Bridging the gap between clinical pharmacology and rational drug prescribing

Activities of clinical pharmacologists across Europe: A survey by the European association of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics

PURPOSE

In order to explore clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) teaching and practices across continental Europe, the European Association of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) made a survey in 2022 amongst its 27 affiliated societies.

METHODS

The survey was made available online to EACPT representatives, and 47 filled-in questionnaires were received from 25 countries (one to five per country), representing all geographic areas of Europe.

RESULTS

Clinical pharmacologists (CPs) spend 25%, 30%, 15%, and 25% of their time in teaching, hospital activities, committees, and research, respectively, with large variations across and within countries. CPT courses are given at Schools of Medicine in all the countries except one, mostly organized and taught by medical doctors (MDs). In Central, Western, and Southern Europe, the teachers may have medicine or pharmacy training. Therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacovigilance were the hospital activities most frequently reported, and clinical/forensic toxicology, rounds of visits, and pharmacogenetics the least. Two-thirds of the panel think CPs should be MDs. However, the transversal nature of CPT was underlined, with patients/diseases and drugs as gravity centres, thus calling for the complementary skills of MDs and PharmDs. Besides, most respondents reported that clinical pharmacists in their country are involved in rounds of visits, pharmacovigilance, TDM, and/or pharmacogenetic testing and that collaborations with them would be beneficial.

CONCLUSION

CPT comes with a plurality of backgrounds and activities, all required to embrace the different pathologies and the whole lifecycle of medicinal products, but all of them being rarely performed in any given country. The willingness to use common CPT teaching material and prescribing exams at the European level is a good sign of increasing harmonisation of our discipline Europewide.

Assessment of drug use pattern using WHO core drug use indicators in selected general hospitals: a cross-sectional study in Tigray region, Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE

Inappropriate use of medicine is a global challenge with greater impact on developing countries. Assessment of drug use pattern is used to identify gaps in medicine utilisation to implement strategies for promoting rational drug use. This study aimed to assess drug use pattern using the WHO drug use indicators in selected general hospitals in Tigray region, Ethiopia.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was conducted using WHO drug use indicators in two public hospitals located in Tigray.

SETTING

Prescriptions recorded from 1 January 2017 to 1 June 2019 were randomly selected, and participants who visited the public hospitals from 1 March 2019 to 30 August 2019 and hospital pharmacies were interviewed.

PARTICIPANTS

100 patients who visited both outpatient clinics and hospital pharmacy departments of the public hospitals.

RESULTS

The average number of medicines per prescription was 1.69 (±0.81). Prescriptions containing antibiotics and injectables were 58.2% and 15.9%, respectively. The percentages of medicines prescribed with a generic name from essential medicines list of Ethiopia were 97.5% (974) and 88.1% (970) in Mekelle Hospital and Quiha Hospital, respectively. The patients spent an average of 6.6(±3.5) min with their general practitioners, while only 22.8 (±21.7) s with their pharmacists. Of the patients interviewed, 56.9% knew their dosing regimen and 32.7% of them had their medication labelled.

CONCLUSION

The finding of the present study revealed deviation of drug use pattern from the WHO optimal levels suggesting the hospitals had limitations in appropriate utilisation of medicines. Understanding the factors attributed to the observed gaps and implementing corrective measures are required to conform with the recommended standards of appropriate drug utilisation.

Antibiotic prescribing in various clinical departments in a tertiary care teaching hospital in northern India

BACKGROUND

Antibiotic resistance is not only a problem for the individual patient; it also reduces the effectiveness of established treatment and has become a major threat to public health by increasing the complexity and cost of treatment and reducing the probability of a successful outcome.

AIM

A prospective cross sectional study was carried out with the aim of identifying prescription pattern of antibiotics in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Northern India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 300 prescriptions were collected, collated and analysed from the indoor patients of MG hospital, Jaipur, India from the department of Medicine, Surgery and Orthopaedics. The prescribing and dispensing details of antibiotics from each prescription were recorded in the tabular form as mentioned in Data Acquisition form. Comparison of antibiotic prescribing practices among all the three departments was made by using Percentage method.

RESULTS

Majority of prescriptions (51%) with single drug was prescribed in Medicine department, followed by 16% in surgery and only 2% in Orthopaedics. Prescriptions with 3 drugs were prescribed mostly in Orthopaedics (66%) followed by 46% in Surgery and 10% in Medicine. 51% prescriptions in Orthopaedics department were of Ceftriaxone+ Sulbactam+ Amikacin. Thirty four percent prescriptions in Medicine department were of Ceftriaxone. 18% prescriptions in Surgery department were of Ceftriaxone+ Sulbactam+ Tobramycin.

CONCLUSION

This study clearly highlights the practice of Poly-Pharmacy and injudicious usage of antibiotics in hospital settings. The Government of India is planning to revise the antibiotic policy issued in 2011 and put a ban on over the counter availability of third generation antibiotics. General public awareness and sensitization of doctors and revision of clinical drug policy is the need of the hour to bring the changes at all possible level for the longterm and better clinical outcome in medical practice.

Drug abuse in paediatric dentistry: a cross-sectional study

Compared to adult medicine, drug use in children is not extensively researched.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of present study is to find out drug prescribing pattern in the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry and Orthodontics in teaching hospitals in Rajasthan, India.

METHODS

A prospective study was conducted in June 2011. A total of 619 prescriptions were collected randomly. Prescribing pattern was analyzed using WHO basic drug indicator.

RESULTS

The average number of drugs and antimicrobial agent prescribed per prescription were 2.24 and 0.81 respectively. Antimicrobial agent contained 81.74% of all prescriptions. Most common groups of drugs prescribed by pedodontist were NSAIDS & Antipyretics (37.7%), Antimicrobial (36.4%) and Vitamins (12.3%). Prophylactic use of antimicrobial agents was 5.5 ± 0.5 days. Fixed dose combination (45.6%) frequently used by brand name. twelve percent generic drugs were used. Most of the drugs were from Essential Drug List especially a only one drug was prescribed.

CONCLUSION

There is a need of mass awareness amongst dentists about good prescribing habit. Every institution must have Drugs and Therapeutic Committees. The five steps of WHO Program on Rational Use of Drugs (RUD) should be followed for rational prescribing of drugs.

[Could we improve notification of adverse drugs reactions in hospital? Assessment of 5 years of network PharmacoMIP's activities]

BACKGROUND

Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADR) is fundamental to drug safety surveillance (pharmacovigilance) and assessment of benefit/risk ratio. However, under-reporting remains the limit of the system.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of regular visits of an Assistant in Clinical Research (CRA) on the improvement of ADR reporting in non-university hospitals.

METHODS

We set up an ADR report collecting system that involved regular visits in non-university hospitals, We began the visits in 2006 in 2 areas (Haute Garonne and Gers), extended to 4 other areas in 2009. We compared the reporting rate (number of reports/number of beds) of total ADRs reported by non-university hospitals in these areas before (one year) and after the start of CRA visits.

RESULTS

A total 2831 of reports were collected by the CRA: 40% were "serious" including two deaths. The results suggest an increase of 100% of the rate of reporting of ADRs.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that regular visits increases the number of ADRs reported by non-university hospitals. Further assessment of this procedure is necessary for long term evaluation of its effectiveness.

Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics in undergraduate medical education in the UK: current status

1. Medical undergraduate education is currently undergoing major changes in the UK in response to calls for the development of a core curriculum. Teaching in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics will also change to meet these demands. A postal survey was conducted to assess the current status of teaching in these subjects. 2. A questionnaire based on previous similar surveys conducted elsewhere was sent to departments or individuals in 27 medical schools in the UK; 22 (81%) replied. 3. Departmental priorities were defined as (in order): clinical research, undergraduate teaching, basic scientific research and clinical service provision. No change in these priorities in the future was foreseen by respondents. 4. Teaching methods were for the most part traditional, with the lecture as the most widely used and important technique. Specific clinical teaching was conducted by some and was considered very important by them. Teaching by problem solving was much less common. 5. Respondents were asked for free text comments; many of the remarks suggested dissatisfaction with the resources and time currently available for teaching in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. Some expressed significant concerns that their teaching commitment would be reduced further by the development of the core curriculum.

Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics in undergraduate medical education in the UK: the future

1. Changes in undergraduate medical education will involve the development of a core curriculum of material of essential knowledge and of the skills for self directed learning both as a student and a postgraduate. A survey of departments or individuals teaching clinical pharmacology and therapeutics was conducted to consider what a core curriculum in these subjects might contain and how changes in the school curriculum would affect teaching in the future. 2. A questionnaire was developed based on an American consensus statement on the core curriculum in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. Freetext answers were encouraged. Twenty-seven medical schools were surveyed; 21 (78%) replied. 3. Items of core knowledge (as defined by the American statement) were generally rated important or very important. The most important were considered to be (in order): prescribing for the elderly, management of overdose and adverse drug reactions. All of these were widely taught (85-100%). The least important items were the efficacy and toxicity of nonprescription drugs (taught by 35%) and the process of drug development and approval (taught nevertheless by 95%). 4. Core skills were generally rated less important, and less often taught. It was felt by many respondents that these skills, as defined, were excessively detailed for British undergraduates and more appropriate for postgraduate education. 5. Core attitudes were rated as being of intermediate importance, but not widely taught as it was felt that these could best be inculcated by example rather than formal teaching. Again, many felt that these attitudes were inappropriate for a UK core curriculum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)