by Eric Christianson | Mar 2, 2014 | Medication Errors
I had a case a while back where a patient had an elevated TSH at around 13. The patient was on a dose of 112 mcg 2 tablets daily. If you put yourself in the shoes of the provider, you can imagine seeing a large number of faxes/orders that you have to review in a day...
by Eric Christianson | Feb 26, 2014 | Drug Interaction Case Studies and Education For Pharmacists
There was an 85 year old female with an extensive seizure history on Dilantin 300 mg daily. Previous Dilantin level was 14 and the patient was not displaying any signs or symptoms of toxicity. They began having some GI complaints and was diagnosed with GERD and put on...
by Eric Christianson | Feb 23, 2014 | Polypharmacy Cases And The Prescribing Cascade
Polypharmacy is a horrible problem in geriatrics. I came across this medication list, and just wanted to give you a brief idea of some of the thoughts that go through a clinical pharmacist’s head. Scary I know, but just stay with me, as you will most likely see...
by Eric Christianson | Feb 19, 2014 | Educational Case Studies For Pharmacists, Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine Case Studies
A 68 year old female was having difficulty with some anxiety throughout the day but more problematic to the patient was that she could not sleep at night. Multiple different non-drug interventions were tried, but none seemed to make any difference. Trazodone was...
by Eric Christianson | Feb 16, 2014 | Cardiovascular Case Studies, Educational Case Studies For Pharmacists
This 76 year old patient was on a laundry list of blood pressure medications. Hydrochlorothiazide, losartan, metoprolol, terazosin, amlodipine, and recently had clonidine added to their regimen with minimal success. Systolic BP’s still consistently ran around...