Identification and characterisation of potential drug interaction in a Hospital in Jundiai, Sao Paulo State

Abstract To identify and characterize the most frequent Drug Interaction (DI) in a Jundiaí Hospital. Exploratory, descriptive, and analytical cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. The source of the study is 100 prescriptions made by the medical service of a hospital in Jundiaí, dispensed from August to October 2018, by the pharmacy of the mentioned hospital for palliative care, mental health, and emergency care. Data plotting in Excel. Of the 100 prescriptions analyzed 60 had at least one type of interaction, 164 DI were found, 14.6% severe, 67.7% moderate, 17.1% minor and 0.6% unspecified. The mechanism of interaction that most appeared in the study was pharmacodynamics, 54.3%, pharmacokinetics were present in 34.1% of DI and 11.6% were not specified. The group most affected by DI was male 33% of prescriptions, female 27%, and 40% showed no interactions. The age group with the most interactions was from 50 to 59 years old. Of the prescriptions that had MI, those with 4 or more interactions were the ones that prevailed. The class of drugs that presented the most interactions was psychotropic drugs. A relevant frequency of interactions was identified by the present study, being the class of psychotropic drugs the most evident and interactions of medium severity the most found, which may be responsible for lowering the clinical condition of patients and the need of possible additional interventions. The data presented may contribute as epidemiological indicators, guiding corrective actions, aiming at the welfare of patients

Sepsis: The Involvement of Platelets and the Current Treatments.

OBJECTIVE: Sepsis, a serious and life threatening complication arising from infection caused by lipopolysaccharide, is a complex inflammatory syndrome, and one of the main causes of death in intensive care units (ICU). It is characterized as an over-response of pro-coagulant agents promotes coagulopathy and thrombus formation, resulting in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Furthermore, it can cause multiple organ dysfunction and hypotension (septic shock) resulting in death. Thrombocytopenia, which is a hallmark of sepsis, is strongly correlated as a negative marker of the infection. Additionally, platelets contribute with the oxidative stress in septic patients in order to exterminate the microbial pathogen. This review summarises the important role of platelets in the pathology of sepsis, and highlights potential treatment targets to improve the outcome of sceptic patients. METHODS: The search was performed in PubMed, books and retrieved journal articles for a period of three months. The figures were developed through Servier Medical Arts software. CONCLUSION: The exact treatment of sepsis is still the subject of considerable debate. Although here we presented several therapies that have shown promise for improving the outcome of patients, researching platelet function in sepsis has provided us targets to develop new medical approaches focusing specially on thrombocytopenia and DIC.