Ketamine: A Review of an Established Yet Often Underappreciated Medication

Ketamine: A Review of an Established Yet Often Underappreciated Medication

has proven to be a complex medication with unusual properties, heterogeneous, interconnected mechanisms, and diverse, sometimes contested, clinical uses. Ketamine's story begins in 1956 when scientists identified a new... read more

Preparing for COVID-19 Related Drug Shortages

Preparing for COVID-19 Related Drug Shortages

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted all aspects of healthcare delivery. There is widespread concern that increased clinical demands due to the virus will outstrip available resources. Much attention has focused... read more

Medication Errors Occur in Nearly Half of ICU Transfers

Medication Errors Occur in Nearly Half of ICU Transfers

Almost 50% of patients transferred from the intensive care unit (ICU) to a non-ICU location experience a medication error at the time of transition of care, according to new data. While the majority of these errors did, in... read more

Examining When to Provide Pain Management for Patients

Examining When to Provide Pain Management for Patients

Sometimes a lack of pain medication is the patient's best form of treatment. Eradicating pain has been a focus of medicine throughout history, from the early use of cocaine to the current use of fentanyl. As a prehospital... read more

Intravenous Lidocaine To Reduce Propofol Burning And Response To Laryngoscopy

Intravenous Lidocaine To Reduce Propofol Burning And Response To Laryngoscopy

Lidocaine (1 - 1.5 mg/kg) is often given intravenously prior to the induction of general anesthesia for a dual purpose - to mitigate the burning sensation of propofol (attributed to its glycerol additive) and to blunt the... read more

Acetaminophen, Among Other Medications, Triggers Drug-Induced Liver Injury

Acetaminophen, Among Other Medications, Triggers Drug-Induced Liver Injury

More than 1,000 medications, with acetaminophen being the most common, have been associated with drug-induced liver injury (DILI). Diagnosis can be challenging due to the multitude of contributing factors, and timely recognition... read more

COPD Patients in US Often Skip Medications

COPD Patients in US Often Skip Medications

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often have other chronic conditions, like heart disease, and those who are poor about keeping up with treatments for these comorbidites are also less likely to adhere... read more

Families and providers caring for medically complex patients share goals

Families and providers caring for medically complex patients share goals

In this study, parents of children with medical complexity emphasized how important many aspects of the hospital-to-home transition are to them, and they particularly emphasized how important it was to take into account their... read more

Nonadherence to Meds Hurts NSTEMI Patients, Especially After PCI

Nonadherence to Meds Hurts NSTEMI Patients, Especially After PCI

Patients who were revascularized for a non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) did better if they adhered to their medications.... read more

New statin guidelines issued for primary CVD prevention

New statin guidelines issued for primary CVD prevention

The United States Preventive Services Task Force have issued new recommendations for the use of statins in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.... read more

AF in Sepsis: Choosing the Right Therapy

AF in Sepsis: Choosing the Right Therapy

It seems that during almost every intensive care unit shift, at least one patient goes into atrial fibrillation (AF). There are several treatment options, including calcium channel blockers (CCBs), beta-blockers (BBs), digoxin,... read more

Non-addictive Painkiller Shows Promise in Animal Trials

Non-addictive Painkiller Shows Promise in Animal Trials

Preliminary research in monkeys suggests that a new medication might be able to provide pain relief similar to opioid drugs such as OxyContin, but without the same potential for addiction or serious side effects.... read more

Deworming drugs could treat deadly C. difficile infection

Deworming drugs could treat deadly C. difficile infection

A class of drugs used to deworm animals may have the potential to treat even the deadliest strains of Clostridium difficile in humans, new study suggests.... read more