The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy - issues affecting you and your patients

The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
– Volume 1, Issue 9 October 2009

EDITOR'S COMMENTS
	Optimising medicines use

NEWS
	Pharmacists should take overall responsibility for medicines use in care homes
	Early glatiramer delays multiple sclerosis

CLINICAL UPDATE
	Tocilizumab: a new option for rheumatoid arthritis? Tocilizumab (RoActemra; Roche) was launched in the UK this month for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Although preliminary recommendations by NICE do not look promising, pharmacists should understand its use and practical implications. By Richard Copeland.

CASE STUDY
	Drug management in atrial fibrillation ablation therapy An increasing number of patients are undergoing interventional procedures for cardiac rhythm irregularities. This case study describes the pharmacological management of a patient undergoing ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation. By Gurpreet Virdi and Sotiris Antoniou.

DRUG APPRAISAL
	Assessing tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthritis Tocilizumab is an interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor that was launched this month for moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. In this article, the North Central London Formulary and Medicines Management Groups review the evidence for its efficacy and safety.


PRESCRIBER'S CORNER
	Maintaining thyroid levels in a patient with osteoporosis Prescriber’s Corner describes situations encountered by pharmacist prescribers and invites you to consider clinical decisions about the patient. In this case, you are undertaking a routine medicines use review when you notice an abnormality in thyroid levels.

RESEARCH
	Patient and community pharmacist attitudes towards a new DVD about depression By Chris Gilleard, Ros Lobo and David Tambyrajah

PROFILE
	Expanding the patient safety agenda in the NHS Linda Matthew is the interim head of Patient Safety Direct, part of the National Reporting and Learning Service at the National Patient Safety Agency. This article describes Ms Matthew’s role at the NPSA and how her work contributes to improving patient safety. By Shona Kirk.

GUIDANCE
	Interpreting guidance on medicines adherence Following the publication of medicines adherence guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence earlier this year, Nina Barnett and Lelly Oboh outline the key principles for pharmacists and give examples of putting them into practice.

LETTERS
	Readers’ letters

LAST WORD
	The NHS needs a generics policy Generic substitution by pharmacists is expected to be introduced next year. However, prescribing generic medicines solely on the basis of cost would risk lowering standards in safety and quality, 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.