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Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract: Role of the Pharmacist

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Infection Control in the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Due to the lack of commercially available products for selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD), the application of the SDD concept to clinical practice has required substantial input from pharmacists in both the development and preparation of SDD formulations. In the UK, most products used for SDD are unlicensed and made extemporaneously either in the hospital pharmacy department itself or in specialist hospital manufacturing units. Ideally, to reduce risks to the patient, it would be preferable to use medicines that have been appropriately researched and subjected to the scrutiny of the medicines licensing process. However, no commercial company has yet shown more than a passing interest in the further development, licensing or marketing of these preparations, and this may have influenced the rate of development of the SDD concept. The role of the pharmacist is therefore essential if the SDD concept is to be successfully applied to clinical practice in order to reduce carriage, colonization and infection rates.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacy Department, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK

    N. J. Reilly & A. J. Nunn

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Western Infirmary, K Pollock, Senior Pharmacist, Glasgow, G11 6NT, UK

    K. Pollock

Authors
  1. N. J. Reilly
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  2. A. J. Nunn
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  3. K. Pollock
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. J. Reilly .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Institute of Aging and Chronic Diseases, University Liverpool, Daulby Street, Liverpool, L69 3GA, United Kingdom

    Hendrick K.F. van Saene

  2. , Dept. Emergency, Hospital Gorizia, Via Vittorio Veneto 171, Gorizia, 34170, Italy

    Luciano Silvestri

  3. , Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Carretera de Toledo km 12.5, Getafe, 28045, Spain

    Miguel A. de la Cal

  4. Policlinico di Catania, UCO di Anestesia e Rianimazione, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Via Santa Sofia 78, Catania, 95100, Italy

    Antonino Gullo

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Reilly, N.J., Nunn, A.J., Pollock, K. (2011). Selective Decontamination of the Digestive Tract: Role of the Pharmacist. In: van Saene, H., Silvestri, L., de la Cal, M., Gullo, A. (eds) Infection Control in the Intensive Care Unit. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-1601-9_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-1601-9_27

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