The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
– Volume 1, Issue 11 December 2009

EDITOR'S COMMENTS
  Demonstrating our worth
   
NEWS
  Further evidence for the benefits of clinical pharmacist interventions
  Antidepressants associated with falls in the elderly
  Rituximab preserves beta cell function in type I diabetes

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CLINICAL UPDATE
  New NICE guidelines for depression in adults
New guidelines on the treatment and management of depression in adults and in those with chronic physical health conditions were published by NICE recently. Stephen Bleakley describes the key changes.
   
DRUG SAFETY
  FMEA: a new approach to manage high risk medicines
A prospective risk analysis tool, failure modes effects analysis (FMEA), has been used by a pharmacy team at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to improve the safety of rituximab use. This article describes the benefits and challenges of using the FMEA method. By Steve Williamson, Nicola Wake and Gemma Donovan.
 
REVIEW
  A review of mesalazine MR formulations in ulcerative colitis
There are six modified-release preparations of mesalazine currently licensed in the UK. In this article, the North Central London Formulary and Medicines Management Group propose a prescribing strategy that could potentially save the NHS several million pounds over the next five years. By Anthony Grosso, Pritesh Bodalia and Miren Shah.
   
PRESCRIBER'S CORNER
  Managing the complications of obesity in primary care
Prescriber’s Corner describes situations encountered by pharmacist prescribers and invites readers to consider clinical decisions about the patient. In this case, you are a primary care pharmacist who is reviewing a patient with obesity. By Andrew Husband and Jessica Clemerson.
   
PROFILE
  Independent prescribing in renal medicine
Anna Drinkwater is a pharmacist independent prescriber working in renal medicine at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust. This article describes the impact of prescribing on patient safety, and the challenges that Miss Drinkwater has faced. By Shona Kirk.
   
SHARING PRACTICE
  Modernising hip and knee replacement surgery
A new 'fast-track' protocol for hip and knee replacement surgery, designed to reduce post-operative complications, has been introduced at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. This article describes the protocol and the involvement of the pharmacy team in its development. By Tania Dodds, Mike Reed and Ajay Malviya.
   
LETTERS
  Generic substitution
   
MEETINGS
  Progress in practice
Examples of joint working across pharmacy sectors were among the award-winning presentations at the recent UK Clinical Pharmacy Association symposium. By Hannah Pike.
  Improving drug adherence
Strategies to improve medicines adherence and the role that pharmacists can play in achieving this were among topics discussed at this year’s Renal Pharmacy Group Conference. Shona Kirk reports.
  E-systems for transfer of care
Implementing electronic systems for prescribing and transfer of care were among issues discussed at this year’s joint UK Clinical Pharmacy Association and Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists IT Interest Group seminar. Shona Kirk reports.
   
LAST WORD
  Dispensing — physical grind or holy grail?
The question of what constitutes dispensing is at the core of arguments about the future of our profession, says Philip Brown. He proposes a new definiton for dispensing and explains why it should not end on handing the medicine to the patient.
 
 
The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy is an editorially independent publication.
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