April 1, 2009
By:Formulary journal staff
In a multinational prospective study published in the BMJ, investigators demonstrated that parenteral medication errors are common occurrences in intensive care units (ICUs), but the number of errors can be reduced through the use of error-reporting and electronic prescribing systems.
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December 15, 2008
Evidence supports the clinical equivalence of generic and brand-name cardiovascular drugs, according to a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Despite this evidence, more than half of the editorials discussing the issue of generic interchangeability that were assessed in this analysis do not support generic substitution for brand-name cardiovascular drugs.
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December 1, 2008
By:Janice Ma, PharmD, Alan Gervais, BSP, Julie Lanouette, RN
In 2003, the Canadian Forces (CF) drug benefit plan used preferential listing to control costs associated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs); however, significant expenditures for nonbenefit PPIs continued. A database review was thus conducted to explain this anomalous usage pattern. This study provides further information regarding the effectiveness of preferred listing as a cost-saving measure, noting that adherence to such policies may be less than projected.
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November 1, 2008
By:Sherry L. Andes, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP
To effectively gauge the potential clinical and economic impact of drug and biologic therapies that are pending FDA approval, the monitoring of pharmaceutical pipelines has become an essential function of pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies and managed care organizations (MCOs); one source of pharmaceutical pipeline information is subscription-based pharmaceutical pipeline databases. Examples of some of these databases, along with the types of information provided and advantages and disadvantages of such products, are presented.
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September 1, 2008
By:LaDonna S. Hale, PharmD, Audrey E. Griffin, MPAS, PA-C, Olivia M. Cartwright, MPA, PA-C, Joshua Moulin, MPA, PA-C, Shane J. Alford, PA-S, Ryan M. Fleming, PA-S
The purpose of this drug use evaluation was to report potentially inappropriate medication use, as defined by the full Beers criteria.
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January 1, 2008
By:Julie Sease, PharmD, BCPS, A. Maurice Williams, PharmD
Until 2005, irbesartan was the only ARB available on the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system's national formulary. In 2005, irbesartan was removed from the formulary and was replaced with valsartan and losartan. For those patients who were to continue ARB therapy via a switch to either losartan or valsartan, dosing guidelines were created by the Veterans Integrated System Network 7 to facilitate the change. These guidelines suggested that patients taking irbesartan 150 mg once daily be treated with either valsartan 80 mg or losartan 50 mg once daily and that patients taking irbesartan 300 mg once daily be treated with either valsartan 160 mg or losartan 100 mg once daily. To determine if the dosing guidelines resulted in equal antihypertensive effectiveness, we carried out a retrospective chart review, examining the cases of 86 patients at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina, who had switched from irbesartan to either losartan or valsartan.
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December 1, 2007
By:Roy Guharoy, PharmD, MBA, FCP, FCCP, FASHP, Jonathan Bradshaw, PharmD, Kristyn Churmusi, PharmD, Sarabeth Baxter, PharmD, Adrienne Smith, PharmD, William Darko, PharmD, Luke Probst, PharmD, Abby LaHart, PharmD
Anecdotal reports of hospital readmissions secondary to adverse drug events (ADEs) prompted the pharmacy & therapeutics (P&T) committee at University Hospital, SUNY Upstate Medical University, to authorize a pharmacy-led retrospective review of patient records.
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