Developing your team – Ashtons Hospice Pharmacy Services

September 1^st 2020

Recent queries from hospices – Summer 2020

Developing your team, Pharmacy InformationBy Margaret Gibbs September 1, 2020

Motilin is a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the small intestine. It increases gastro-intestinal motility and peristalsis and accelerates gastric emptying. It functions mainly between meals and in doing so prepares the gut for the next meal. Erythromycin happens to be a motilin agonist – working in the same way as the hormone – so can be used when metoclopramide or other prokinetics are unsuitable. It is effective in about half of cases, and concerns about the development of bacterial resistance…

September 1^st 2020

Ashtons training seminars and online presentations

Ashtons News, Developing your teamBy Shannen Stevens September 1, 2020

The pandemic has made it difficult for hospices to arrange training and there has been less demand for Ashtons pharmacists to present seminars at sites. Consequently, Ashtons is now able to make seminar presentations available via online platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, meaning that all available staff with online access can participate in the training, without having to meet up in a room together…

August 18^th 2020

Life support, first aid and mandatory training – update

Ashtons News, Developing your teamBy Shannen Stevens August 18, 2020

The concerns presented by COVID-19, and the need to prevent its spread within hospitals, has forced many customers to put critical face-to-face life support and mandatory training on hold. The balancing act now is keeping up with statutory and mandatory requirements while simultaneously adhering to social distancing, restrictions on the gathering of groups and keeping everyone safe. While the HSE did allow extension times on the expiry of first aid certificates, the first aid training industry in England is confident that enough courses…

March 30^th 2020

Safer medicines administration – cytotoxic agents

Developing your team, Medicines Management Processes, New ProductBy Sally-Anne Bowen March 30, 2020

Cytotoxic drugs (sometimes known as antineoplastic) describe a group of medicines that contain chemicals which are toxic to cells, preventing their replication or growth. As well as being used as chemo-therapeutic agents to treat cancer, they are also used to treat long-term conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis…

March 30^th 2020

Drug choices for the management of secretions in malignant bowel obstruction

Conditions, Developing your team, Feature articleBy Margaret Gibbs March 30, 2020

Presentations at national conferences and courses can have a lasting influence on symptom management. Following a talk at one of the ‘Oxford’ courses(1), an increasing number of prescribers are now using ranitidine to reduce the secretions which make inoperable bowel obstruction such a challenging condition. Treatment in the past would often involve insertion of a nasogastric tube…

March 30^th 2020

Recent queries from hospices – Spring 2020

Developing your team, Pharmacy InformationBy Margaret Gibbs March 30, 2020

At a recent conference, it was pointed out that the bioavailability of oral cyclizine is close to 50% so the practice of using the same maximum daily dose of 150mg by subcutaneous injection or infusion may need to be rethought. This is based on a PhD thesis and small number of healthy volunteers so data is limited…

March 30^th 2020

Your training allocation for 2020 is now available

Developing your teamBy Shannen Stevens March 30, 2020

Ashtons provides a wide range of training courses, including e-learning and clinical training seminars. You can now choose from these ten clinical training seminars…

June 11^th 2019

Recent queries from hospices – April 2019

Developing your teamBy Margaret Gibbs June 11, 2019

Questions on medicines, procedures and practice from hospice staff 1. Can we crush the patient’s cardiac medication to go via her PEG? Each medication needs to be considered individually as there are specific issues with certain preparations which might not be predicted. Most immediate-release film-coated tablets may be crushed and…

June 11^th 2019

Prescribing opioids – by trade name or generic?

Developing your team, Pharmacy InformationBy Margaret Gibbs June 11, 2019

The registration and naming process for drugs: When new drugs come onto the market, they must be licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) and registered with a trade name. Details of most UK medicines and their registration is listed with their Summary of Product Characteristics on the…

February 11^th 2019

Recent queries from hospices – January 2019

Developing your team, Medication NewsBy Margaret Gibbs February 11, 2019

Questions on medicines, procedures and practice from hospice staff: 1. Is it ok to put a Tegaderm over a patch if it keeps falling off? Patches not sticking is a problem which can be caused by patient factors – oily or sweaty skin – and product factors – some seem not to adhere…