Medication administration via enteral feeding tube: a survey of pharmacists' knowledge

Background: Medication administration to patients with an enteral feeding tube (EFT) is complex and prone to errors. Community pharmacists may be ideally placed to provide training and advice on this topic in individual patients as well as in institutions supplied by the pharmacy. Objective: To assess community pharmacists' knowledge on guideline recommendations regarding medication preparation and administration through EFT. Method: Knowledge of guideline recommendations was assessed using a 15-item self-administered online questionnaire (April-June 2014). Questions reflected key aspects of guideline recommendations on medication administration via EFT. All graduated community pharmacists from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium were eligible for participation. Results: A total of 105 community pharmacists completed the questionnaire. Median self-perceived knowledge of medication administration via EFT was 2 (on a 0-10 scale). On average 5.2 (SD 2.6) out of the 15 questions were answered correctly. Strikingly, the ability to select suspensions in a list of liquid medications and knowledge on crushability of solid dosage forms were low. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that pharmacists' knowledge on correct medication administration via EFT is too limited to be able to provide good advice to EFT patients or their caregivers. Tailored training on this topic is needed

The relative age effect in youth soccer across Europe.

Abstract The potential asymmetries in the birth-date distributions of youth soccer players across ten European countries (2175 age citations) were considered. First, we examined the birth-dates of players representing national youth teams in international competitions. Second, the birth-dates of players representing professional club teams in international youth tournaments were analysed. Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were used to assess differences between observed and expected birth-date distributions. Regression analyses were employed to examine the relationship between month of birth and number of players in the different samples. The results showed an over-representation of players born in the first quarter of the selection year (from January to March) for all the national youth selections at the under-15 (U-15), U-16, U-17 and U-18 age categories, as well as for the UEFA U-16 tournaments and Meridian Cup. Players with a greater relative age are more likely to be identified as ''talented'' because of the likely physical advantages they have over their ''younger'' peers. Some options for reducing the relative age effect are offered

Electric field-dependent charge transport in organic semiconductors

An analytical description is elaborated for the variable range hopping conduction mechanism in the presence of temperature and electric fields for quasi-three-dimensional organic semiconductor systems. In the proposed description, it is assumed that the localized states are randomly distributed in energy and space coordinates. The expression for the hopping conductivity is obtained for the Gaussian density of states. The model is applied to the analysis of both temperature and electric field-dependent hopping transport in organic semiconductors. It is shown that the Poole-Frenkel behavior is only valid in medium electric field regime. Moreover, we conclude that the electric field determines whether the temperature dependence of conductivity in organic semiconductors obeys the Arrhenius law. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3246160]status: publishe

Knowledge of staff members of residential care facilities for individuals with intellectual disability on medication administration via enteral feeding tube

Background: Guidelines for the safe administration of drugs through enteral feeding tube (EFT) are an important tool to minimise the risk of errors. This study aimed to investigate knowledge of these guidelines among staff of residential care facilities (RCF) for peoplewith ID. Method: Knowledge was assessed using a 13-item self-administered questionnaire. Questions reflected key aspects of guidelines on medication administration via EFT. All staff members that administer medication through EFT in Belgian RCFs were invited to participate (n=553). Results: Nine out of 10 RCFs participated, and 356 questionnaires were collected. Almost all participants were women (96%), and most (82%) had a non-nursing educational background.Mean self-perceived knowledge ofmedication administration via EFT was 6.7 (on a 0–10 scale). On average, 5.7 (SD 1.9) out of 13 questions were answered correctly. A nursing degree and previous education on medication administration via EFT were associated with significantly higher scores. Guideline recommendations regarding rinsing of used medicine cups (90% correct answers) and preparation of hard gelatin capsules (89%) were known best. Those regarding the use of protective equipment when crushing toxic substances (4% correct answers), crushing of sustained release and enteric-coated dosage forms (6%), elevation of the patient’s backrest (14%) and flushing of the EFT (15%) were known the least. Conclusion: This study identified a substantial lack of knowledge of guidelines for drug administration through EFT among staff of RCFs for people with ID. Our findings call for tailored educational programmes in order to increase knowledge on this subject

The relative age effect in European professional soccer: Did ten years of research make any difference?

Abstract The relative age effect (RAE) refers to an asymmetry in the birth-date distribution favouring players born early in the selection year and discriminating against participants born later in the year. While the RAE effect was initially reported in sport more than two decades ago, there have been few attempts to examine whether player selection strategies have changed over time in light of our improved understanding of the phenomenon. We compared the birth-date distributions of professional soccer players in ten European countries over a 10-year period involving the 2000-2001 and 2010-2011 competitive seasons, respectively. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were used to compare differences between the observed and expected birth-date distributions across selection years. Generally, results indicated no change in the RAE over the past 10 years in professional soccer, emphasizing the robust nature of this phenomenon. We propose a change in the structure of youth involvement in soccer to reduce the impact of the RAE on talent identification and selection.status: publishe