Drug Intelligence & Clinical Pharmacy
Latest Publications


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

4930
(FIVE YEARS 0)

H-INDEX

37
(FIVE YEARS 0)

Published By Sage Publications

0012-6578

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 994-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Dasta ◽  
Deborah K. Armstrong

Financial information on 131 patients and drug-related information on 176 patients admitted to a surgical intensive care unit (ICU) were prospectively collected. The average stay was nearly five days and patients received 8.6 drugs per day for a total average exposure of 12.2 different drugs. Antibiotics and analgesics were used in over 90 percent of patients. The patients' diagnoses fit into 53 different diagnosis-related groups (DRG). Hospital costs were significantly greater than DRG payment for an average revenue loss of $17 803 per patient. Patients with a primary diagnosis of sepsis had the largest revenue loss, averaging $54 738. One hundred patients were revenue losers. Total hospital stay was statistically longer than DRG-projected length of stay. Pharmacy charges averaged 13.6 percent of total hospital charges. Patients receiving systemic antifungals, triple antibiotics, catecholamines, and total parenteral nutrition had high hospital and pharmacy costs. This study suggests that ICU patients are costly to hospitals and that drug use is expensive. We suggest that increased pharmacy involvement in the care of ICU patients may help curtail escalating drug costs in these patients.


1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1005-1006
Author(s):  
Harry D. Kerr

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1003-1003
Author(s):  
Sharon M. Watling ◽  
John A. Lusk

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 964-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne M. Montpetit ◽  
Myrella T. Roy

Medication histories are considered an essential component of clinical pharmacy practice, but they are time-consuming. A study was undertaken to determine how reliable and time-saving a patient-completed medication history form alone could prove to be compared with the amount of information recorded in the medical chart and with a pharmacist-patient form review. Within 24 hours of admission, the patient was given the form to fill out. The pharmacist returned 24 hours later and reviewed the form with the patient. Of 13 questions asked, the form was significantly superior in obtaining information to the chart in 11 and to the review in 6 (p < 0.05 per question). The review rated better than the chart on all questions (p < 0.05 per question). The amount of time required to hand out and review the form (mean 7.35 min) was not significantly different from the time required of a pharmacist to conduct a conventional medication history, according to the Canada Workload Measurement Study statistics. It can therefore be concluded that the patient-completed form is not an effective or time-saving method of conducting a medication history.


1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 969-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Kathryn Lowder ◽  
Henry I. Bussey ◽  
Nancy J. Sugarek

Diuretic-induced glucose intolerance is cited frequently as a problem of only limited clinical significance. In certain populations, such as Mexican-Americans, this effect may be much more dramatic. A 50-year-old obese Mexican-American woman presented with a three-month history of increased thirst and frequent urination. A fasting blood glucose concentration of 365 mg/dL prompted initiation of chlorpropamide therapy. A review of her medical history revealed that a thiazide diuretic was started six months previously. A reduction in thiazide dose and potassium supplementation together with chlorpropamide therapy controlled the patient's blood glucose. Subsequently, all three medications were discontinued, and the patient remained normoglycemic during a full year of follow-up. The temporal relationship between symptomatic diabetes and hydrochlorothiazide therapy incriminates the diuretic as the most probable cause.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document