UKMi Medicines Q&As

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The UK Medicines Information (UKMi) service produce a suite of Question & Answer documents to provide NHS healthcare professionals with high quality, evidence-based, and quality controlled answers to common or unusual queries. The following examples may be of interest to MO teams:

What is the available evidence for the use of statins in patients with renal impairment?

  • This Q&A evaluates the evidence for the use of statins in renal impairment and discusses current guidance for using statins in this population.

What factors need to be considered when prescribing for lactose intolerant adults?

  • Discusses the types of lactose intolerance people may suffer from, how to determine the lactose content of medicines, and what factors healthcare professionals should consider when prescribing for lactose intolerant patients.

Do NSAIDs increase the risk of severe skin reactions in children with chickenpox?

  • Evaluates the limited published evidence investigating an association between Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and severe skin reactions in children with chickenpox.

What factors need to be considered when dosing patients on renal replacement therapies?

  • There are a number of inter-dependent factors that need to be considered when dosing patients on RRT. Consider the drug, the patient and the type of RRT
  • Alteration of drug dosage is only necessary if renal clearance exceeds 25% of total body clearance.
  • Drugs which are cleared by the kidneys are usually dialysed, and vice versa, although there are some anomalies.
  • Dose adjustment for RRT is only necessary for drugs that require dose adjustment because of the presence of renal failure. No RRT is as effective as the normal kidney – so for most drugs doses used will never be larger than those recommended in normal renal function.

Can high dose loperamide be used to reduce stoma output?

  • Some patients with a stoma resulting from an ileostomy, jejunostomy or a colostomy, can experience high-volume liquid stoma output.  This Medicines Q&A evaluates the limited information available on the use of high dose loperamide to reduce stoma output.

Please visit the SPS website to see more Q&As https://www.sps.nhs.uk/category/qa/ 

For more information on UKMi Medicines Q&As, including disclaimer for use, please see the SPS website https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/about-ukmi-medicines-qas/ .