Freya Waddington

Does the 'script' need a rewrite? Is medication advice in television medical dramas appropriate?

Television medical dramas depict the healthcare industry and draw considerable interest from the public, while pharmacists play an integral part in providing medication‐related advice to the public and other health practitioners in real life. The main objective of this retrospective, observational study was to assess the appropriateness of medication advice given in televised medical dramas and how frequently pharmacists were involved in providing the medication advice.

Erratum to: A systematic review of community pharmacist therapeutic knowledge of dietary supplements

Due to a technical error during the production process of this article, the references have not aligned correctly. Correct references are listed below. Patient support for pharmacist sales of nutritional and dietary supplements is strong [16]. Correct reference is [17]. A recent systematic analysis … that the pharmacist has expertise in this area [16]. Correct reference is [17]. The increase in … knowledge of the area [16]. Correct reference is [17]. A systematic review by Boon et al. [16]…. Correct reference is [17]. A recent analysis of pharmacy … specific units [17]. Correct reference is [18]. This trend is reflected in the Australian Universities and also across the United States [18]. Correct reference is [19]. A systematic review was … systematic review methods [19]. Correct reference is [20]. For example, the study by Chang et al. [14]. Correct reference is [15]. Pharmacists scored an average of 6.3 out of 15 (42%) on this survey [14]. Correct reference is [15]. Comparatively, in the study by Koh et al. [26]. Correct reference is [27].Of these studies, three were conducted in the United States [14, 20, 21]. Correct references are [15, 21, 22]. Two in Canada [22, 23]. Correct references are [23, 24]. One in Jordan [24]. Correct reference is [25]. Palestine [25]. Correct reference is [26]. The United Kingdom [17]. Correct reference is [18], and Singapore [26]. Correct reference is [27]. The median sample size of pharmacists was 100 (range 46–388) with one study [22]. Correct reference is [23]. Seven studies utilised a written survey method to assess community pharmacist knowledge [14, 17, 20, 23–26]. Correct references are [15, 16, 21, 24–27]. One study interviewed participants with a face-to-face questionnaire-type survey [21]. Correct reference is [22]. The remaining study … from the pharmacy [22]. Correct reference is [23]. Three studies were identified to have utilised comparison groups for assessing pharmacist knowledge [20, 22, 25]. Correct references are [21, 23, 26]. The result of this was that both physicians and dieticians recorded higher scores, dieticians significantly so [20]. Correct reference is [21]. The study by Sweileh et al. [25] assessed the knowledge of Palestinian pharmacists against that of Saudi pharmacists. Correct reference is [26]. Key findings of this study were that Palestinian community pharmacists’ knowledge of dietary supplements was consistently lower than that of their Saudi Arabian counter-parts [25]. Correct reference is [26]. Finally, research by Temple et al. [22] compared … health food stores across Canada. Correct reference is [23]. This study found that community pharmacists were consistently more likely to give accurate recommendations regarding dietary supplements [22]. Correct reference is [23].

Paracetamol and analgesic nephropathy: Are you kidneying me?

Introduction Analgesic nephropathy is a disease resulting from the frequent use of combinations of analgesic medications over many years, leading to significant impairment of renal function. The observation of a large number of cases of renal failure in patients abusing analgesic mixtures containing phenacetin led to the initial recognition of the nephrotoxicity from the use of analgesics. Phenacetin was subsequently exclusively blamed for this disease. However, the role of a single analgesic as a sole cause of analgesic nephropathy was challenged, and a number of researchers have since attempted to determine the extent of involvement of other analgesics including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin, and paracetamol. Case presentation We present the case of an 83-year-old woman with a history of NSAID-induced nephropathy with poor pain control and reluctance to use paracetamol. We attempt to briefly review the evidence of paracetamol being implicated in the development of analgesic-induced nephropathy. Conclusion There is a lack of concrete data regarding causative analgesics, including paracetamol. Patients should therefore not be withheld paracetamol, an effective and commonly recommended agent, for fear of worsening renal function.