Browsing by Author "Blockman, Marc"
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- ItemBenefit v. risk when using chloroquine in patients with severe COVID-19 disease(Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2020-04-02) Decloedt, Eric H.; Allwood, Brian W.; Parker, Arifa; Koegelenberg, Coenraad F. N.; Blockman, Marc; Taljaard, Jantjie; Reuter, HelmuthENGLISH ABSTRACT: Chloroquine (CQ) is widely advocated as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including the president of the USA publicly supporting the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a ‘game-changer’ on the social media platform Twitter. CQ and HCQ are structurally similar, with HCQ having an N-hydroxyl-ethyl side-chain in place of the N-diethyl group.[1] Currently only CQ is being marketed in South Africa. We encourage the development of curative directed therapy against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) using appropriate designed trials and regulatory oversight, and caution against the indiscriminate use of CQ or HCQ. Careful patient selection is essential, including assessing prognosis, anticipated benefit and potential harms prior to initiating CQ/HCQ therapy.
- ItemHow good are our guidelines? Four years of experience with the SAMJ’s AGREE II review of submitted clinical practice guideline(Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2018) Kredo, Tamara; Wiseman, Roger; Gray, Andy; Parrish, Andy; Miot, Jacqui; Cohen, Karen; Jamaloodien, Khadija; Blockman, MarcThe South African Medical Journal (SAMJ) is an established source of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) serving the local healthcare community. CPGs link professional societies and clinicians by guiding best practice through the collation and interpretation of the best available evidence. Not only are CPGs important in standardising the quality of patient care, but they also assist with medicine selection and resource allocation decisions, adjudicating medicolegal claims, and promoting equity by influencing medicine access and health system organisation.