Use of NSAIDs associated with surgery complication Use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in patients undergoing surgery may be associated with anastomotic leak at the surgical junction, research confirms.…
Is it time to rethink the place of oral diclofenac? In light of the withdrawal of diclofenac from OTC sale in UK pharmacies over concerns about cardiovascular safety, it may be time to reconsider the role of the drug altogether.…
Audit highlights problem of patients taking NSAIDs without gastroprotectionMany patients taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not co-prescribed gastroprotective agents, an audit of community pharmacies in England has found.…
Top 10 news stories of 2014 from The Pharmaceutical Journal Harriet Adcock provides a rundown of the top ten news stories of 2014.…
Plans to name pharmacies in patient safety incident reports postponed NHS England has postponed plans for community pharmacists to name their pharmacy when they report patient safety incidents until after the law is changed to decriminalise dispensing errors.…
Developing studies to test drug safety as a research fellow In her role as principal research fellow at the Drug Safety Research Unit, Deborah Layton uses principles of pharmacoepidemiology to develop studies to help assess the safety of drugs.…
Risk of heart problems prompts removal of OTC diclofenac from UK pharmacy shelves Oral diclofenac tablets, used for short-term pain relief, will no longer be available as an over-the-counter pharmacy medicine in the UK.…
Increased risk of severe skin reactions with expectorants containing ambroxol or bromhexinePatients taking expectorants containing ambroxol or bromhexine have a small increased risk of severe skin reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome.…
Helping reduce doctors’ prescribing errors in hospitals A study in 2009 found that prescribing error rates for junior doctors are around 9%. Education and training pharmacist Sophia Feret describes a scheme she devised to help reduce these errors.…
2014: The Pharmaceutical Journal’s news in review Looking back at some of the biggest news stories from the past year. …
