The first national guideline for diagnosing and treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men was published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence last month. Kuldeep Paik describes some of the key points that pharmacists should be aware of when considering drug treatment for LUTS.

Sugammadex (Bridion; MSD) is a modified cyclodextrin with a novel mode of action, recently licensed for the reversal of neuromuscular blockade. In this article, Bryan O’Farrell, Anthony Grosso and George Collee assess its safety and efficacy.

Oxygen should be treated in the same way as any other drug in terms of appropriate prescribing and monitoring, and requires an equal level of pharmacy input. This article describes the steps taken by a London trust to implement recent guidance from the British Thoracic Society and the National Patient Safety Agency, to improve the safety of oxygen use in hospitals. By Hasanin Khachi, Laura Walters, Keith Thompson and Sotiris Antoniou.

The medicines reconciliation process between a ‘paper free’ critical care unit and other hospital wards that use paper notes was assessed at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust. Conor Corbett and Rob Shulman describe the results from this audit and suggest methods for future improvements.

Nuttan Tanna, a pharmacist consultant from London, has recently been awarded a fellowship from a national collaborative research programme to help improve patient service delivery. This article describes how the programme works and why it is important for the pharmacy profession. By Shona Kirk.

The need for a national, unified, postgraduate pharmacist development programme was one of the topics discussed at this year’s Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and UKCPA joint national conference. Hannah Pike and Shona Kirk report.

A new professional body for pharmacy requires a commitment to learning and setting new intellectual standards. For an example of how this can be achieved, we might look to the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, says Philip Brown.