S1 - Safe Prescribing And Medicine Errors Flashcards
What are some patient - related prescribing problems ?
Drug interactions
Increased drug use
Sicker/older patients vulnerable to side effects
What are some population prescribing problems ?
Increasing numbers
Elderly patients with co-morbidities
What are some pharmaceutical prescribing problems ?
New drugs
Side effects only seen later as trails usually on healthy patients
What are some doctor related prescribing problems ?
On call/junior doctors can be sleep deprived and not know patients very well
Bad handwriting on prescriptions
What do you need to confirm before writing a prescription ?
Drug name Dose Strength Frequency Allergies Adherence(more likely to adhere to fewer drugs)
What are the legal prescription requirements ?
Black ink
Patients and DRS name and address
DOB
Signed and dated
What are black triangle drugs
Intensively monitored drug which may be newly released or have changed formulas
Basic checklist for Drugs:
The right drug Drug distribution/elimination Alternatives Non- prescription medications The route The dose The frequency Duration SE Monitoring Infromation Special requirements
How long does it take to develop a medicine ?
12 years
What are the first 4 years of development for ?
Discovery research (medicinal chemistry , pharmacology and toxicology )
There are patent regulations
>5000 compounds used
What are the stages of drug development ?
Research Healthy volunteers Patients Testing efficacy and safety Testing different formulas H/e, throughout each stage, the number of drugs eventually decrease to only 1
What does the Research stage comprise of ?
Idea
Feasibility
Target validation (screening)
Identification of potential compounds (PK and potency optimised)
Selection of candidate drug (toxicology studies)
What screening is used in the research stage ?
High through-put screening - helps to identify compounds that may work as the drug and it is usually automated
Identifies if compound has correct structure, is chemically stable and is selective for the target
What is lead identification ?
Allows us to identify candidate drug
Drug tested on smaller animals
Measure ADME
What are the aims of lead identification ?
Increase potency
Optimise selectivity and pharmacokinetics
Ensure efficacy
What do phase 1 studies comprise of ?
First administered to humans - single or multiple ascending doses
Small number of healthy volunteers
Requires MHRA ethical and regulatory approval
1 year
What are the 4 principles of ethics ?
Justice : being fair
Beneficence : doing good
Non- maleficence : not doing harm
Autonomy : allowing individual to determine what happens to them