Therapeutics Handbook Update December 2020
The Adult Therapeutics Handbook content has now been updated.
This update includes updates to the following guidelines:
- Thromboprophylaxis in COVID-19 patients – the information on management of critical care patients on renal replacement therapy has been updated as per the GGC guidance on StaffNet.
- Management of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection – see details below.
- Management of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage– link to care bundle amended as it was not functioning correctly on Android devices.
Management of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection
There are quite a few changes to this guideline but the main changes are:
- Emphasis on bacterial infection being an uncommon dual infection (3-4% of patients).
- Additional information regarding use of dexamethasone in light of data from the RECOVERY trial
- More detailed information around dexamethasone blood monitoring in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients as per the GGC guideline.
- Additional information on the use and monitoring of remdesivir, with the emphasis that it is not an emergency and initiation should be made during working hours.
- Emphasis that in complex cases, multidisciplinary discussion should be sought and infectious diseases or respiratory on-call consultant can be contacted during office hours.
Please familiarise yourself with the above guidelines as appropriate and if you have not already done so, update your App on receipt of the notification. If you are not able to update your App then please refer to the GGC Medicines desktop site here as the website content is always live with the most up to date information. For more information or assistance with any aspect of the GGC Medicines App or Therapeutics Handbook please contact therapeutics.handbook@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
Published: 08/12/2020 Medicines Update blogs are correct at the time of publication.