Objective: The main objective of this study is to compare patients’ outcome in anticoagulation treatment before and after Warfarin Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic (WMTAC). The study compares the cost of INR test between usual care (UC) and WMTAC. The study also determines factors affecting International Normalized Ratio (INR) level among WMTAC patients.
Methods: A retrospective study involving WMTAC patients was conducted by trained pharmacists at Dungun Hospital. Patients were reviewed by UC for 4 months and continuously followed up by WMTAC for another 4 months were included in this study. Patients who passed away, transferred out and defaulted were excluded from the study. The data were derived from Patient Medical Record and recorded in Warfarin Data Collection Form for analyze.
Results: The time in therapeutic range (TTR) was 73.46% for WMTAC and 45.58% for UC (p
Bioethics was originally proposed in the early 1970s to denote ‘the incorporation of
biological knowledge and human values’. It is becoming more relevant in the
biological age. This paper looks at some of the biological issues that require an
ethical input. These include the Human Genome Project, human cloning and
assisted reproductive technologies, contraception and abortion, organ donation and
transplantation, euthanasia, brain death, human embryonic cells and AIDS.
Examples of issues that have been raised in this area: Who owns our genes? Can we
‘design’ our babies? Should humans be cloned? Can pregnancy be terminated? Is
mercy killing all right? Is brain death equivalent to death? Can embryonic cells be
used in experiments? While some have been settled, others still persist till today.
The numerous ethical questions pertaining to biology beg serious efforts on the part
of ethical theorists to dig deep into their established principles. Similarly those
working within applied ethics cannot operate effectively without referring to
theoretical ethics. Hence thus far, many of the bioethical issues have been tackled. It
is proposed that as a member of the health team, pharmacists too need to be well
versed in issues pertaining to bioethics.
A HPLC method for the detection and quantification of glibenclamide, from
dissolution studies of glibenclamide tablets (5 mg), was developed. The dissolution
test employed was the basket method, operating at 100 rpm, using 1000ml
phosphate buffer pH 7.4 as the dissolution medium. Elution was performed on LC-
18 reverse phase, SupelcosilTM ODS column (4.6mm x 25cm, 5μm) using a mobile
phase consisting of 0.02M monobasic ammonium phosphate in 60%v/v acetonitrile
in water at a flow rate of 2ml/min, using phenacetin as the internal standard. The
eluent was monitored at 254nm with an UV detector. Retention times of the
glibenclamide and phenacetin peaks were 3.61 minutes and 1.8 minutes respectively.
Chronic pain has a significant impact on sufferers’ quality of life. Furthermore, treatment inadequacies are often reported in the literatures. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of the different dosing behaviors in analgesics use in chronic, non-cancer pain and their correlation to pain control. This is a cross-sectional study and a convenience sampling method was applied. Brief Pain Inventory- Short Form and Pain Management Index was computed to assess pain control. Statistical analysis was performed with Pearson chi-square test and alpha value was set at 0.05. A total of 127 patients were analyzed. 70.9% of the patients reported inadequate pain control with their prescribed analgesic(s). 88.2% patients only took oral analgesics whenever they felt the pain while 11.8% patients took around-the-clock despite the absence of pain. Among them, 11.8-34.7% of patients did not follow their prescriber’s instruction for oral and topical analgesic use respectively. However, no statistically significant result was found between the dosing behaviors and pain control (p>0.95). It was also reported that 98% of patients were not aware of the maximum daily dose of their prescribed analgesic(s). The prevalence of ‘as needed’ dosing is higher than around-the-clock dosing in the management of chronic, non-cancer pain, with deviation from the prescribed instructions between 11.8-34.7%. However, those differences were not significantly associated with the pain control.
Medication errors are more likely to occur during patient’s transition of care. There was very little information about impact of medication reconciliation activities done for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) Stage IV-V during admission stage in Malaysian Primary Hospitals. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of clinical pharmacist’s medication reconciliation activities during hospital admission of patients with CKD stage IV-V. This cross-sectional study was carried out in two multidisciplinary wards (male & female ward) in Hospital Raub, Pahang over 12 months with ethical approval. A clinical pharmacist was assigned to enroll potential study subjects in both wards. Patients over 18 years old who had previous history of CKD Stage IV-V were included in the study after obtaining informed consent. Medication reconciliation was carried out by the clinical pharmacist within 24 working hours during the admission of study subjects. All detected medication discrepancies were further classified as “intended” or “unintended” after discussion with the prescribing medical officer. The Severity Level of each unintended medication discrepancy was rated by a visiting medical specialist. Twelve patients with CKD stage V were recruited to the study. A total of 49 medication discrepancies were identified and most (89.8%) were found to be unintended. The most common unintended medication discrepancy identified was omission error. Most of the unintended medication discrepancies (59.1%) was rated as “No potential harm”, while 40.9% were rated as “Potential for monitoring and/or Intervention to preclude harm”. None of the unintended medication discrepancy was rated as “Potential harm”. In conclusion, medication discrepancies were common during admission of patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease in a primary hospital. Medication reconciliation performed by clinical pharmacist during admission has a potential role in preventing potential harms that may arise from unintentional medication discrepancies.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has hugely affected healthcare services, particularly pharmacy services in a COVID-19 hospital. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, clinical pharmacists routinely reviewed patients’ medications upon ward admission, actively participated in ward rounds and partook in transitional care activities focusing on medication reconciliation and patient education in the wards. However, in order to limit contact with COVID patients, hospital pharmacy department reacted promptly by establishing remote clinical pharmacy services in order to sustain the quality of inpatient pharmaceutical care. This commentary describes the challenges faced by clinical pharmacists in a Malaysian hospital as we continue to provide clinical pharmacy services amidst the new norm.
The management of Valproic Acid (VPA) toxicity is mainly supportive treatment. Invasive management such as hemodialysis (HD) and hemoperfusion were only used in isolated cases where patient is highly VPA toxic, which results in coma. We described a case of mild VPA toxicity (VPA serum concentration 326.42mcg/mL), where the patient was successfully treated with two hours of low-flux HD with no complication. While the guideline of indication of HD in VPA toxicity has yet to be published, low-flux HD can be an effective treatment in cases of mild VPA toxicity, if other supportive measures failed or not available.
The Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) imposes strict serialisation requirements on pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and dispensers. This article outlines everything you need to know and what you need to do for a seamless serialisation process – before regulators remove your right to trade.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are currently the main actors in a serial drama where getting their lines right is paramount. Well, four lines of data, to be precise; in (and next to) DataMatrix barcodes applied to every pack of prescription medicines. The introduction of serialisation, designed to ensure the authenticity and traceability of individual medicines, promises to improve patient safety and create exciting opportunities for digital health. But there is a twist in the plot. Failure to comply with the EU regulation that mandates it means you cannot legally ship your product. No barcode, no trade. That is when a serial drama turns into a tragedy. And time is running out to be ready.
The unfolding story of the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD), which was first introduced in 2011, is into its final episodes. The denouement arrives on February 9, 2019, when the Directive is fully enforced and the penalties for non-compliance officially come into play. FMD is an attempt to prevent inauthentic, substandard or harmful medicines entering the supply chain. It imposes strict serialisation, traceability and verification requirements on pharmaceutical manufacturers and their associated wholesalers, distributors and contract manufacturers. In particular, it mandates companies to print a unique identifier on the packaging of prescription medicines. Furthermore, companies are not just responsible for the data that goes on the packaging, they are responsible for submitting it to the central data hub that will enable pharmacists to authenticate products before they dispense them. It is a complex undertaking that could be easily underestimated – but not if you understand some key steps. The implementation of serialisation is not an overnight task – it encompasses processes that have multiple touch-points across global organisations, partner networks and the wider supply chain. Yet despite this – and despite the enormous implications of getting it wrong – many companies are still some distance from being fit for purpose. Indeed, in some organisations, the Directive has not yet hit their radar. It needs to – because the clock is ticking. But all is not lost. Here are seven steps to successful serialisation.
The objective of this study is to look into the stability of Chloral Hydrate 40 mg per ml formulated as oral solution in X-temp Oral Suspension System in order to select proper storage conditions and establish beyond-use date. X-temp is a novel oral, flavoured sugar-free extemporaneous compounding vehicle to assist in the preparation of extemporaneous dosage forms.
The compounded solution of 40 mg/ml was prepared by dissolving chloral hydrate powder in X-temp vehicle. The solution was then packed in amber HDPE containers, and were stored at refrigeration 5 ± 3°C and room temperature 30°C. Physical, chemical and microbiological parameters were evaluated at predetermined time-points up to 180 days. Samples were tested using a validated stability–indicating assay. Chloral hydrate concentration was assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
The stability results indicated that the solution remained unchanged in visual appearance or pH at both refrigeration and room temperature for up to 180 days. The HPLC results showed that all the stability studies maintained 90 – 100% of initial drug concentration. There was no substantial changes in the microbiological stability.
Chloral hydrate solution prepared in X-temp Oral Suspension System was stable for up to 180 days when stored at room temperature and refrigeration conditions. These results demonstrated that X-temp is a suitable vehicle for extemporaneous compounding for chloral hydrate.
The Pharmacy value-added services (PVAS) has been implemented in Malaysian public hospitals to facilitate the collection of follow-up medications. In specific, PVAS include Integrated Drug Dispensing System, Medicine by Post, Drive-Through Pharmacy, and many more. While past studies examined the satisfaction towards PVAS and its impact on patients’ waiting time, little explored the awareness and the experience of patients towards each type of PVAS. This study aims to explore the patient’s awareness on PVAS, adoption of PVAS, their satisfaction towards PVAS, and willingness to adopt PVAS. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in January 2020. We invited the eligible patients or their family members to participate in the study. Respondents recruited at the Outpatient Pharmacy Department of Miri Hospital using convenient sampling. A questionnaire in the Malay language was developed and content validated to gather information on the demographic data, awareness on PVAS, adoption of PVAS, satisfaction towards PVAS, and willingness to adopt PVAS. A list of PVAS was included for the respondents to select the types they were aware of and used before. Results were presented as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. A total of 398 respondents participated in the study. Majority of the respondents (70.1%) were aware that PVAS offered in Miri Hospital. However, about a third of the respondents (31.4%) had experience using PVAS. The most commonly used PVAS was Appointment Card Dispensing System (49.6%) and that with the least usage was Local Partial Medication Supply Service (2.4%). The Drive-Through Pharmacy has the greatest satisfaction score, 4.40 (SD=0.70), whereas Call-and-Collect Service was the least satisfied, 3.88 (SD=0.91). Majority of the respondents (86.2%), specifically 95.8% of the experienced PVAS user and 90.1% of inexperienced group, were willing to adopt PVAS to collect their follow-up medications. The Drive-thru Pharmacy, which has the greatest awareness and satisfaction yet low usage, should be further promoted for greater adoption. Besides, such PVAS should be expanded to other healthcare facilities.
Background: Dual therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel is the standard treatment for acute
coronary syndrome (ACS). Dual antiplatelet therapy plays an important role in reducing major
acute, short- and long-term adverse clinical outcomes. Currently, the economic evaluation of
ticagrelor, a reversible and direct-acting oral antagonist of adenosine diphosphate receptor
P2Y12 remains unknown.
Objective: To compare the annual cost of ticagrelor versus branded clopidogrel in patients with
ACS from a Malaysian health care perspective.
Methods: The data required for this analysis was obtained from a 2007 study carried out by
Fong et al. in ACS patients (n=57). Assumptions used for the present analysis were based on
data from the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program (CRP) study, the Study of Platelet Inhibition
and Patient Outcomes (PLATO) and the National Cardiovascular Disease ACS (NCVD ACS)
registry of Malaysia. For all calculations, the Ringgit Malaysia (RM) currency and prices as of
2007 were considered.
Results: The cost of clopidogrel treatment in post-ACS patients for 30 days was calculated to
be RM1,381,340 (n=2072; daily cost=RM5.50) and assuming treatment with ticagrelor, the
cost would be RM1,554,000 (daily cost=RM8.70). Based on PLATO and NCVD ACS 2007,
it was estimated that major adverse coronary event (MACE) in the form of unstable angina
(UA) would occur in an additional 21 patients on clopidogrel, which could have been avoided
with ticagrelor. Extrapolating cost data from CRP study, it was estimated that the annual costs
for 21 additional cases of UA in terms of annual treatment and readmission would be more
than RM400,000. Treatment with ticagrelor would thereby be associated with lesser number of
MACE that can be translated in avoiding annual costs of treatment of UA and result in annual
cost savings of RM238,856.
Conclusion: Although direct comparisons were not made, this analysis suggests that ticagrelor
therapy may be a more cost-saving alternative to clopidogrel in Malaysian patients with ACS.
Many drugs used in paediatric are often not available in suitable dosage forms and have to be
extemporaneously prepared by pharmacists to make them suitable for the body weight, body
surface area, or age of the children. Phenobarbitone is the main anti-epileptic drug (AED) for
the treatment of seizure in paediatric patients. The objective of this study is to evaluate the
physicochemical and microbiological stability of an extemporaneously prepared
Phenobarbitone Oral Suspension using commercially available tablets and X-temp Oral
Suspension System. The Phenobarbitone Oral Suspension (10mg/ml) was stored at 4ºC and
30ºC / 75%RH protected from light and were examined at the interval of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 6
months. The content of Phenobarbitone was determined using a validated high-performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The visual appearance, odour, pH and specific
gravity remained fairly unchanged throughout the study period and the content of
Phenobarbitone remained above 98% of the original concentration throughout the course of
the study for both temperatures. The extemporaneous preparation was not susceptible to
microbial contamination. The results from the stability studies confirmed that X-temp Oral
Suspension is a suitable suspending vehicle for preparing extemporaneous liquid formulation
of Phenobarbitone Oral Suspension with the added advantage of alcohol-free, colourant-free
and sugar-free. Based on the data collected, the shelf-life of this liquid formulation is at least
6 months when stored at 4ºC (refrigeration) and 30ºC / 75%RH (room temperature).
An exploratory study to ascertain the public’s awareness of community pharmacy
and pharmacists in a selected subset of the Malaysian population was undertaken,
utilising an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire approach. A total
score was computed for each respondent, ranging from a possible minimum of 0 and
a maximum of 24. The scores achieved were arbitrarily categorised into poor (19) levels of general knowledge
regarding community pharmacy and pharmacists. The scores achieved ranged from
3 to 21, with an average “fair” score of 13.7. The results showed that 93.6% of the
respondents (n = 561) interviewed had heard of the term “pharmacist” before.
Interestingly, 17.5% of the respondents were of the opinion that pharmacists
worked on farms. A significant 77.4% perceived that a pharmacist served in a
doctor’s clinic. It was noted that 84.1% of those surveyed would go to doctors for
advice on medicine, while only 49.4% would seek a pharmacist. A majority (76.7%)
of the respondents interviewed chose to go to a doctor’s clinic for a screening test.
The study amplifies the need for a more aggressive projection of the pharmacist’s
image in the community in order to be recognized and accepted by the public as an
integral partner in the health care profession.
Anti-peptic ulcer drugs (APUDs) such as proton pump inhibitors (PPI), H2 receptor antagonists (H2A), antacids are widely prescribed. This study is aimed to describe the utilisation pattern of APUDs based on WHO Defined Daily Dose (DDD) and identify most commonly used APUD in the selected hospital. A retrospective study was carried out in outpatient of the selected hospital for year 2017. Sample size was calculated using Raosoft. DDD of APUDs and direct drug cost were calculated. Data were collected through electronic medical record by retrieving patients’ registration number. Inclusion criteria were patients above 18 years old and APUDs prescribed for gastrointestinal related indications. A total of 160 prescriptions were randomly selected for data analysis. Based on the DDD calculated, Rabeprazole 20mg was most prescribed drug among PPI (n=33), while Maalox is most prescribed drug among the antacids (n=23). Based on the DDD calculated, Pantoprazole 20mg recorded highest rates per user per day about 1.26 DDD / user / day while antacids, Actal reported highest usage rate with 7.11 DDD / user / day. Besides, there are 5.4 days supplied per user for this drug. Dexlansoprazole 60mg is the most expensive drug among all the PPI listed in hospital formulary. It has 18.5 days supplied/user, which is the second shortest duration of treatment among all the other PPIs. In contrast, omeprazole 20mg is the lowest cost PPI but the duration supplied per user is longer resulting in higher total cost of therapy. In conclusion, PPIs were the most commonly prescribed.
Case reports in western populations reported that fenofibrate enhances the anticoagulatory effect of warfarin. We are reporting ten cases of warfarin-fenofibrate interaction among Malaysian patients’ cases that were managed at the anticoagulation clinic of Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Patients taking warfarin and micronized fenofibrate 145mg daily concurrently between the year 2014 to 2018 were identified in May 2018. Ten active patients were included, and the relevant data were retrieved retrospectively. All patients received warfarin for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF), with a target international normalised ratio (INR) of 2 to 3. No dose adjustment was done upon initiation of fenofibrate. Warfarin doses were adjusted to achieve the targeted range but fenofibrate was not discontinued. Eight patients had INR levels above the target range when INR being reassessed between 20 to 62 days after initiation of fenofibrate. Their weekly warfarin doses were between 17.5mg-46.5mg. Baseline INR ranged between 1.6 -3.1. Percentage of dose reduction ranged between 5%-60%. Four of the patients were on other concurrent interacting medications such as statin and levothyroxine. Only one patient, whose case was with an INR 3.1 before initiation of fenofibrate, required admission for hematoma (INR 12). Two patients had INR within the target range, and INR were assessed at 14 and 21 days after fenofibrate initiation. Their weekly warfarin doses were between 24.5mg and 26.5mg while baseline INR was 2.8 and 1.9 respectively. Interaction between fenofibrate and warfarin may increase INR among Malaysian patients, thus close monitoring of INR is warranted. Empirical warfarin dose reduction may be considered upon initiation of this drug combination for patients with AF. The next INR reassessment date should be arranged not later than three weeks after initiation of fenofibrate.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacy students to determine
factors influencing their choice of work place and to evaluate whether a one-year
hospital pre-registration training programme had any effect on these choices.
Questionnaires were distributed to graduating students at the School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia. The questionnaires were again
sent to the same group of students by post at the end of their pre-registration
training year. The response rate during the follow-up stage was 46%. Results
indicated that students in the survey were more interested in independent and chain
community pharmacies compared to other practice settings. Students’ choices of
first place of practice appeared to be influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic job
factors. Our findings did not show major changes in students’ preferences for
practice sites before and after the hospital pre-registration period. This information
is expected to be useful for pharmacy employers.