Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Accuracy Of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring In Vancomycin And The Pharmacist Role: A Retrospective Case-Series, Kateryna Parkhomenko

Senior Theses

Vancomycin is a mainstay of therapy for treating virulent and resistant infections, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, vancomycin requires therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for optimal dosing and treatment. This requires pharmacists to calculate a dosing regimen that correlates to appropriate goal vancomycin concentrations in the blood. Dosing vancomycin can be difficult, as it varies on a patient’s weight, renal function, age, etc. Doses may have to be adjusted in response to out-of-range concentrations, which requires further pharmacy calculations. Inaccurate dosing poses a risk to patient safety and places a resource and time burden on pharmacists. If vancomycin dosing methods …

The Role Of Mediator Kinases Cdk8/19 In The Acquired Resistance To Cdk4/6 Targeting Drugs In Breast Cancer, Kaitlyn Digsby

Senior Theses

Breast cancer remains the highest cause of worldwide cancer-related mortality. Unfortunately, acquired therapeutic resistance occurs in the majority of cases of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. An effort to discover drugs which act synergistically with Palbociclib and prevent the development of resistance and tumor growth is essential to improving patient outcomes. Cyclin dependent kinases (CDK) 8 and 19 are Mediator complex proteins. The Mediator complex is an enzymatic module regulating transcription. The goal of the research is to elucidate the mechanism by which CDK8/19 inhibitor, SNX631, prevents acquired resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitor, Palbociclib. The present study aims to elucidate the role …

Influenza Vaccination Coverage In Pediatric Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Kelly Brown

Senior Theses

Background: Children with chronic health conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are at especially high risk for influenza infection and complications. The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and American College of Gastroenterology recommend that IBD patients should receive annual influenza vaccination. The aims of this study were to evaluate influenza vaccination coverage over time and identify predictors of flu vaccination in pediatric IBD and non-IBD patients.

Methods: We utilized longitudinal data (2000 to 2016) from South Carolina Medicaid to conduct a matched cohort study. The primary exposure of interest was IBD diagnosis based upon ICD-9/10 diagnosis codes. Children with IBD were …

Evaluation Of Pharmacy Students’ Tendency To Self-Medicate, Rebekah Lee Crandall, Danielle O'Neal

Senior Theses

Objective: To investigate whether the tendency to self-medicate increases as students progress though the pharmacy curriculum.

Design: An online survey was administered through Survey Monkey by a link sent to the email addresses of students who attended the South Carolina College of Pharmacy/ University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy (SCCP/USC-COP) during the 2017-2018 school year.

Methods: Self-medication was defined as the use of over-the-counter (OTC) medications, medications prescribed to another person, and recreational (i.e. alcohol, tobacco) or illicit substances for therapeutic purposes. The primary outcome was the likelihood of each class of pharmacy students to self-medicate based on a …