1.Study on the Significance of Pharmaceutical Care for the Rational Use of Drugs. (Part1) Usefulness of Drug Monitoring on Safety and Effectiveness of Drug Therapy
Kazumasa NEGITA ; Masami OKUDAIRA ; Kazuyuki NAKAMURA ; Mayumi KAWAMURA ; Kanoko HAMAISHI ; Satoko KOJIMA ; Yukari SUZUMURA ; Satoru MASE ; Ai OONO ; Eiji YONEYAMA ; Takanori MIURA ; Akio KATSUMI
Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 2008;57(1):8-15
To raise a level of safety and to enhance the effectiveness of complicated drug therapy, various drug monitoring programs have been implemented in these days. In the present study, we examined whether pharmaceutical care plans proposed by pharmacists contributed to drug therapy.The number of pharmaceutical proposals from pharmacists, which were adopted and put into poactice in the clinical stages, has increased annually and totaled 1,014 cases in the past four years. The number of proposals related to cancer chemotherapy increased remarkably. Moreover, most of the cancer-related proposals conserned drug dosage, suggesting that the pharmaceutical care by pharmacists may contribute to the safety management of drugs in drug therapy. Additionally, in the other clinical cases than cancer chemotherapy cases, there was an increase in the number of proposals based on patient's conditions and clinical examination data, which suggests frequent participation of pharmacists in drug therapy. Furthermore, it was found that 62.6% of the all pharmaceutical proposals were made by wards-resident pharmacists. This suggests that an increase in the numbrt of wards-resident pharmacists will contribute to more effective and safer drug therapy in the future.
pharmacotherapeutic
;
Safety
;
seconds
;
Clinical
;
Drug Monitoring
2.Efforts and Challenges in Implementing an In-Hospital Rapid Response System at Our Hospital
Toru MIZUMOTO ; Sadahiro KUBO ; Akihiko TABUCHI ; Satoshi TERANISHI ; Akiko TANIGUCHI ; Makoto SUGIURA ; Shinji ISHIKAWA ; Shinya YAMADA ; Mami SUZUKI ; Satomi SAEKI ; Kanoko HAMAISHI ; Kenichi YAMADA ; Yasuhiko HOSONO ; Megumi YOSHINAGA ; Masahito WATARAI
Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 2025;73(5):425-433
Even within a hospital, the prognosis after a cardiac arrest is extremely poor if intervention starts only after the event; thus, early recognition and intervention is crucial to reduce inhospital cardiac arrests. This paper aims to assess the results of in-clinic surveys conducted for the implementation of the Rapid Response System (RRS) at our hospital and changes in awareness after awareness initiatives. Excluding the neonatal intensive care unit, all wards were targeted for implementation, with the creation of criteria for requesting the RRS and hospital-wide awareness initiatives. Four items were defined for the request criteria—namely, (1) respiration, (2) circulation, (3) state of consciousness, and (4) others (any concerns)—with a request being warranted if any one of these criteria was met. A pre-awareness survey revealed that respiratory rates were recorded only 6.9% of the time on average, indicating inadequate observation of respiratory rates across all wards. In response to this issue, we announced that respiratory status should be observed at least once a day, which resulted in the recording rate improving to 68.2% after 2 months. Survey results before and after the awareness initiatives among doctors and nurses showed a significant increase in RRS awareness. The percentage of nurses who answered “well aware” or “somewhat aware” increased from 34.8% to 77.6%, and from 63.4% to 88.0% among doctors. However, while the introduction of the RRS was relatively well-received by nurses struggling with on-site responses, some doctors questioned the necessity of the RRS. Upon implementation, it is important to make it known that it is a hospital-wide effort. Simplifying and thoroughly utilizing the request criteria can lead to early recognition of abnormalities. Since it is not easy to gain doctors’ understanding, it is necessary to listen to the needs and requests of each department and patiently continue awareness activities before implementation