a group of medicines called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) inhibitors that are indicated for the treatment of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus in adults, adolescents, and children over 12 years of age. The genuine manufacturer of OZEMPIC has confirmed that the three products referenced in this Alert are falsified: the products misrepresent their identify and source as they were not manufactured by Novo Nordisk: batch number LP6F832 is not recognized. the combination of batch number NAR0074 with serial number 430834149057 does not correspond to genuine manufacturing records. batch number MP5E511 is genuine, but the product is falsified.
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Content ArticleThe Canadian Medication Incident Reporting and Prevention System (CMIRPS) is a national voluntary medication incident and ‘near miss’ reporting programme founded for the purpose of sharing the learning experiences from medication errors. Implementation of preventative strategies and system safeguards to decrease the risk for error-induced injury and thereby promote medication safety in healthcare is our collaborative goal. Medication incidents (including near misses) can be reported to ISMP Canada (i) through the website: www.ismpcanada.ca/report/ (ii) by telephone: 416-733-3131 or toll free: 1-866-544-7672.
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News Article
Young women buying Ozempic to get ‘beach body ready’ end up in A&E
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Young women are ending up in A&E after buying Ozempic online, with the NHS’s top doctor warning that weight-loss injections should not be abused in an attempt to get “beach body ready”. Doctors in emergency care report that “almost every shift” they see “young, beautiful girls” with potentially deadly complications who took the drug despite being a healthy weight. New weight-loss injections including semaglutide, better known by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, are being used on the NHS for people with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Some patients, however, including those with eating disorders, have lied about their weight to get them privately from online pharmacies or beauty clinics — leading to complications including inflammation of the pancreas. The drugs are sold by companies including Boots, Superdrug and Lloyds at between £150 and £200 a month. Doctors are calling for “urgent regulation and control” of their sale to ensure they are prescribed only to obese patients. Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said the drugs should not be seen as a “quick fix for people trying to get ‘beach body ready’ ”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 13 June 2024- Posted
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Content Article
I Manage My Meds
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Medicine management
A five part support programme to help you manage you medicines confidently and safely. -
News Article
Almost half of UK adults struggling to get prescription drugs amid shortages
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost half of adults in the UK have struggled to get medicine they have been prescribed – and more people blame Brexit than anything else for the situation, research shows. Forty-nine per cent of people said they had had trouble getting a prescription dispensed over the past two years, the period during which supply problems have increased sharply. Drug shortages are so serious that 1 in 12 Britons were unable to find the medication they needed, despite asking a number of pharmacies. The survey of 2,028 people representative of the population, undertaken by Opinium for the British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA), found that: One in 12 people (8%) have gone without a medication altogether because it was impossible to obtain. Thirty-one per cent found the drug they needed was out of stock at their pharmacy. Twenty-three per cent of pharmacies did not have enough of the medication available. “Shortages are deeply worrying for patients’ physical health, alongside the stress of not knowing if an essential medicine will be available,” said Mark Samuels, the chief executive of the BGMA. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 June 2024- Posted
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Content ArticleDrug shortages are a chronic and worsening issue that compromises patient safety. Despite the destabilising impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on pharmaceutical production, it remains unclear whether issues affecting the drug supply chain were more likely to result in meaningful shortages during the pandemic. This study estimated the proportion of supply chain issue reports associated with drug shortages in the USA overall and with the Covid-19 pandemic. It found that supply chain issues associated with drug shortages increased at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ongoing policy work is needed to protect US drug supplies from future shocks and to prioritize clinically valuable drugs at greatest shortage risk.
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Medicines: tips for carers
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Medication
Managing medicines for someone can be a challenge, particularly if they're taking several different types. Although the person you care for may appreciate your support with their medicines, bear in mind that they have a right to confidentiality. It's up to them to decide how much of their health and medicines information is available to you as their carer, and how much you should be involved in their care. This NHS page gives tips on how to give pills correctly, dosette boxes and medicine reminders, asking for a structured medication review and medicine safety.- Posted
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News Article
Rapid UTI test that cuts detection time to 45 minutes awarded Longitude prize
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An £8m prize for a breakthrough in the fight against superbugs has been awarded, after a decade-long search for a winner, to a test that can identify how to treat a urinary tract infection in 45 minutes. The test could herald a “sea change” in antibiotic use, the judges said as they announced the winner of the Longitude prize on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR, where the drugs used to treat infections no longer work, is a growing concern. It leads to the deaths of nearly 1.3 million people worldwide annually and is predicted to cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050. Between 50% and 60% of women will experience at least one urinary tract infection (UTI) in their lifetime, and up to half of the bacteria that cause the infections are resistant to at least one antibiotic. The infections can cause potentially fatal sepsis. However, a lack of good, quick tests means doctors often have to diagnose an infection based on symptoms and guess which antibiotic will work. The inappropriate use of antibiotics drives resistance by giving bacteria opportunities to adapt to evade them. The winning Sysmex Astrego’s PA-100 AST system is based on technology from Uppsala University in Sweden. A 400-microlitre sample of urine is placed on a phone-sized cartridge and then into a shoebox-sized analyser unit. It can spot bacterial infection within 15 minutes, and identify the antibiotic to treat it within 45 minutes. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 June 2024- Posted
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Content Article
Natural Care Forum: Medication safety in care homes
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Social care
Medication safety in care homes is an ambitious cross-sector partnership project aiming to improve the medicines pathway for residents in care homes. -
EventSafe and appropriate use of medicines in an ageing population is a complex balance between managing disease and avoiding medication-related problems. As the population ages, more Australians are living with multiple chronic diseases and may take multiple medicines, which is known as polypharmacy. This puts them at increased risk of medicine-related problems. Optimal medication management in older people requires a team-based approach to ensure the best quality of life. NMS 2024 will bring together leading organisations, experts, clinicians, consumers and policymakers within the aged care sector for a timely discussion on emerging and key issues around medicine safety in older people and will have a strong focus on highlighting practical ideas and initiatives that could be incorporated to improve the safe and quality use of medicines in an ageing population. Further information
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Content ArticleIntravenous drug administration has been associated with severe medication errors in hospitals. This narrative review and aimed to describe the recent evolution in research on systemic causes and defences in intravenous medication errors in hospitals. It highlights a growing interest in systems-based risk management for intravenous drug therapy and in introducing new technology, particularly smart infusion pumps and preparation systems, as systemic defences. The authors conclude that when introducing new technologies, prospective assessment and continuous monitoring of emerging safety risks should be conducted.
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Content Article
Film: "Medicating Normal" (19 April 2024)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Medication
This full-length, award-winning documentary unearths the shattering truth that millions of people worldwide are injured by prescribed psychiatric medications. Interweaving stories of harm with expert testimony, the film reveals how a profit-driven industry hides the risks of long-term use. This untold story is a compelling call to examine the consequences of medicating normal human suffering.- Posted
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News Article
Antidepressant withdrawal affects one in six people
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
One out of every six people have symptoms when they stop taking antidepressants - fewer than previously thought, a review of previous studies suggests. The researchers say their findings will help inform doctors and patients "without causing undue alarm". The Lancet Psychiatry review looked at data from 79 trials involving more than 20,000 patients. Some had been treated with antidepressants and others with a dummy drug or placebo, which helped researchers gauge the true effect of withdrawing from the drugs. Some people have unpleasant symptoms such as dizziness, headache, nausea and insomnia when they stop taking antidepressants, which, the researchers say, can cause considerable distress. Previous estimates suggested antidepressant discontinuation symptoms (ADS) affected 56% of patients, with almost half of cases classed as severe. But this review, from the Universities of Berlin and Cologne, estimates one out of every every six or seven patients can expect symptoms when stopping antidepressants and one in 35 will have severe symptoms. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 June 2024- Posted
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Content ArticleThis blog is part of a series written by Dr Charlie*, taking a closer look at some of the patient safety issues affecting people lives today. In this blog Dr Charlie tells us how their elderly mother was met with multiple digital barriers when trying to access her medications. Describing the situation as a frustrating goose-chase, Dr Charlie summarises the blog by questioning what measures are put in place to safeguard patients during digital transformations. *not the authors real name
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Content ArticleDespite not being indicated for lactation in the UK, the anti-sickness medicine domperidone is increasingly being prescribed or bought illegally to aid lactation, but its side-effects can include anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. In this account for The Guardian, Rose Stokes describes her experience of being prescribed domperidone after the birth of her son. When her milk production didn't increase and with her mental health rapidly deteriorating, Rose bought her own supply of the drug online and through a private doctor and ended up taking more than five times the NHS maximum dose. When her mental state continued to worsen, she decided to suddenly stop taking domperidone which left her suicidal. She describes receiving no guidance on the mental health risks associated with the medication or sudden withdrawal.
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Content ArticleSafety-netting advice is information shared with a patient or their carer to help them identify the need to seek further help if their condition fails to improve or changes. In some instances, it is mandatory for pharmacists to give patients safety-netting advice. This article in the Pharmaceutical Journal provides advice for pharmacists on how they can provide this advice clearly and appropriately. The article explains the importance of safety-netting and when it is appropriate, describes elements to include when safety-netting and provides advice on how to adequately document advice given.
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