The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
– Volume 2, Issue 4 April 2010

EDITOR'S COMMENTS
  Pulling together
   
NEWS
  Pharmacist integration into cardiovascular teams is crucial
  SIRS reduced by the use of in-line filters in ICU patients
  LCZ696 shows positive effect in hypertension

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CLINICAL UPDATE
  Roflumilast: a novel drug for the treatment of COPD
Roflumilast (Daxas; Nycomed), a new ‘first in class’ treatment for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with bronchitis, is expected to be approved in June, ready for launch later this year. Ewan Maule describes the clinical evidence for its use.
 
DRUG APPRAISAL
  Assessing Grazax for seasonal allergic hay fever
Grazax (ALK-Abellό) is a form of sublingual immunotherapy that is licensed for the treatment of seasonal grass pollen-induced rhinitis and conjunctivitis. In this article, the North Central London Formulary and Medicines Management Group looks at the evidence for its efficacy and cost-effectiveness. By Anthony Grosso, Pritesh Bodalia and Michael Scott.
   
PRESCRIBER’S CORNER
  Managing an infective exacerbation of COPD
Prescriber's Corner describes situations encountered by pharmacist prescribers and invites you to consider clinical decisions about the patient. In this case, you are advising on the treatment of a patient with infective exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. By Sarah Chandler, Jessica Clemerson, Douglas Bairstow and Andrew Husband.
   
OPINION
  The quality and productivity challenge: aligning pharmacy
Rising to the challenge of increasing quality and productivity while reducing costs will be vital in the months and years to come. Pippa Roberts explains how this can be achieved.
   
PROFILE
  Balancing the management of infectious diseases
Paul Wade is a consultant pharmacist in infectious diseases. This article highlights some of the key issues he faces in his role and describes some of the current and future challenges involved in the management of patients with infections. By Shona Kirk.
   
SHARING PRACTICE
  Reducing errors in a pre-operative assessment clinic
A clinical pharmacist was introduced to the pre-operative assessment clinic in Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, last year. Aine Liggett and Paula Crawford describe how this has reduced medicines-related incidents on admission to hospital, leading to improved patient safety.
   
MEETINGS
 

Comparing hospital medicines use
Comparisons of use and therefore expenditure on medicines in hospitals could become increasingly important as the drive for efficiency saving in the NHS gains momentum. A recent one-day conference in Birmingham explored the issues involved and described some of the projects already undertaken in this field. By Christine Clark.

Reducing medication errors
A number of ways to improve medication safety were showcased at this year’s ‘Reducing medication errors’ conference in Manchester, hosted by Healthcare Events. Shona Kirk reports.
   
LETTERS
  Readers’ letters
 
LAST WORD
  Are we a learned profession?
The future of our profession lies in finding a niche that we can make our own. This requires redefinition of our role and a well-defined research programme, says Philip Brown.
 
 
The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy is an editorially independent publication.
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