CP, January 2016, Vol 8, No 1

Electronic discharge advice letters for community pharmacists

The 2009 Care Quality Commission annual report revealed limitations in the transfer of information between sectors. When a patient is discharged from hospital with a change of medicine, completeness and timeliness of the information were highlighted as issues. In Wales, to improve communication betw…

Antiepileptic drug safety in pregnancy: possible dangers for the pregnant woman and her foetus

In addition to the safety issues that apply whenever antiepileptic drugs are taken by patients, additional safety-related matters arise in pregnant women. These may involve the women themselves or their foetuses, and apply both during, and for a time after, pregnancy. During pregnancy, the safety of…

Insulin initiation in patients with diabetes

How to select and start insulin in a patient with diabetes mellitus.…

Reducing preventable hospital readmissions: a way forward

Medicines-related hospital readmissions are a huge cost to the NHS, but there are ways to reduce this.…

Chronic Kidney Disease – Mineral and Bone Disorder: pathophysiology and treatment

How the pathophysiological mechanisms behind development of Chronic Kidney Disease - Mineral and Bone Disorder can be managed, using appropriate therapeutic interventions to prevent complications.…

Reducing hospital admissions of frail elderly patients

The proactive care service in Coastal West Sussex (CWS), which was shortlisted for the HSJ Awards in 2015, provides medicines optimisation for frail elderly patients, reduces the risk of hospital admissions and made estimated savings of more than £600,000 in one year. It is run by a team…

Pharmacist interventions on a cardiothoracic critical care unit

During ward rounds in hospitals, pharmacists often make interventions and recommendations that help optimise the care of patients. At Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we carried out a service evaluation to analyse pharmacist interventions on a 16-bed cardiothoracic cr…

Absolute levels of risk are needed to make informed decisions for patients

Renal adverse effects of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were described in your research briefing ‘Proton pump inhibitors linked with chronic kidney disease’ ( Clinical Pharmacist 2015;7:217). Simply telling us that there was a 10% or 50% increase among …

Gene editing used to treat muscular dystrophy in mice

CRISPR/Cas9 system injected into muscle or bloodstream restored function of dystrophin gene, marking an important step in gene therapy research.…

Novel anti-platelet therapy shows promise in first human trials

New anti-platelet drug set for phase II study after success in patients with coronary heart disease.…