Medical Reference for Common OTC Prescription and Drugs

Cathartics and Enemas Although the use of cathartics and enemas is traditional, these measures are most unlikely to reduce absorption since this usually occurs rap­idly in the upper small intestine. They can only add to the misery and discomfort of the patient Efficacy in removal of drug has never been es­tablished. In one recent study, [...]

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Haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, haemoperfusion, exchange transfusion and forced diuresis have all been used in attempts to increase the rate of removal of drugs and poisons. How­ever, the amount of active drug removed is often disappointingly small, and the indications for the use of such measures is very limited. Never­theless, poisoned patients are often unnecessar­ily subjected [...]

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Synopsis of Important Principles 1. Specific antidotal therapy is available for very few poisons. The mainstay of treatment of severe poisoning is intensive supportive therapy and good nursing care. 2. The great majority of poisoned patients recover with intensive supportive therapy alone, and enthusiastic claims for the success of other treatment often cannot be justified. [...]

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The idea that drug concentrations could be measured and used to guide therapeutic deci­sions was first applied to quinidine when it was used to convert the cardiac rhythm of patients with atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm (Sokolow & Ball 1956). Although quinidine is rarely used for this purpose today, because of the advent of DC [...]

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Therapeutic drug monitoring is based upon the collaboration between a health care provider (clinician, pharmacist, nurse) responsible for making quantitative and qualitative decisions about drug treatment and the clinical labora­tory providing analytical services for the measurement of drug concentrations. The in­formation provided by a drug concentration measurement is generally greater than for other substances measured [...]

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