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Spiking Blood Sugars and Adverse Effects
About 10 days ago, a 76-year-old male called you to tell you that his spiking blood sugars are higher than they have been in a long time. His blood sugars were in the 300-400 range. He used to never...
How to Study for the BCPS Versus NAPLEX Exam
I get asked lots of questions about the BCPS exam as well as the NAPLEX. One question that has come up more than once, is how do I study for the BCPS versus NAPLEX exam? BCPS Versus NAPLEX: Format...
How to Avoid Failure – Transitions of Care
Working in long term care, I've seen a lot of cases where transitions of care have been messed up. I remember one specific case where 8 medications were incorrectly changed at a hospital stay. This...
Furosemide Versus Torsemide – Is There a Difference
Being a clinical pharmacist, you get asked a lot of questions about the differences amongst agents in the same class. The issue of differences between furosemide versus torsemide recently came up. I...
Prerenal Acute Kidney Injury – Must Know Drugs
Prerenal acute kidney injury is absolutely something that happens in real life practice. One of the reasons that this is something that is seen on a somewhat regular basis is that the drugs that can...
Breathing Difficulties? Medications Could Be Your Problem
Most often, breathing difficulties are due to a chronic disease process like asthma or COPD. These are obvious possible diagnoses for any patient presenting with respiratory concerns. If you are a...
Trazodone Diltiazem Interaction – Case Scenario
In this scenario, I outline a situation involving the trazodone diltiazem interaction. A 74 year old patient was recently diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Rate control was the preferred method of...
Hydrophilic Versus a Lipophilic Statin – How to Choose?
Statins are one of the most commonly prescribed medications to help reduce cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke. I've been asked the question a few...
Strategies to Reduce Medications – Part 2
On a previous post, I laid out some strategies to reduce medication use. As a consultant pharmacist who has worked extensively in long term care and assisted living, I am routinely asked if we can...
Reducing Medications – Strategies I Routinely Use (Part 1)
In geriatrics, we put a premium on trying to simplify medication use. As a consultant pharmacist who has worked extensively in long term care and assisted living, I am routinely asked if we can...
Study Materials For Pharmacists
