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

EDITOR'S COMMENTS
  Reducing risk
   
NEWS
  High rate of medication errors in paediatrics
  Benefit of dexamethasone in bacterial meningitis questioned
  First oral MS drugs effective in phase III trials

ADVERTISEMENTS
   
NEWS FEATURE
  Implementing new NICE guidance for VTE prevention
All hospital inpatients in England and Wales should be assessed for their risk of venous thromboembolism on admission, according to new NICE guidelines. Shona Kirk finds out how clinical pharmacists can aid implementation of these guidelines.
   
CLINICAL UPDATE
  New standards for chemotherapy verification
Last month, the British Oncology Pharmacy Association published a set of standards for clinical pharmacist checking of anticancer medicine prescriptions. In this article, Steve Williamson describes the background to the development of the standards and what they mean for clinical pharmacists.
 
DRUG APPRAISAL
  Dyloject (diclofenac sodium) for post-operative pain
Dyloject (Therabel Pharma) is the first ready-to-use intravenous solution of diclofenac sodium to be licensed in the UK. In this article, the North Central London Formulary and Medicines Management Group looks at the evidence for its efficacy in post-operative pain. By Anthony Grosso and Pritesh Bodalia.
   
PRESCRIBER’S CORNER
  Managing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
Prescriber’s Corner describes situations encountered by pharmacist prescribers and invites you to consider clinical decisions about the patient. In this case, you are working in the chemotherapy unit of a hospital, prescribing supportive therapy to a patient on her first course of chemotherapy. By Andrew Husband, Adam Todd and Steve Williamson.
   
EDUCATION
  Innovative teaching of pharmacy undergraduates
Innovative ways to modernise pharmacy careers were discussed at the official opening of the pharmacy ‘clinical skills suite’ at the University of Bradford last month. Shona Kirk reports.
   
PROFILE
  Diversity of a consultant oncology pharmacist’s role
Sandra Allan is a specialist cardiac pharmacist at The Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. She performs electrical cardioversion on patients with atrial fibrillation and flutter. This article describes her unique clinical role. By Shona Kirk.
   
SHARING PRACTICE
  Benefits of a pharmacist-led arrhythmia clinic
A specialist cardiac pharmacist has been running an arrhythmia clinic in The Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since 2007. This article describes the impact of the clinic on patient waiting lists and the time taken to optimise treatment regimens. By Sandra Allan and Neil Marcus.
   
SHORT REPORT
  How dispensary workload affects checking skills
Environmental factors in the dispensary can affect staff performance in a number of ways. This article describes an audit undertaken to assess the impact of increased workload on the time taken to carry out the final check of prescriptions in a paediatric hospital, and the processes used to check it. By Anthony Sinclair, David Terry, Marie Slimm and John Marriott.
   
LETTERS
  Strength in unity
   
LAST WORD
  New leaders to unify pharmacy — or business as usual?
This month saw the results of the elections to the new national pharmacy boards. But if the elected candidates are to be seen as true leaders, far greater support is required from the wider profession, says Philip Brown.
 
 
The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy is an editorially independent publication.
Copyright of the The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy. No reproduction in any format is allowed unless permission is granted by the publisher.