Pharmacovigilance Studies Involving Healthcare Professionals And Students In Nepal: Impact Assessment On Knowledge, Awareness, Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting And Drug Safety Communications

The concept of pharmacovigilance is new in Nepal. The present study analyzed the pattern and cost of pharmacotherapy of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) reported to the western regional pharmacovigilance center at Nepal, and evaluated the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAPs) of healthcare professionals in Manipal Teaching Hospital (MTH) towards drug safety. It also aimed at evaluating pharmacovigilance education modules for community pharmacy practitioners, medical, pharmacy and nursing students and analyzed the drug safety communications produced by the western regional pharmacovigilance center

Perception Of Nepalese Community Pharmacists Towards Patient Counseling And Continuing Pharmacy Education Program: A Multicentric Study

Objective: To study the perception of community pharmacists towards patient counseling and continuing pharmacy education programs. Methods: A semi structured questionnaire was developed by the researchers. The research was carried out in six major cities in Nepal, namely Kathmandu, Pokhara, Biratanagar, Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Bhairahawa. The filled questionnaires were analyzed as per the study objectives. Results: Altogether, 60 community pharmacists were included. Among them, 88.33% (n=53) were male. More than 50 patients visit most of the community pharmacies [36.67% (n=22)] daily. Most of the dispensers [56.67% (n=34)] took 1-5 minutes for dispensing a prescription. In most of the pharmacies [56.67% (n=34)], there were 2-5 dispensers and the qualification of a majority of dispensers were orientation training. Most of them [56.67% (n=340] believed that counseling was necessary as it was their own duty, but however, 48.33% (n=29) said that it was necessary to increase patient compliance. Our finding suggests that 83.33% (n=50) of retailers were facing some problems during patient counseling. All participants were interested in the continuing pharmacy education program. Conclusion: On the whole, the community pharmacists had a positive response towards patient counseling. Our findings suggest the need for continuing pharmacy education programs in Nepal to strengthen the concept of patient counseling.</p

Childhood Diarrhoea in Nepal

Diarrhoea is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in Nepal, a developing country where the larger proportion of the population live in rural areas. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of health care facilities at local level, demographical distribution and traditional beliefs are the major obstacles for getting proper and timely healthcare. There is a necessity to consider the cultural beliefs of different ethnic communities before designing any educational protocol or guideline. Educational protocol or guidelines which respect the local cultural beliefs and stimulate the utilization of their locally available facilities can be easily accepted and would be more suitable to achieve the objectives

Pattern of adverse drug reactions reported by the community pharmacists in Nepal

C'est grâce à la tenue d'un congrès ­ non mixte ­ de femmes de la métallurgie, en 1978, que la condition des ouvrières réapparut comme préoccupation du syndicalisme brésilien contemporain. Ces congrès, ainsi que les campagnes de syndicalisation promues par les différents syndicats grâce à la création des premières sections féminines, permit l'inclusion des revendications des travailleuses parmi les thèmes de revendications salariales des syndicats. Le premier congrès des ouvrières de ..

Relevance of pharmacoepidemiology to Nepal

Drug-related problems such as overuse of injectable drug products and antimicrobials, increased cost of drug therapy, polypharmacy, and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are prevalent in the healthcare settings of Nepal. To date, no new drug development processes or clinical trials have been conducted in Nepal, despite the fact that studies of real life situations are an essential tool for monitoring medicine use. Pharmacoepidemiology (PE) is an important area that evaluates the effects of drug use in large populations.Data obtained from pharmacoepidemiological studies may highlight ways to reduce certain drug-related problems and provide reliable information on the safety profile of a drug. Moreover, clinicians and regulatory authorities may also use the data to make drug therapy decisions, drug regulation and policy development. Therefore, there is a great need to conduct appropriate pharmacoepidemiological studies that involve multiple regions and in various groups of the population of Nepal, to collect unbiased and reliable information on drug use

Herbal fixed dose combinations in Nepal : Growing concerns in a developing country

Herbal medicines are mostly prepared as a combination therapy that has been used since therapeutic was first practiced. Combination products, also known as Fixed Dose Combinations (FDCs) of herbal remedies are in widespread use in Nepal. Herbal FDCs are in common practice because it is believed to have better adherence, less side effects and easy accessibility. Nevertheless, combination products possess greater risk of adverse effects, increases costs associated with treatments and leads to an ineffective dosages. Herbal FDCs are used extensively in Nepal although the rationality beyond the use of these combinations is still unidentified and at times are questionable. Legislations governing the use of herbal medicines is lacking in Nepal. Many herbal FDCs are not supported by any scientific data and test for the presence of ingredients mentioned in the package insert/container label is always difficult. A FDC of herbal products must be based on clear criteria that guarantee consumer safety and appropriate indications. These criteria helps to protect the consumers or patients from the misleading claims and risk associated with the use of unjustifiable combination of herbal substances. Strict monitoring from the regulatory body and the public awareness on the cost as well as advantages and disadvantages of herbal FDCs is urgently required. 2016, Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. All rights reserved.Scopu

Materiovigilance in Perspective: Understanding Its Concept and Practice in the Global Healthcare System

Materiovigilance (Mv) has the same purpose and approach in ensuring patient safety as pharmacovigilance but deals with medical devices associated with adverse events (MDAEs) and their monitoring. Mv has been instrumental in recalling many defective or malfunctioning devices based on their safety data. All MDAEs, such as critical or non-critical, known, or unknown, those with inadequate or incomplete specifications, and frequent or rare events should be reported and evaluated. Mv helps to improve medical devices’ design and efficiency profile and avoid device-related complications and associated failures. It alerts consumers and health professionals regarding counterfeit or substandard devices. Common events reported through Mv are device breakage and malfunction, entry- and exit-site infections, organ perforations or injuries, need for surgery and even death, and life cycle assessment of devices. Health authorities globally have developed reporting frameworks with timeframes for MDAEs, such as MedWatch in the USA, MedSafe in New Zealand, and others. Health professionals and consumers need to be made aware of the significance of Mv in ensuring the safe use of medical devices and getting familiar with the reporting procedures and action plans in case of a device-induced adverse event

Academic detailing as a possible source of drug information in the context of Nepal: a short review

The source of unbiased drug information is an integral part of evidence based practice. The status of evidence based practice in Nepal is very poor. One of the major factors associated with it, is the limited availability of new literature, and poor documentation and dissemination of the little available information. Academic detailing is an educational outreach program in which a trained health professional visits clinicians in their offices to provide evidence based information. So, there is a huge scope for academic detailing as a means to disseminate the available information in the context of Nepal. Research done worldwide has already shown improvement in the clinicians’ knowledge, their attitude and practice, improvement in their prescribing patterns and an increase in their adherence to clinical guidelines, following academic detailing. In Nepal, there are many topics which can be selected for academic detailing. Topics covering the information regarding newer drugs, diarrhoea treatment guidelines, the rational use of antimicrobials, the rationality of fixed dose combinations, nonsteroidal antinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and specialized devices for the administration of drugs, will be more relevant. Lack of local health statistics, lack of awareness about evidence based practice, challenges from pharmaceutical representatives and a lack of financing capability may be the major limitations for academic detailing in Nepal

Impact of educational outreach visits by pharmacists on treatment of childhood diarrhoea-initial findings from Banke district, Nepal

Diarrhoea is one of the most common causes of mortality and morbidity in children in developing countries. Oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc are the primary tools used to fight diarrhoea in children. Educational outreach visits or academic detailing has been practiced over a period of time to improve prescribing behaviour in the developed countries. However, educational outreach programmes are very uncommon in Nepal. We conducted a pilot study to see the impact of educational outreach visits on the management of diarrhoea in children among 10 prescribers in the Banke district of Nepal. Initial findings suggest that there is a marked improvement on the prescribing of ORS and zinc by the prescribers after our intervention. Therefore it is planned to conduct the same study among a large number of prescribers in the Banke district of Nepal