Hospital Pharmacy

These medication errors have occurred in health care facilities at least once. They will happen again–perhaps where you work. Through education and alertness of personnel and procedural safeguards, they can be avoided. You should consider publishing accounts of errors in your newsletters and/or presenting them in your inservice training programs.

Your assistance is required to continue this feature. The reports described here were received through the USP Medication Errors Reporting Program, which is presented in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. If you have encountered medication errors and would like to report them, you may call USP toll-free, 24 hours a day, at 800-233-7767 (800-23-ERROR).

Any reports published by ISMP will be anonymous. Comments are also invited; the writers' names will be published if desired. ISMP may be contacted at the address shown below.

The purpose of this feature is to heighten awareness of specific adverse drug reactions (ADRs), to discuss methods of prevention, and to promote reporting of ADRs to the FDA's medWatch program (800-FDA-1088). If you have reported an interesting preventable ADR to medWatch, please consider sharing the account with our readers.

The increasing complexity of cancer chemotherapy makes it mandatory that pharmacists be familiar with these highly toxic agents. This column focuses on the commercially available and investigational agents used to treat malignant diseases, reviewing issues related to the preparation, dispensing, and administration of cancer chemotherapy.

Off-Label Drug Uses — This Hospital Pharmacy feature is extracted from Off-Label DrugFacts, a quarterly publication available from Facts and Comparisons. Off-Label DrugFacts is a practitioner-oriented resource for information about specific FDA-unapproved drug uses. This new guide to the literature will enable the health care professional/clinician to quickly identify published studies on off-label uses and to determine if a specific use is rational in a patient care scenario. The most relevant data are provided in tabular form so that the reader can easily identify the scope of information available. A summary of the data–including, background, study design, patient population, dosage information, therapy duration, results, safety, and therapeutic considerations–precedes each table of published studies. References direct the reader to the full literature for more comprehensive information prior to patient care decisions. Direct questions or comments on “Off-Label Drug Uses” to hospitalpharmacy@drugfacts.com.

This article describes the implementation and analysis of an automated system for the distribution of medications and supplies in an ambulatory clinic setting. Distribution, charging, and control of medications and supplies provided to ambulatory clinics is an issue that presents numerous problems for hospital pharmacy departments. A combined automated unit to handle both supplies and medications was studied as an alternative to traditional manual systems. Problems with our manual system were identified. A comparative analysis of revenue, medication and supply cost before and after automation is presented. Increases in revenue, decreases in supply cost, and improved medication expense documentation were noted with the automated system.

Each month, subscribers to The Formulary^® Monograph Service receive five to six well-documented monographs on drugs that are newly released or are in late Phase III trials. The monographs are targeted to your Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. Subscribers also receive monthly one-page summary monographs on the agents that are useful for agendas and pharmacy/nursing in-services. A comprehensive target drug utilization evaluation (DUE) is also provided each month. The monographs are published in printed form and on diskettes that allow customization. Subscribers to the The Formulary Monograph Service also receive access to a pharmacy bulletin board, The Formulary Information Exchange (The F.I.X). All topics pertinent to clinical and hospital pharmacy are discussed on The F.I.X.

Through the cooperation of The Formulary, Hospital Pharmacy publishes selected reviews in this column. If you would like information about The Formulary Monograph Service or The F.I.X., call The Formulary at 800-322-4349. The July 2002 Formulary monograph topics are voriconazole, treprostinil sodium injection, ranolazine, alefacept, and pregabalin. The DUE is on voriconazole.

This monthly feature will help readers keep current on new drugs, new indications and dosage forms, and safety-related changes in labeling or use. Each month, new information will be added to the table (shown in bold type) and older information will be removed. Efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information; however, if there are any questions, let us know at hospitalpharmacy@drugfacts.com.

This continuing feature will inform readers about the process of implementing, maintaining, and supporting computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) at the Ohio State University Medical Center. (By “prescribers,” we refer to health care professionals authorized to prescribe medications by their states.) Practical information on what worked and what failed will be provided, along with current updates on the status of CPOE at the Medical Center.

An upcoming issue will feature readers' experiences with PDAs in the health care setting. Please e-mail any stories you would like to share with other Hospital Pharmacy readers to either of the authors at foxbren@auburn.edu or felkebg@auburn.edu. You may also send your contributions, questions, or comments to the authors (who share the same mailing address) at The Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy, Pharmacy Care Systems,128 Miller Hall, Auburn, AL 36849.

The Formulary Information Exchange (The F.I.X.) is an online drug information service available to subscribers to The Formulary Monograph Service at http://theformulary.com, or you may log on through drugfacts.com. In this column, we present samples of recent dialog on The F.I.X. If you would like more information on The Formulary Monograph Service or The F.I.X., please call 800-322-4349. If you would like to comment on any of the following questions or answers, please e-mail them to Dennis J. Cada at dcada@drugfacts.com.

To help readers monitor the most important developments in specialized areas of pharmacy practice in organized health systems, Hospital Pharmacy commissions Basic Bibliographies by guest editors, who have expertise in their respective fields. These guest editors survey the relevant literature and rank approximately 15 to 20 references that represent the most significant research and practice contributions in their areas. The more fundamental are listed first so that persons with limited time can select reading appropriate to their needs. A cumulative index to Basic Bibliography topics will be published semi-annually in June and December.

“Black-box” warnings report valuable postmarketing safety data about prescription drugs, keeping practitioners informed about potential adverse events, drug interactions, key dosing information, monitoring and administration requirements, and at-risk patient populations. They are especially crucial for newly approved agents. A list of agents with black-box warnings does not currently exist; however Hospital Pharmacy will be publishing comprehensive lists by drug category in this column until November 2002. At that time, a complete list in wall chart form will be released. Hospital Pharmacy will update the data as salient information becomes available.