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 and reviews issues related to the preparation, dispensing, and administration of cancer chemotherapy.

In recent years, many drug shortages have compromised patient care. Drug shortages can lead to altered therapeutic outcomes, increased risk of medication errors, and increased medical costs. This article presents one hospital's successful algorithm for managing medication shortages. Methods included drafting a shortage policy and procedure; identifying a primary contact person to assess the impact of the shortage; identifying appropriate clinicians to perform research; establishing references for identification of alternative agents; and promptly communicating with and disseminating shortage information to appropriate individuals.

This article describes a pharmacy-managed, intravenous (IV) to enteral proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) program at a 377-bed tertiary care, teaching community hospital. IV pantoprazole was not restricted by indication, service, or patient location. Pharmacy converted any eligible patient prescribed an IV PPI to either pantoprazole tablets or lansoprazole capsules, packets, or enteral suspension according to protocol. Over a four-month evaluation period, 113 patients (mean age of 66 years) were prescribed IV PPIs for primarily suspected or documented GI bleeding. Gastroenterology specialists initiated 85% of IV PPI therapy. The most common dosage of IV PPI was 40 mg, once or twice daily with a median duration of 3 to 4 days. Continuous infusion IV PPI therapy was used for only two patients, both with GI bleeding. IV pantoprazole was converted to an enteral PPI in 73 of 113 patients in dosages of pantoprazole 40 mg or lansoprazole 30 or 60 mg administered once (32%) or twice (68%) daily. Pharmacists initiated 34% of the conversions. The total PPI expenditure was $6200 during the evaluation period. Daily acquisition cost savings, based on nominal pricing, ranged from approximately $5 to $25. Initial evaluation of the conversion program resulted in protocol revision and education of the medical staff, in an effort to minimize days of IV PPI use and encourage transition to enteral therapy. The protocol conversion dosage of lansoprazole 60 mg twice daily was changed to 30 mg twice daily and enteral pantoprazole tablets were deleted from the protocol (all IV PPI is converted to lansoprazole, 30 mg twice daily). Although IV pantoprazole remained on the hospital formulary, the medical staff were educated about the relative effectiveness of IV and enteral PPI therapy and the use of histamine-2 receptor antagonists for various indications. Prescribers of IV pantoprazole are now required to document the rationale for use. The Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee will continue to explore the role IV PPI therapy, based on efficacy, safety, and cost.

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 June 2003 monograph topics are aprepitant, gemifloxacin, desirudin for injection, gatifloxacin ophthalmic solution, and pegvisomant. The DUE is on aprepitant.

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.

Managed care pharmacists are involved formally with the interface between the delivery and financing of health care; their work thus entails an accountability for both elements. Interpreted broadly, managed care pharmacists are pharmacists working within the sphere of a health care system, health care purchaser, health insurer, managed care organization, or benefit administration agency. Patients, the pharmacy profession, and society are best served by this broad interpretation, because the interdependency of financing and delivery is inextricably linked to the achievement of good health outcomes. This continuing feature will explore contemporary issues facing managed care pharmacists.

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 “pre-scribers,” 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.

The Formulary Information Exchange (The F.I.X.) is an online drug information service available to subscribers of The Formulary Monograph Service, 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 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 semiannually in June and December.