Topic: Drug consult

1) Students assigned Drug Consult question

• Students will receive an email with their assigned drug consult topic/question no later than October 1st

• Students are expected to research their assigned question and answer the consult question before the assigned due date

• At least one piece of primary literature must be reviewed to answer the consult question

i. Literature should be recent (ie: relevant to current practice) and address the assigned question

ii. More than one piece of primary literature may be reviewed to answer the consult question, but only one is required for this assignment

iii. PLEASE NOTE: A meta-analysis will NOT be considered acceptable primary literature for the purposes of this assignment

• Additional references (other primary, secondary, or tertiary) should be used to provide adequate drug and disease state background

• The maximum length allowed is 3 pages excluding the references

2) Students are expected to review the Blackboard content on how to write a drug consult response before writing their drug consult

• A sample drug consult will also be made available. Please note that this is only an example of a drug consult and may not address all requirements indicated in the instructions and rubric.

3) Submit completed drug consult via Turnitin on Blackboard by 11:59 pm on November 9, 2018

• Only ONE submission will be accepted. No re-submissions will be allowed for revisions once a submission has been made.

4) If the drug consult is not answered, primary literature not reviewed, or if the consult exceeds the 3 page limit, then it will result in a zero for the assignment (see rubric for details)

Consult Components and Formatting

(see rubric and sample drug consult on Blackboard for more details)

• Title

a. Date and time requested

b. Date and time answered

c. State the question to be answered in the consult

• Brief background

a. Why is the drug information question/topic important?

i. May include:

1. Review of pharmacology and/or pharmacokinetic profile

2. Why the current therapy is ineffective in achieving target goals

3. Why current therapy may be less desirable to alternatives due to toxic effects

4. Relevant disease state background

b. Applicability of selected medication(s) in the identified disease state

• Literature search strategy

a. Describe what database(s) you searched, terms utilized (key terms, MeSH headings, Emtree terms etc. ), limits employed

b. State the number of articles identified and describe the criteria employed to both select and exclude the articles for the drug consult (e.g. only included RCT; excluded editorials and case reports)

• Methods of primary literature reviewed

a. Study design, inclusion/exclusion criteria, intervention, comparator, primary/secondary endpoints, etc.

• Results

a. Include the population characteristics, result(s), statistical significance, confidence interval, etc. and critique

• Recommendation (based on student’s interpretation of literature results), stated in bullets and includes your recommended dose, route, frequency, and monitoring parameters

a. Based on the results reported

b. Not a re-reporting of authors’ recommendation

c. Bullet format

• References

a. ​Use at least 1 primary reference and supporting references for background (note: most questions will require more than one primary reference to answer completely).

• Format and Layout

• Typed and printed on paper with a maximum of 3 pages in length (not including references), 12-font, single spaced, with standard margins (1 inch)

• Spelling and grammar will be assessed; please proofread your assignment

• References and citations for all assignments MUST follow the American Medical Association (AMA) style requirements. Access to the full online style guide is available through the MCPHS libraries website.

** Point Deductions for Absence, Tardiness or Late Assignments, Plagiarism**

Drug consult: A student who submits their written assignments after the due date/time will lose 10 points per day off the written assignment grade until the assignment is submitted. (For example, if an assignment is due at 11:59 pm on November 9th and the student submits their assignment at 12:00 am on November 10th, there will be a 10-point deduction. If they submit their assignment at 12:00 am on November 11th, there will be a 20-point deduction, etc.). Please refer to the course syllabus for additional details.

Please refer to the course syllabus for any situations involving submission errors or computer (IT) problems for more information.

Any incident of plagiarism will result in a grade of zero for the assignment. All suspected incidents of plagiarism will be referred to the course coordinators. Please refer to the course syllabus for more information.