Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ferner, R.E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ferner, R.E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Q J Med 2002; 95: 181-184
© 2002 Association of Physicians

Commentary

Medicines management: a sour taste

R.E. Ferner

From the West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting, City Hospital, Birmingham, UK


   Introduction
 
‘Medicines management in hospitals encompasses the entire way that medicines are selected, procured, delivered, prescribed, administered, and reviewed ...’1 states the Audit Commission in its recent report, A spoonful of sugar, which views matters almost entirely from the perspective of clinical pharmacists. We can agree with the Commission that medicines are becoming more expensive, that some hospitals seem to be spendthrift and others parsimonious with drugs, and that drug budgets should, and will, span primary and hospital care. We can also agree that medication errors are unacceptably common, since any error is one too many. Many of the Commission's conclusions, though, seem insecure.

The selection of drugs through hospital formularies is crucial to safe, effective, and economic prescribing. A choice needs to be made, for example, among the 11 angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or several of the 25 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, where differences are small. The Commission emphasizes the need . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Notes
 

   References
 

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?