Case studies in remote living and remote learning

Students and families who live in remote sections of the United States had unique challenges with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This multiple case study profiles four families in remote parts of Appalachia in the United States as they lived and learned during the shutdown. These stories highlight the struggles, innovations, and resilience of an often-neglected population in discussions of the digital divide. Each family portrait was developed through in-depth interviews with several generations and a review of related documents. © 2023 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.

Ivermectin exposures reported to the Poisons Information Helpline in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that has shown in vitro activity against COVID­19. Clinical studies supporting ivermectin for COVID­19 prevention and treatment are conflicting, with important limitations. Public support for ivermectin is significant, with extensive off-label use despite the conflicting views on its efficacy. Ivermectin tablets and injectable formulations are not registered in South Africa for human use by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority. The National Department of Health does not currently recommend the use of ivermectin for COVID­19. OBJECTIVES: To describe cases of ivermectin exposure reported to the Poisons Information Helpline of the Western Cape (PIHWC) before and after publication of the drug's in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: In a retrospective review, ivermectin-related calls reported to the PIHWC from 1 June 2015 to 30 June 2020 (period 1) were compared with calls received from 1 July 2020 to 31 July 2021 (period 2), dichotomised according to the first publication indicating ivermectin activity against SARS-CoV-2. RESULTS: Seventy-one cases were screened, and 65 were included for analysis; 19 cases were reported during period 1 and 46 during period 2. During period 2, 25 ivermectin cases (54.3%) were related to COVID­19 use. Of these, 24 cases (52.2%) involved veterinary preparations, 3 (6.5%) human preparations and 19 (41.3%) unknown preparations. Fourteen cases (73.7%) during period 1 and 30 (65.2%) during period 2 were reported to be symptomatic. The most common organ systems involved were the central nervous (n=26 cases; 40.0%), gastrointestinal (n=18; 27.7%), ocular (n=9; 13.8%) and dermatological (n=5; 7.7%) systems. CONCLUSION: Ivermectin-related exposure calls increased during study period 2, probably as a result of ivermectin being used as preventive and definitive therapy for COVID­19 in the absence of robust evidence on efficacy, dosing recommendations or appropriate formulations.

Pharmacist Expansion to Tele-Health Visits in Heart Transplant Clinic

Purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, inpatient cardiothoracic transplant pharmacists expanded clinical services to include remote telehealth visits to increase patient access to pharmacy services and streamline visits for providers. Pharmacist visit activities included adherence and medication access assessments, adverse effect assessment and management, chart reviews, and medication reconciliation. Methods: A single center retrospective chart review of 80 heart transplant recipients transplanted between January 2020 and December 2020 was completed. From July 2020 - March 2021, pharmacists called patients within the first year of transplant prior to scheduled provider clinic visits. Patients were not called if they had been called within the prior 4 weeks. Activities from clinic visits before and after pharmacist involvement were compared at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-transplant. The goal of this analysis was to describe the number and types of interventions made by the pharmacist. Results: A total of 100 patients and 272 clinic visits were analyzed, baseline clinical characteristics did not differ in the two cohorts. Pharmacists performed 233 tele-health visits which resulted in 394 interventions from July 2020 - March 2021, summarized in Figure 1. The most common interventions included adverse effect management (34%) and renal dose adjustment (17.8%). An analysis of outpatient visits before and after pharmacist involvement found no significant difference in reported adherence, appropriate renal dosing of medications or reported neurotoxicity (Table 1). Conclusion: Close to 400 interventions were made by our transplant pharmacy team through tele-health visits over a period of 8 months. Use of pre-visit pharmacist tele-health assessments allowed for expansion of clinical pharmacy services while facilitating more focused provider clinic visits. more consistency in clinic may yield improved post-pharmacist outcomes, though further analysis is warranted.