BREATHING MEDITATIONS Generally, the purpose of breathing meditation is to calm the mind and develop inner peace. We can use breathing meditations alone or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions before engaging in a Lamrim meditation A SIMPLE BREATHING MEDITATION The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer …
Since the time I graduated, there have been many new drugs for HCV treatment. Fortunately I can keep myself updated due to lots of prescriptions for Hep C treatment at my pharmacy. The important things to know about DAAs are the drug-drug interactions with other medications such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), H2 blockers, antacids, … Continue reading
I heard of the 2019 CPJE cheating scandal and the latest update from the California Board of Pharmacy to invalidate the CPJE tests results. I have read stories and stories of students affected by this decision. I’m very sorry, I could feel your pain. Life is hard, but this might be one of the hardest … Continue reading
Mechanism of Action (MOA) of DOAs I made this table to compare the direct oral anticoagulants, so now I’m sharing with you. Pradaxa (dabigatran) Xarelto (rivaroxaban) Eliquis (apixaban) Savaysa (edoxaban) FDA Approved 10/2010 7/2011 12/2012 1/2015 Indications NVAF VTE ppx, DVT/PE tx & prevention NVAF VTE ppx, DVT/PE tx & prevention, DVT ppx post hip/knee … Continue reading
On November 13, 2017, new ACC/AHA/APhA guidelines for hypertension (HTN) prevention and treatment were released. Let’s review 2014 JNC8/AHA blood pressure stages and treatment algorithm: The new 2017 guidelines now set the normal blood pressure (BP) less than 120/80. For initiation of therapy, first line medications are still TZD diuretics, CCBs, ACEIs and ARBs. Single … Continue reading
Today I had a patient with multiple medical conditions including asthma, atrial fibrillation (AFib), chronic congestive heart failure (CHF), depression, glaucoma, hypertension, psychotic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety. The patient is a 53 years old African American with a dosing weight of 137.4 kg, NKDA (no known drug allergy). Looking at his long … Continue reading
A lot of patients at my work place are taking medications that have high risk of QT prolongation. Most of the medications are anti-psychotics (e.g. venlafaxine, ziprasidone, mirtazapine, Lithium) and antidepressants (e.g. sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine). Concurrent use of these medications significantly increase the risk of Torsades de Pointes (TdP), a form of ventricular tachycardia characterized … Continue reading
Now I understand that physicians and pharmacists really work together as a team for the patients’ best benefits. Working in an institutional pharmacy, my “customers” are mainly health care providers – physicians, psychiatrists, dentists, nurse practitioners. After they prescribe the medication orders, as a Verification 1 pharmacist, I verify the correctness and appropriateness of the orders, … Continue reading
CPJE (California Practice Standards and Jurisprudence Examination) Starting April 01, 2016, the California Board of Pharmacy changed the CPJE Content Outline to have more questions on patient medications and patient outcomes. The examination pass rate results posted on the Board website shows that from 4/1/2016 – 9/30/2016 about 18% of the students from California schools … Continue reading
People said the night before the exam, you should rest and go to bed early. This is a wise suggestion; however, I didn’t follow. I tried to review the last minute the parts that I still didn’t feel confident because no matter how much I studied, I still felt that I didn’t remember. Luckily that late … Continue reading
Let’s continue with Part 2 – which chapters to focus on. Now the new Naplex covers all the chapters, so basically you need to review everything in details (at my time, there were chapters that I focused on more). However, I think the scale would be similar, so I would definitely focus on the following areas: Math: … Continue reading
Meds Review 101 