Pharmacist-led intervention on the reduction of inappropriate medication use in patients with heart failure: A systematic review of randomized trials and non-randomized intervention studies.

BACKGROUND: Polipharmacy has been identified as a contributing factor to the high hospital readmission rates of heart failure (HF) patients. Nevertheless, there limited evidence on pharmacist-led intervention on the reduction of inappropriate medication use in patients. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the available evidence resulting from interventions, led by pharmacists (alone or as part of a professional team), aimed at reducing inappropriate medications in patients with heart failure. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using MEDLINE through PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Scopus until June 2020. We reviewed both randomized controlled trials and non-randomized intervention studies.The quality of evidence was assessed in accordance with the modified Cochrane Collaboration tool to assess risk of bias for randomized controlled trials. The search and extraction process followed PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: Of the 4367 records screening, 9 studies were included in the analysis. In 4 (44.4%) studies, the intervention was carried out by a pharmacist working together with a physician; in 4 (44.4%) the intervention was carried out by a pharmacist alone, and in 1 study, the pharmacist collaborated with a nurse. Only 5 (55.5%) studies described the utilization of guidelines or recommendations to carry out the deprescription, and 3 of these showed improved clinical outcomes in the interventional group compared to the control group. The other studies (4, 44.4%) did not follow a specific guideline or recommendation to evaluate the appropriateness of medication, and none of them showed statistically significant differences in clinical outcomes between interventional and control groups. CONCLUSION: Only those studies where pharmacists evaluated the appropriateness of treatment to specific HF guidelines showed significant differences in patients' clinical outcomes. The development and validation of a specific tool to evaluate medication appropriateness in patients with HF, could contribute to the improvement of patient health.

[Conciliation discrepancies at hospital discharge]. / Discrepancias de conciliación en el momento del alta hospitalaria en una unidad médica de corta estancia.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and describe the non-justified discrepancies found on reconciling chronic medication prescribed to patients when discharged from hospital. Secondly, the impact of the reconciliation process is evaluated by assessing the seriousness of the discrepancies. DESIGN: Cality study. SETTING: Short Stay Medical Unit in Elda General Hospital, Alicante, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: All patients discharged were included. INTERVENTION: The medication that the patient was taking before admission was obtained by personal interview before being discharged. The discrepancies that were non-justifiable with the treatment on discharge and with the pharmacotherapeutic history were identified and modified, where necessary, after consulting with the doctor. MEDITIONS AND RESULTS: Of the 434 patients interviewed, 249 conciliation errors were detected, which was 0.57 discrepancies per treated patient. Among the 35.2% of patients who had conciliation errors, the mean number of discrepancies was 1.62. Of these errors, 153 (61.5%) were produced when being discharged, while 96 (38.5%) were errors of omission or commission in the pharmacotherapeutic history. Of all the discharge reports reviewed, 11% did not record information on the previous treatment of the patient. Omission was the main type of error, both in the history and on discharge. As regards the potential harm of the detected errors, 30% could have caused temporary harm or hospitalisation. CONCLUSION: Medication errors in the pharmacotherapeutic history at the time of being admitted are common and potentially significant if they are continued. Including the pharmacist in the medical team, along with being able to access data at the different care levels, could help to reduce the frequency of these errors.

Acute cholestatic hepatitis probably associated with risperidone.

OBJECTIVE: Risperidone is an atypical neuroleptic drug widely used due to the lower incidence and severity of hepatic adverse effects in comparison to phenothiazines. Although idiosyncratic reversible hepatotoxicity may occur in association with risperidone, the interaction with fluoxetine might increase the risk of toxic liver injury in a vulnerable patient. METHODS AND RESULTS: We present a case of acute cholestatic hepatitis probably associated with the use of risperidone after only a few days of therapy in a patient also treated with fluoxetine. The patient, a 64-year-old male, developed a rapid increase in liver enzymes after starting treatment with only four doses of risperidone 2 mg/day. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend obtaining baseline liver function tests before starting risperidone and regular monitoring to screen patients for liver damage during therapy whenever a patient is also receiving fluoxetine.

Voriconazole in fungal keratitis caused by Scedosporium apiospermum.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the first case, to the best of our knowledge, of posttraumatic Scedosporium apiospermum (ScA) keratitis successfully treated with systemic and topical voriconazole. CASE SUMMARY: A 19-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with an incisive wound of his left eye and the cornea totally sectioned after trauma with a cutter used in gardening. Initial empirical treatment was followed by systemic and topical voriconazole, and the eye did not have to be enucleated. Five months after the trauma, a penetrating keratoplasty and chamber intraocular lens implantation was performed with a favorable visual outcome. DISCUSSION: ScA keratitis is rare, but it must be suspected if a history of ocular injury with contaminated objects exists. Among the antifungals available to treat ScA keratitis, voriconazole has shown advantages such as the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration and the availability of an oral formulation. CONCLUSIONS: Voriconazole shows promise as an effective alternative to conventional antifungals in the treatment of ScA keratitis. It is available both as oral and intravenous preparations, which is a great advantage in these lengthy infections.