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The Imperative of Bridging the Divide: Pharmacy Practice and Nutrition Education

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Nutrition is taking up its space in therapeutics and I find it highly futuristic. In the South Asian scenario, nutrition is one of the overlooked modalities in treating health conditions. When food, which is often taken as just a source of energy, has now advanced to grander forms like nutritional medicine or disease-modifying nutrition, pharmacists lacking the nutritional knowledge brings a huge gap between pharmaceutical care and optimal therapeutic outcome. Today, the food you eat not only determines your physical health but also your mental well-being. Despite being a drug expert, it is undeniable that reducing the medication burden is one of the primary objectives of a pharmacist, which is possible when we bring nutritional medicine to life with active practice. That is why, pharmacists being equipped with nutrition education seems crucial. For the prevention of any disease from being caught, keeping present health conditions under control, and managing the progression of the di
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To what extent does meditation overlap with science?

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I signed up for an online meditation session recently. The restlessness, chaos and frustrations that we all feel out of different aspects of life are so common. The session master have been stressing the significance of mindfulness and meditation, not just confined to mental health, but also physical. This got me thinking, if the saying is really backed up with science. As I tried getting into different scientific research on meditation, it has shown remarkable results in so many aspects. It is advantageous in managing stress, sleep disorder, anxiety and depression to physical conditions like pain, weight management, diabetes, and hypertension. This supported by positive brain changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, these studies also state magnitude of these effects remains unknown. That is why, more diverse and robust trials are expected to calculate tangible results as they also lack the proper understanding of molecular and neural changes. Mea
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Is it okay to take expired medicines?

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Using medicines after expiry has often evoked a genuine controversy. Patients creating noisy chaos in a hospital pharmacy after being dispensed expired medicines (which often happens unintentionally) to the incident making a BIG national news headline, most of us as professionals, have seen it all. But, is it fatal or debilitating to intake outdated medicines? Well, not really. The date of expiry stamped on your medication packaging assures the full functioning of the medicine as it is supposed to do, till the mentioned date. While the working capability might get compromised post the date. However, with several studies done, the medicines are likely to retain their functionality even after 5-10 years of expiry or even longer, IF, the medicine is stored in ideal conditions. More than an expiry date, storage condition is what determines the actual activity of medicinal components. These are just a few of the facts that pharmacists and other front-line healthcare workers should b
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Have you been using any over-the-counter medicine for your toothache, gum pain, or oral wounds?

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If you happen to use it any time from now, make sure to check if it contains benzocaine. Benzocaine (5-20%) is a local anesthetic that comes in different formulations (spray, gel, ointment, paste) and is commonly used for intraoral use. You might use it as Orajel or Anbesol. It numbs the area of application and thus alleviates pain. While local side effects such as edema, irritation, and redness are common side effects and get subsided mostly on their own, there’s one rare condition that can often be life-threatening: Methemoglobinemia . Methemoglobinemia is a condition in which the oxygen-carrying capacity of hemoglobin is reduced. People with breathing problems, heart disease, and the elderly are at greater risk of developing the condition. FDA has reported over 400 cases of benzocaine-induced-methemoglobinemia since 1971. Upon the appearance of any symptoms like the pale, bluish-gray coloration of the skin, lightheadedness, fatigue, or rapid heartbeat, you need immedia
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Does Chatgpt diminish my creativity as a medical writer?

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I use Chatgpt. Does it diminish my creativity as a medical writer?   Well, yes if you use it as a servant. Absolutely no, if you use it as an assistant. It is all about how you use it. If you simply give it a command and use it to get work done, it does its job and then you are done. If you elaborate and simplify your command and use it to refine your work, it can be a great helper. Rather, a creative critic to brush up on your flaws. As a medical writer, Chatgpt has been my rephrasing go-to resource. And each time I give my command, I make sure to instruct Chatgpt to retain my essence and personalized touch. Surprisingly, Chatgpt has helped me not just create outstanding content but also learn better sentence structure, improve grammar, and add up my vocabulary. Relying solely on Chatgpt might not be a wise decision. However, having a sense of what to rely on and what not to, is extremely crucial. How have you been using Chatgpt in your niche? I would love to know.
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I signed my first freelance medical writing contract today.

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Consistency on LinkedIn is what most of us miss. It was three months back, that I tried my best being consistent with my posting. I wanted to try my hands on medical writing and was doing my best to make that recognition on LinkedIn. Cut to the chase, I was looking for work. With slim experiences, it was not so easy to make people believe what I am capable of. And that’s when I started sharing my content on LinkedIn. And then something happened. One of my connections, who happens to be an expert today in the field of Medical Communications recommended me to someone who was looking for pharma writers. We communicated about the project. Though it took longer than expected, I finally signed in today as their team. It is an International portal that will be disseminating medical content online. Consistency works. But what I would like to highlight is to be consistent in a way to give people trust in what you do. I know when our family members still struggle to process fre
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Last year, I worked on three scientific papers and it got me burned.

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One of my senior colleague persuaded me to collaborate on three scientific manuscripts. I happily did join thinking writing is something I have always loved. Fortunately all of those research articles got published in reputed national and international journals. Research manuscript writing demands rigorous discipline. But, I realised scientific writing is not my cup of tea. Do I regret it? Not at all. Rather, it has given me a deeper reason to respect all those researchers because of the immense efforts they put for community welfare through their research. Though I knew, I am not made for scientific writings, there are other eye opening lessons I have garnered along, that has helped me a lot in my medical writing space. ·        Extensive literature search : Use of boolean operators and truncations ·        Authentic   medical guidelines resources : WHO, CDC, NIH ·        Literature review platforms: Cochrane ·        Idea of appropriate citations and its different typ
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