DrugXpert Blog

Suicidal thoughts or ideas are common among university students in Nigeria. Some make an attempt and a handful succeed. It is not very common in pharmacy school. However, there have been a couple of suicide by pharmacy students in Nigeria. It is not limited to a group of students. It cuts across various departments, students of all ages, status, background, gender, academic status, etc. There are so many causes of suicidal thoughts in university students. They range from academic performance, career goal, death of a family member or friend, family problems, social relationship, finances, health of a close person or oneself, personal appearance, sleep difficulty and bullies. The major cause of suicidal thoughts in university students is school stress (academic performance) and bullies. The stress is as a result of pressure to fulfill a goal. This is usually pressure to finish some work or excel in something. Read Also: How to proceed to the next level in pharmacy school Academic Perfor...

Pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical technology (PCT) is a department in pharmacy. It focuses on drug development and design. It utilizes physics theory to formulate acceptable drugs suitable for all ages. It combines all knowledge in the other departments to form a department that focuses on drugs. Those who want to work in the pharmaceutical industry must be very good at PCT. A medicine is a finished pharmaceutical product that contains one or more drugs (active pharmaceutical ingredient, API) and maybe excipients. The weight of the API must be in accordance with research from pharmacology and therapeutic department. However, the choice and weight of the recipient is determined in this department. Read Also : PCT project in B. Pharm This department is the only department I can confidently say almost all it's topics are in line with pharmacy. There is no topic that sounded useless because it was practical. Each topic is related to drug production, transport, storage and use....

Clinical pharmacy and pharmacy administration (PCA) is one of the most simple departments in pharmacy school. It is a unique department building a bridge between all the other departments. It unites all the departments in pharmacy school. Everything you studied from the other departments is put into use here. It builds the pharmacy student into a fine pharmacist. It is divided into management and clinical. The clinical aspect focuses on how the student can practice as a pharmacist in hospital and community service and what is expected as a pharmacist from the society. The management aspect shows how the pharmacist can practice his clinical role and still make decent income using managerial skills. The department had the highest number of lecturers including professors of high calibre. Read Also : Clinical pharmacy and pharmacy administration (PCA) laboratory PCA Course Outline The courses begin in year two in most pharmacy schools. However, don't be surprised when it begi...

Cleaning and disinfecting wounds is not as simple as some people think. Different types of wounds need different approaches to achieve healing of the wound. Using the wrong method can delay healing or even make it worse. It can make the big difference between quick recovery and prolong healing time, excess scars, increase pain, increase risk of infection or even more. Small wounds don't need special treatment. They heal on their own. However, open wounds need special approach. The common approach in Nigeria is to stop bleeding with iodine and clean or disinfect it with rubbing or methylated alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Nigeria has happily accepted these methods because of the irritation that comes with using these solutions. They feel that the irritation they experience from using it means the solution is killing the microbes in the wound. This is wrong on all fronts. You can read more about that in a previous blog post below. Read Also : Why it is wrong to clean open wound ...

Pharmacognosy curriculum Pharmacognosy and traditional medicine is a department in the faculty of pharmacy. It is believed to be the most difficult department in pharmacy. It is a department that touches how our forefathers treated diseases and infection using locally source materials. It is an interesting department if it is what we expected. That is list herbs for treating different ailments and how to prepare the concoction. Thereafter, the method of administration. Read Also : Pharmacognosy department practical classes But all that was just a fraction of it. In Fact that is just a course in the whole year in school. Everything about traditional medicine that we know changed completely. Pharmacognosy Curriculum The first course was in year two first semester. It was an introduction to pharmacognosy and traditional medicine. They started with the history of pharmacognosy and how it is the oldest profession on earth. Then define some terms and their meaning. No problem w...

Covid-19 drug or Vaccine The world is battling a pandemic that is affecting both the rich and poor. It is called covid-19. There is no drug or vaccine available yet to treat or prevent it. There is currently several research for a drug and or vaccine. The expected time these would be available is not until next year. Do we really need drugs or vaccines? Or do we need both of them? Let us find the answer to these questions. But before then, what is a vaccine and drug? Vaccine For Covid-19 A vaccine is a biological preparation (biologics) that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infection disease. It consists of part of a disease causing microbe. It is often gotten from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, it's toxin or one of the surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body immune system to recognize and destroy any of the microbes associated with that agent it may encounter in the future. Read Also : What may hinder covid-19 vaccine development and ...

The objective of the pre-registration examination for pharmacist (PEP) is to ascertain that those who have undertaken the internship training programme have acquired the requisite knowledge, attitudes and skills to practice pharmacy in Nigeria without endangering Public Health. Read Also : All about PEP CBT exam in Nigeria The examination is a computer based test (CBT) of 200 objective type questions. The pass mark is 50 percent. The March 2020 examination took place in 8 centers around the nation. The result came out May, 2020. The result was published in three national dailies. A message was circulated PCN to all participants to check those newspaper. Here is the message; *PEP UPDATE* The RESULT of the 1st cycle 2020 PEP held on March 21st, 2020 will be published in the Guardian, Leadership and Nation Newspapers of Thursday, May 7th, 2020. Kindly rebroadcast. Stay safe. *Dr Anthony Idoko* *HOD, Education and Training* *Pharmacists Council of Nigeria* Out of the about 900 t...

The moment you become a parent, the first thing that starts disturbing you is the type of drugs you can give your little baby. The options are much but revolve around suspension, syrup and drops (solutions). Fathers are guilty of not looking before buying. But not mothers. They ask questions about what is the difference and if the drug may have side effects because of the dosage design. The active drug (pharmaceutical) ingredient (API) or may be in the drug but with different formulation. The same dose from the different dosage design will elicit the same positive effect. However, there is a major reason some dosage designs are preferred for some sets of children than the others. Read Also : How to give children drugs The age of the baby is the most determining factor. The age determines the dosage and how well they will accept a dosage form. For example, a new born baby has little time differentiating between sweet and bitter. As long as it is not terribly bitter, they will ac...

To help find a cure for covid-19, China released the virus sequence in January 2020. Immediately, the world swung into action. Now there were two options open. First is to design and develop a vaccine using a standard process. That will take years to achieve and may eventually not work. The second option is to follow the recent theoretical vaccine process that has shown to be effective in human clinical trials. With over 100 vaccine candidates on covid-19 currently at different stages of development, the first sets which will bypass so many of the normal clinical processes based in the emergency response will be available in about a year's time. And that will be next year. According to the world health organization (WHO), a vaccine will not be readily available to the public until after 18 months. Read Also : When covid-19 vaccine will be available There are three main models that are currently under development for the theoretical approach. They are nucleic acid, viral vect...

Over the years, the world has had to battle different types of emerging diseases. They exhibit different patterns of spread and fatality. Some are epidemic localized or pandemic. Others are just an outbreak of interest. However, the government response to these disease determine how well it is manage. The approach is usually determined by the mode of transmission and partial fatality . The most recent disease is covid-19 cause by coronavirus. Read Also: Nigeria covid-19 situation Covid-19 has changed the landscape worldwide. This is the first time the world is experiencing a global pandemic of this magnitude since the beginning of this century with the last one in 1918 called the Spanish flu. How Dangerous Is Covid-19 The approach presently adopted for managing covid-19 is similar to how Spanish flu was managed. Currently, there is no cure for covid-19. The target is to break the chain of transmission. The rate of transmission of covid-19 is R0 (R naught) 3. This is t...