Part 1: Amoxil Patient Information Essay

Patient Education

Part 1: Amoxil Patient Information

What is Amoxil?

Amoxil is an antibiotic prescription that belongs to a category of drugs called the penicillin. Amoxil is a strong penicillin antibiotic that is important in treating different types of disease caused by bacteria, such as gonorrhea, bronchitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia, and infections of the skin, ear, urinary tract, nose, or throat.

Possible Side Effects

Allergic reactions are commonly reported by various patients after taking Amoxil medication. Additional side effects include but not limited to:

• Irritation
• Muscle aches
• Nosebleeds
• wheezing
• Breathing difficulties
• Severe diarrhea
• General body swelling
• Yellow eyes or skin
• Increased thirst
• Inflammation of the tongue, throat or even face lips.

Additionally, parents are advised to seek medical assistance if the following symptoms manifest to his or her child.

• Stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and headache
• Dark colored urine, jaundice, confusion or weakness
• Patches or white sores in the mouth or on the lips
• Numbness, severe pain and weakening of muscles (Venekamp et al., 2015).

The Actions a Patient Should Take When They Experience Negative Reactions

Antibiotic medicines can cause the above mentioned side effects, which may be in rare cases be an indication of a new infection. Therefore, patients should check with their doctors immediately if any of these negative reactions occur.  If patients experience severe diarrhea that is bloody or watery, they are advised to stop using Amoxil and seek explanation from their doctor. They should also not use anti-diarrhea drugs unless their doctor tells them to.

Most important information

• It is important for the patient to complete the full dosage of Amoxil as prescribed by the healthcare practitioner.
• If the allergic signs manifests, the affected patient should stop the medication immediately and seek doctor’s intervention.
• Just like any other drug, Amoxil must not be shared regardless of whether the other patient manifests similar signs and symptoms.
• Moreover, the drug is recommended for severe cases and should be administered to patients aged six months and above.

Correct Handling, Storage, And Disposal of a Medication

• Amoxil drug (or any other drug) should be kept out of children’s reach and should be used for the prescribed purposes only (Venekamp, et al., 2015). After use, always ensure the lid is tightly closed.
• Store your medication in their original container and keep them in a room with good lighting. This will help you to read the labels and taking the correct amount
• Additionally, you should shake Amoxil syrup well before use, and should be stored in a cool, safe, and dry place. This will help in maintaining the quality of medication.
• If there are other family members under medication, you should consider keeping your drugs separately from theirs. You may keep them on a different drawer, shelf, or cabinet. This help to avoid confusion and taking drugs of another patient.
• Flush expired or unused Amoxil medications. After completion of the dose, you should also ensure that the Amoxil container is properly disposed. For example, the container should be thrown in a pit latrine where unauthorized individuals such as children cannot get access.

Rationale of Why it is Important to follow Doctor’s Prescription

For patients to get maximum benefit from their medications, it is essential to take the dose exactly as prescribed by their doctors. Adhering to medication routine implies taking the right dose, at the right time, in the right way and frequency. Why is it important to follow these medication routines? Simply put, when patients stop taking the prescribed medicine at the right time and dose, there is a high chance that the bacteria will grow again hence aggregating the symptoms at a rapid speed. This could lead to hospitalization, cause the disease to get worse, or even death.

How to Take Amoxil

• Amoxil should be taken as prescribed by the healthcare practitioner before or after a meal
• If the antibiotic is in the form of syrup, the bottle containing it should be shaken well before it is taken. Apparently, the drug can be mixed with fruit juice, water and baby formula.
• If a dose is skipped, it should be taken soon as possible. It is also worth noting that one should not take an extra dose in order to compensate for the missed dose. At the same time,
• In case of an overdose, one should seek medical attention immediately (Lieberthal et al., 2013).

Factors Impacting the Efficacy of Amoxil Antibiotics

Various factors impact the efficacy of Amoxil. The primary factors that influence drug effect are the quantity used and timing. Other factors include age and gender, compliance, idiosyncrasy, interactions from other psycho-active drugs, the environment in which the drug is used, and tolerance. For instance, the patient will not get the maximum benefits if he/she fails to use the Amoxil drug in a manner prescribed by the doctor. Therefore, education and follow-ups are important to promote compliance (Jeffreys, 2015). In addition, tolerance to the Amoxil drug may hinder its efficacy. This happens when the body becomes overly adapted to the drug, after using them for an extended period of time.

Conclusion

Though Amoxil is an effective drug for treating ear infection among children, it has a myriad of side effects including vomiting, headaches, diarrhea, and inflammation which requires immediate medical interventions. On the same note, it is important for patient or family members of the patient to adhere to the correct dosage as prescribed by a healthcare practitioner. Moreover, Amoxil should be kept in cool and warm environment in order for the drug to maintain its effectiveness.

Part 2: Evidence Based Practice

According to Retting and Tunkel (2014), ear infection is one of the most common forms of illness among children in the United States. American doctors recommend Amoxil to treat this widespread infection. Estimates reveal that every episode of the infection costs about $400 with the annual expenditure for the entire country getting away above the $3-billion-dollar mark.

Research has demonstrated that the use of Amoxil is more recommendable in the management of ear infection among children than any other drug. Recently, a survey was carried out to inform the determinations to rewrite the treatment plan for general diseases. The investigators, however, did not identify any evidence to link the brand-name antibiotics with better benefits than the generic types. Before commencing the antibiotics, a healthcare practitioner should examine the ear for clear symptoms.

Challenges Associated with the use of Amoxil

Though there are a number of benefits that are associated with treating ear infections using antibiotics such as Amoxil, several studies have stipulated that the number of side effects that results after the use of the prescription outweighs the benefits. For example, the Southern California Evidence-based Practice conducted a research whose core aim was to evaluate previous studies concerning the diagnosis and treatment of otitis media for children. According to Rettig and Tunkel (2014), the research was commissioned by the American Academy of Pediatrics (APP) as a way of providing evidence on guiding principles in the management of AOM for kids. This study revealed that there is an inadequate definitive test for making a diagnosis, and this is a major challenge in enhancing the management of acute ear disease.

How Patient Education Tool Adheres to The Principles and Practices of Cultural Competence

Patient education tools that are thoroughly and accurately prepared are important to allow patients and their care providers to understand the disease and treatment plan. To be effective, the tools must adhere to the principles and practices of cultural competence. The tool provides relevant information regarding culture in addition to resources and strategies to enhance professionals’ ability to offer culturally competent services (Jeffreys, 2015). Therefore, health care experts recognize the important roles that culture plays in the healthcare setting and essence of addressing patients’ needs in a culturally competent way. Cultural competence is necessary to successful patient-centered transitions of care.

However, various factors affect the nature and scope of patient education tools. Patients’ behavior and culture that includes values, sex, gender, language, thoughts, customs, beliefs, and institutions of an ethnic, religious, racial, or social group affect the creation and use of patient education tools (Jeffreys, 2015). For instance, English as a global language may not be understood by some people based on the level of education, gender, age, and religion. In addition, translating the language to local languages may lead to loose of meaning due to medical and professional terms used.

Recommendations Provided by the AAFP and AAP Concerning Amoxil

In February 2013, the American Academy of Family Practice (AAFP) and the AAP updated the protocols for treating ear infections (Lieberthal et al., 2013). Among the recommendations that they provided was that the management of AOM should entail evaluating pain and treatment. The study also recommended that antibiotics should be used for both bilateral and unilateral AOM in children aged 6 moths and above and has severe symptoms, while for non-severe bilateral AOM; the children should be between 6-23 months. Moreover, the study recommended that the health professionals and parents or guardians of the children aged between 6 and 23 months should supervise their children during the administration of Amoxil, and/or monitor and withhold the use of antibiotics unless when the children fails to improve within 48 hours. Moreover, the two parties recommended the use of Amoxil in treating ear infections in children, unless where the ill child happens to be allergic or has used the drug within the last one month.

Though the information or recommendations that were provided by the two organizations is extensive, complete and up-to-date, there is no assurance that the information concerning the use of Amoxil can be used in any other country besides the United States. However, since the symptoms of ear infection are the same in individuals of all sorts the use of Amoxil can be embraced as long as the drug regulators have approved it (Lieberthal, et al., 2013). The patient education that the two organizations provided aimed at helping the pediatric patients. Apparently, some side effects that are associated with this antibiotic are common to all individuals across the board, and this means that the evidence based practice recommendations concerning when to seek emergency care following the severity of the side efforts can be applied to all individuals, regardless of their gender.

Conclusion

The evidence-based practice that has been provided in this paper ensures the health consumer receives the appropriate information concerning the usage of the drug, storage, side effects as well as the importance of completing the dosage. Moreover, this information helps the patients with regard to when they should seek medical assistance due to the severity of the side effects. Despite the fact that the drug has some drawbacks, it remains the most effective antibiotic for treating ear infections in children.