What’s new? Pharmacist's Letter: August 2015; Vol: 31, No. 8:
In celebration of our country’s 50th birthday, this month’s brief update is all about the number 50.
Please log on to the PSS website using your PSS membership number as the user ID and your unique password (www.pss.org.sg) to log in. Happy reading!
Topic of the month: Improving Communication
More than 50% of your patients may not be adherent to their medications. Patient counseling is a useful tool in reducing both medication-related problems and medication non-adherence. Effective communication is an integral part of patient counseling.
Clinical Updates:
1) Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD): Do you know what Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) is? If not, you can read about it here and how EPT can reduce the rate of infection with gonorrhea in patients at follow-up by 50%.
Audio available: PL Voices discussion on new STD guidelines
2) Anticoagulation: Evidence from the new BRIDGE trial will be a game changer. It suggests that bridging DOESN'T decrease clotting...and leads to major bleeding in about 1 in 50 Atrial Fibrillation patients at low or moderate clot risk. To bridge or not to bridge, check out the recommendations in the featured article.
Chart available: Bridging Warfarin
3) Drug Induced Photosensitivty: Did you know that the incidence of photosensitivity with Amiodarone is 10 to 50%? Learn more about drugs that may cause photosensitivity.
Chart available: Drug-Induced Photosensitivity
Commonly asked questions in the community pharmacy:
1) What are kidney stones? Did you know that 50% of the patients will have another stone in 5 years? Read about how to treat kidney stones and strategies to prevent it.
Chart available: Prevention of recurrent kidney stones
Patient education handout: How can I prevent another kidney stone?
2) Ouch! Does Diclofenac 50mg help for my joint pain? Learn more about the pros and cons of analgesic use and when to escalate to steroid or hyaluronic acid injections.
Chart available: Analgesics for osteoarthritis
