What You Need to Know About Approved COVID-19 Medications

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With the arrival of COVID-19, hospitals and medical offices have seen an influx of patients. Medical administrators have also had to implement new policies and procedures to keep track of COVID-19 cases, protect doctors and nurses, and safeguard their patients as much as possible. For this reason, it is important to learn about the different COVID-19 medications that are being used today, and how they work to fight the infection.

Approved COVID-19 Medications

The following is a list of six medications that have all been approved to treat COVID-19. Each medication, however, is used to treat patients under specific circumstances. Let’s take a look at each of these medications, and how they are being used to treat COVID-19.

Remdesivir

You may have heard about remdesivir on the news. This antiviral drug has been used to treat malaria for years. Now, it is being used as a successful treatment for COVID-19, primarily for patients on supplemental oxygen. It interrupts the production of the COVID-19 virus and shortens the overall duration.

Baricitinib

When used in conjunction with remdesivir, baricitinib from Eli Lilly shortens the lifespan of COVID-19. Barcitinib was originally created to treat moderate-to-severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis. It blocks enzymes that cause inflammation and is only being used to treat patients receiving oxygen. It does not appear to be a successful treatment unless it is used in conjunction with remdesivir.

Dexamethasone

Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid that has been around for many years. It treats inflammation and acts as an immunosuppressant. This COVID-19 medication can potentially reduce mortality rates associated with the COVID-19. It mitigates the impact of the virus on the lungs and has led to lower mortality rates.

Convalescent Plasma

Many people who have recovered from COVID-19 have donated plasma. This is because their recovered plasma can be used to help other patients who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. It can both shorten the duration and lessen the severity of the virus by boosting the body’s immune response. The infusion takes about two hours and patients need to be closely monitored afterward.

ExoFlo

If you know someone who has acute respiratory distress, ExoFlo could be the answer. It is created from human bone marrow stem cells and triggers the body to reduce inflammation. This, in turn, helps the body begin to heal itself. It has been shown to reduce the mortality rate for patients with respiratory complications.

Monoclonal Antibodies

These antibodies fight COVID-19 by clinging to the virus and destroying it. It is commonly referred to as the Regeneron antibody cocktail, although both Eli Lilly and Regeneron currently make the antibodies that are being used as treatment. It is not recommended for patients who are receiving supplemental oxygen or are on a ventilator, as their condition could worsen.

More is being learned about COVID-19 medications every day, and as a result, we are seeing more medical breakthroughs. Promote healthy habits such as hand washing and social distancing. If you know someone who has COVID-19, or may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, encourage them to seek medical advice, because there are multiple treatment options available.

Follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog to stay up-to-date on everything in healthcare. If you are considering a career in healthcare, you need to know how to build your medical terminology skill set. Go to Avidity Medical Design Academy. Enroll in the course entitled, “How to Learn Basic Medical Terminology (in 5 EASY Steps!) (and USE IT in EVERYDAY Living)” to learn how to learn new medical terms and use them in your career, as well as in everyday living.

Things You Should Know About Getting a Flu Shot During COVID-19

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While COVID-19 is on everyone’s mind as we wait for a vaccine and an end to the pandemic, we cannot forget about the common flu. It is more important than ever to get your annual vaccine. Fortunately, you can still get a flu shot, even during the pandemic.

Here are a few tips on getting your flu shot during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Protect Against the Flu

Fighting off the flu is just as important as fighting off COVID-19. It is vital to your health that you get a flu shot this year. People who got the flu shot last year are 363% more likely to get the flu shot this year in the wake of the pandemic. The flu is still lethal, killing many people each and every year. Do not forget about the flu because COVID-19 is getting all the attention.

Plan Your Flu Shot Ahead of Time

If you usually get your flu shot at a drugstore where you wait in a long line of people, things will be different this year. Pharmacies, doctors’ offices, and other flu shot locations are taking precautions this year to ensure there are not long lines of people waiting for their vaccinations. Social distancing because of COVID-19 is still important. Call ahead of time to the location where you are going to get your flu shot and make arrangements. In most cases, you will now need an appointment for your flu shot, even if you did not in years past. This is to enforce social distancing. 

Remain vigilant about COVID-19, but protect yourself against the flu by getting a flu shot. For more information about staying healthy during the pandemic, follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog, and consider enrolling in a healthcare course at Avidity Medical Design Academy.

Everything You Need to Know About Prescription Medications in Your Medicine Cabinet (Part 1)

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Americans are no stranger to taking prescription medications. The average medicine cabinet reads like a very intimate biography of the various health conditions that one has dealt with through the years. The Mayo Clinic reports that 70% of Americans take at least one prescription medication and that 50% of people take two drugs daily. And naturally as people age and deal with more complex health conditions, it comes as no surprise that 20% of Americans are managing to take 5 pills daily. And as you look through your own collection of pill bottles, you may even feel overwhelmed with questions such as, “How can I remember to take all of these as the doctor has ordered?”, “What about meds that have expired?” This first part of a two-part series explains the answer to that first question, “How can I remember to take my medications as my doctor has ordered and what tricks can I use to keep my medications organized?”

Staying Organized While Managing Multiple Prescription Medications

If you are one of those Americans taking 5 or more pills a day, you no doubt are very welcome to the idea of getting organized. The following are tips to help you stay organized.

1. Make a List and Keep it Current

Keep a current, up-to-date list of all non-prescription and prescription medications that you are taking. Ideally, you can either keep this log in a computer spreadsheet that allows for easy updating and deletion of medications you are no longer taking. If keeping a computer log is not possible, you should have a dedicated notebook for this purpose. Important columns of information that you should include are:

  • The date your medication was prescribed by your doctor.
  • The name of the doctor who prescribed your medication.
  • The name of your medication.
  • The dose of your medication that you are required to take.
  • How many times a day you are required to take your medication.
  • The time(s) of day you are required to take your medication.
  • The health condition that your medication has been prescribed for.

Having such a concise list will not only help you to stay organized, but will also help your family members or health aides who are assisting with your care. 

2. How to Fill Your Pillbox

A pillbox is an excellent way to stay organized and ensures that you are taking all the pills that are prescribed for a given day. The beauty of the pillbox is that if you have a question of whether or not you took a pill, you can look back at the pillbox and see if there are any pills that were forgotten. 

3. Using a Calendar to Keep Track of Your Medication Schedule

Another way of staying organized is by keeping a small calendar handy, perhaps at your breakfast table. As you take your pills, you can make a note of this on your calendar for the given day and even notate the time it was taken. Even better, you could write the name of each medication in every day’s slot at the beginning of the month. Then, as you take your medications each day, you can jot down a checkmark to signify that you did indeed take your pill. 

Staying organized requires forethought and effort but is worth the peace of mind it brings. Perhaps you still have questions such as, how to keep track of expired prescription medications and what you should do if you have trouble swallowing pills? The next article in this series will address those questions. 

For more informative articles on healthcare, follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog.

How to Reduce Prescription Errors in 21st Century Pharmacies

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It may seem like a contradiction but the pharmacy of the 21st century will feature both robotic automation and greater interaction between pharmacists and patients.

prescription pharmacyPharmacy automation has been steadily making its way into many pharmacies throughout the country. Robotic systems from companies like Aesynt, Parata Systems and RxMedic sort and dispense pills, which spares pharmacists from work that takes a lot of time and can lead to human error. It’s hard to put a firm number on presciption errors but the Food and Drug Administration says it has received close to 30,000 reports of medication errors since 1992. With many pills looking alike and many drug names sounding similar, automated systems offer a better way of checking and verifying that patients receive only drug they were prescribed.

Another technology development that will change the pharmacy of the 21st century is the adoption of electronic prescribing, which gives doctors the ability to send prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy. E-prescribing reduces the chances for error that can come from misreading a doctor’s handwriting.

As for the pharmacists themselves, the evolution of pharmacist training is changing the profession. Compared to decades ago, today’s pharmacists can be more specialized and they enter the field with more specialized training, pharmacy consultant Ernest Gates tells Drug Topics. Some of these pharmacists will work in specialty pharmacies in areas such as oncology, geriatrics and diabetes among other areas of specialization.

Pharmacists who aren’t specialists can still expect to take on more responsibilities as a consequence of the Affordable Care Act. With the law’s expansion of Medicaid, Daniel Brown, a pharmacist and professor at the pharmacy school at Palm Beach Atlantic University, tells Medscape that he expects community pharmacies to see more Medicaid prescriptions. He also sees the increase in this patient traffic presenting additional opportunities for pharmacists to talk to patients about preventive services. Here’s where pharmacy automation is important. Automation doesn’t replace pharmacists. Instead, it provides a remedy to busy pharmacists – these systems free pharmacists to spend more of their time counseling patients instead of sorting pills. If the expected increase in patient traffic to pharmacies holds true, time savings found with automation will become very valuable.

For more information about emerging pharmacy trends, please contact us.