Predicting dispensing errors in community pharmacies: An application of the Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA)

Introduction The objective of this study was to use a prospective error analysis method to examine the process of dispensing medication in community pharmacy settings and identify remedial solutions to avoid potential errors, categorising them as strong, intermediate, or weak based on an established patient safety action hierarchy tool. Method Focus group discussions and non-participant observations were undertaken to develop a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), and subsequent focus group discussions applied the Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA) focusing on the task of dispensing medication in community pharmacies. Remedial measures identified through the SHERPA analysis were then categorised as strong, intermediate, or weak based on the Veteran Affairs National Centre for Patient Safety action hierarchy. Non-participant observations were conducted at 3 pharmacies, totalling 12 hours, based in England. Additionally, 7 community pharmacists, with experience ranging from 8 to 38 years, participated in a total of 4 focus groups, each lasting between 57 to 85 minutes, with one focus group discussing the HTA and three applying SHERPA. A HTA was produced consisting of 10 sub-tasks, with further levels of sub-tasks within each of them. Results Overall, 88 potential errors were identified, with a total of 35 remedial solutions proposed to avoid these errors in practice. Sixteen (46%) of these remedial measures were categorised as weak, 14 (40%) as intermediate and 5 (14%) as strong according to the Veteran Affairs National Centre for Patient Safety action hierarchy. Sub-tasks with the most potential errors were identified, which included ‘producing medication labels’ and ‘final checking of medicines’. The most common type of error determined from the SHERPA analysis related to omitting a check during the dispensing process which accounted for 19 potential errors. Discussion This work applies both HTA and SHERPA for the first time to the task of dispensing medication in community pharmacies, detailing the complexity of the task and highlighting potential errors and remedial measures specific to this task. Future research should examine the effectiveness of the proposed remedial solutions to improve patient safety.

CLASS-BASED DEATH: COVID-19 AMONG THE ELDERLY PEOPLE IN NIGERIA

The article examined the nature of deaths related to COVID-19 complications in Nigeria based on age. The researcher observes that National Centre for Disease Control, responsible for handling COVID-19 and reporting daily cases, only provides crude data about active, confirmed cases and deaths without grouping the data based on demographic characteristics. This motivated the researcher to sample some people who died as a result of the COVID-19 to carry out an age-specific analysis. Fifteen elderly people whose death was attributed to COVID-19 were sampled. To achieve the purpose of the study, secondary data were sourced, presented, interpreted, and analysed in a tabular form. The study found that there is a paucity of COVID-19 data that reveals the sociodemographic characteristics of either affected persons or those who died. Similarly, the paper established most of the elderly people who died as a result of the COVID-19 were at the top echelon of social class.

Knowledge Management Processes as a Challenge of Knowledge-Based Economy

The article concerns the idea of knowledge and its innovative potential in the knowledge-based economy. The processes related to the knowledge transfer and knowledge management are often considered as factors determining the success in innovativeness. Knowledge management is also an important issue in inter-organizational cooperation since it considerably helps in the development of new technological solutions. The article provides research results on knowledge management conducted among enterprises and scientific units involved in cooperation under R&D projects co-financed by the Polish Federation of Engineering Associations and the National Centre for Research and Development.

Impacts & Sozioökonomie im D-A-CH Raum - Status-quo und gemeinsame, zukünftige Aktivitäten

<p>Die Zunahme von Wetter- und Klimaextremen durch den voranschreitenden Klimawandel ist zunehmend mit gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen und ökonomischen Kosten verbunden. Eine umfassende Quantifizierung und nutzerspezifische Kommunikation dieser sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen an politische und privatwirtschaftliche Entscheider ist für die Vermeidung möglicher Folgen und eine adäquate Anpassung unerlässlich. </p> <p>Gleichzeitig gewinnt die Frage nach dem sozioökonomischen Nutzen von Wetterdiensten und deren Leistungen eine immer größere Relevanz. Der  sozioökonomische Nutzen beschränkt sich dabei nicht nur auf monetäre Aspekte, denn Wetterdienste versetzen die Gesellschaft durch die Bereitstellung entsprechender Informationen in die Lage qua Verhalten besser, sicherer und nachhaltiger auf Wetter- und Klimaereignisse zu reagieren.</p> <p>Dieser Vortrag erörtert bestehende Aktivitäten der Wetterdienste aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz (DACH) im Bereich Risiko, Impacts und sozioökonomische Nutzenbetrachtungen, u.a. mit Einblicken in </p> <ul> <li aria-level="1">die Wetter- und Klimakommunikation aus sozial- und verhaltenswissenschaftlicher Perspektive,</li> <li aria-level="1">die Integration von Daten über Auswirkungen, Verluste und Schäden in einer einheitlichen Ereignisdatenbank (CESARE),</li> <li aria-level="1">Ziele und Nutzen eines Risiko- und Auswirkungs-orientierten Ansatzes für Wetterdienste, am Beispiel des RiskLabs der ZAMG</li> </ul> <ul> <li aria-level="1">die Entwicklung und Anwendung der open-source <em>Python</em> Plattform CLIMADA [1] im Bereich impact-based warnings (MeteoSchweiz) und Abschätzung sozioökonomischer Klimafolgen (DWD),</li> <li aria-level="1">über 20 weltweite Klimaanpassungsstudien (Economics of Climate Adaptation, ECA [2]) mit Fokus auf Extremwetter,</li> <li aria-level="1">abgeschlossene und laufende Themenschwerpunkte des National Centre for Climate Services (NCCS)</li> <li aria-level="1">bisherige und anstehende sozioökonomische Nutzenbetrachtungen.</li> </ul> <p>Basierend auf einer Synthese der bisherigen Arbeiten erfolgt eine Identifikation zukünftiger, gemeinsamer Ziele im Rahmen der D-A-CH Kooperation. Dies reicht von einem gemeinsamen, konzeptionellen und methodischen Verständnis der Bewertung von Auswirkungen und Risiken im Kontext Wetter und Klima bis hin zur Etablierung gemeinsamer Anwendungen und Plattformen zur Durchführung tri-nationaler Projekte.</p> <p> </p> <p>Referenzen:</p> <p>[1]    CLIMADA Python plattform, https://wcr.ethz.ch/research/climada.html</p> <p>[2]    Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA), https://eca-network.org/</p>

Rationale, Mission and Vision for a National Centre of Affective Disorders in Germany

Affective disorders are common, complex disorders representing one of the major challenges to global health in the 21st century. To mitigate the burden of disease, substantial public health efforts need to be undertaken since research on the causes and adequate treatment requires multidisciplinary approaches. These should integrate translational, and clinical research, aided by technological advancements in collecting and analysing comprehensive data. Here we present the rationale, concept, mission and vision of the recently founded National Centre of Affective Disorders (NCAD) in Germany. NCAD founding partners build on their previous successful cooperation within the German Research Network for Mental Disorders funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). They form an internationally pre-eminent network of integrative excellence, leading in science and contributing significantly to the improved care of affective disorder patients. The partners will provide complementary structures and innovative methods across the entire translational continuum from bench to clinical and real-world settings. The vision of the NCAD is to foster cross-disciplinary research from basic neuroscience to public mental health by close translational collaboration between academia, non-university research institutions, and international partners, including industry, to deliver cutting-edge research, innovative clinical services and evidence-based training to young clinicians and scientists. The mission is to accomplish research in a highly translational manner, especially with respect to clinical studies in a trans-sectoral way. This approach aims to ensure continuous improvement in the treatment and care provided to patients and an interdisciplinary environment for high-level research and education in affective disorders.

Medium range prediction of tropical cyclogenesis of intense vortices over Indian Seas by a Global Spectral Model

The performance of a Global Spectral Model (T-80) operational at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), New Delhi in predicting the cyclogenesis of six tropical cyclones over Indian Seas formed during 1995-96 has been evaluated. It has been found that the model has the capability to predict cyclogenesis in wind field at least 72 hours in advance although the positions of predicted vortices are seen to be displaced from those of analysed ones in some cases. The quantitative estimates of the atmospheric conditions favourable for cyclogenesis also confirm the conclusions drawn from the qualitative analysis of cyclogenesis predictions of the model in terms of appearance of cyclonic circulation. It also follows from this analysis that the predicted circulations at the cyclogenesis stage are in general more intense and stronger as compared to the corresponding analysis in terms of wind and mass fields. On examining the model systematic errors of prediction it is found that the model has a clear bias for predicting more intense vortex during genesis and weakening stages. On the order hand it predicts relatively less intense vortex during intensification process.

Technical and operational characteristics of GPS radiosounding system in the upper air network of IMD

In recent years, the upper air radiosounding system based on Global Positioning System (GPS) is used as an effective method. GPS receiving device in a Radiosonde improves observation accuracy, allowing simplification of ground equipment. To get improved quality of upper air data, ten stations have been upgraded with new upper air systems based on GPS. This paper describes the upper air radiosounding system that adopts the GPS. After the introduction of GPS Radiosonde in the network at 10 places, data quality has improved substantially at these stations, which has been validated by National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). In all cases the quality change has been remarkable and as a result black list tag is removed by ECMWF for the Indian GPS stations.

Screening and in Silico Validation of Anti-Microbial Peptides Derived from Lysostaphin, Entero and Endolysin

Introduction: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small molecules which are known to exert destructive effects upon pathogenic microorganisms. AMPs are designed from proteins obtained from various sources and tested under in vitro conditions to deduce their antimicrobial activity. Materials and Methods: A few of the peptidoglycan hydrolases such as lysostaphin (AAB53783.1), enterolysin (AGG79281.1), and endolysin (YP_009901016.1) were selected for the study based on an extensive text mining process. The protein sequences of the proteins were retrieved from the NCBI (National Centre for Biotechnology Information) database in the FASTA format (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/). Results and Discussion :In the antimicrobial protein lysostaphin, three antimicrobial peptide are been found, in which two is active and other is inactive, and one has antifungal property with a score of -0.15, and one having cell penetrating property, in which all are non toxic. Conclusion: The present study predicts AMPs from lysostaphin, entero and endolysins. These peptides were found to possess antifungal, anti-biofilm properties. Most of the peptides predicted were found to be non-cell penetrating and non-toxic.

Earthquake in Assam and North Bengal and COVID19 in India

Earthquake in Assam and north Bengal in IndiaOn April 28, 2021, a 6.4 Richter scale earthquake affected the Sonitpur district of Assam, the tremors of which were felt in north Bengal and other parts of North-East India, as reported by the National Centre for Seismology1. Six more tremors followed the first shake 2. There were reports of widespread damage to buildings and other structures from across Assam, mostly in the central and western towns of Tezpur, Nagaon, Guwahati, Mangaldoi, Dhekiajuli, and Morigaon3. Again on May 3rd, 2021, an earthquake was felt in the Sonitpur district of Assam with a 3.7 magnitude on the Richter scale4. Assam disaster management authority reported that 10 people from 4 districts suffered physical injuries since the first attack on April 28, 2021, and some more time will be needed to know about the actual amount of damage that had taken place5. According to the National Centre for Seismology, the area affected by the earthquake is seismically very active and falls in the highest seismic hazard zone where the Indian tectonic plate subducts with the Eurasian plate because of which there are high chances of future quakes as well6.

Impact of AMDAR observations from Lufthansa aircraft on Global Analysis - Forecast System

AMDAR observations from Lufthansa and Lufthansa cargo aircrafts in BUFR format (with header IUADOI EGGR and IUAHOI EGRR) were made available to India Meteorological Department (IMD) and in turn to National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) under special arrangement for a period of two weeks w.e.f. 14th May 2008. These data have been assimilated at NCMRWF (National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) model for the period 14th - 31st May, 2008 to assess its impact on NWP. Use of these observations gave some positive impact on NWP systems.