P H A R M A G R A M
OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Peoria, Illinois
...an educational memo from your Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
December, 2003
Your Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee and the Drug Formulary:
The P&T Committee consists of 31 physicians and 8 members who represent support services and hospital administration. Maintenance of the Drug Formulary is among several areas of responsibility of this Committee. Physicians may request a drug to be added to the Formulary by completing a Formulary Addition Request form which is available from the Pharmacy Department or online at http://library.osfsaintfrancis.org/druginfo.asp. The Drug Analysis Work Group (DAWG) Subcommittee researches and reviews each drug request. Using a balanced scorecard approach which considers efficacy, safety, patient’s acceptance and cost, this Subcommittee makes recommendations to the P&T Committee for drug product approval, denial or removal. If judged by a patient’s physician to be clinically necessary, a one-time or one patient use of a non-Formulary product may be requested by the prescribing physician completing a Non-Formulary Request form (available from the Pharmacy Department or at the online site listed above) and contacting the P&T Committee Chairman.
New Drug Approvals to the Formulary:
The following drugs were added to the hospital formulary.
Dorzolamine/Timolol (Cosopt®) ophthalmic solution – indicated for open-angle glaucoma or intraocular
hypertension.
Metaxalone (Skelaxin®) – indicated for the treatment of acute, painful musculoskeletal conditions.
Ezetimibe (Zetia®) – indicated for hypercholesterolemia, either alone or in combination with HMG-CoA
reductase inhibitors (‘statins’).
Autosubstitutions Approved:
In order to consolidate the drug formulary, control drug costs, minimize potential for adverse drug events, and/or minimize dispensing errors, the P&T Committee approved the following substitutions.
- Metformin XR (Glucophage XR ®) will be changed to metformin regular-release (same daily dose given BID)
- Diltiazem SR (Cardizem SR®) will be changed to diltiazem extended-release (Cardizem CD) (same daily dose given once a day)
- Calcium 500mg with vitamin D will be changed to 2 tablets of calcium 250mg with vitamin D (maximum of 6 tablets per day)
- Calcium citrate (Citracal®) will be changed to calcium carbonate 625mg
Joint Commission: “Do Not Use” List of Abbreviations – Effective January 1, 2004:
The Joint Commission has now specified a beginning list of abbreviations which cannot be used by persons documenting in a patient’s medical record (ex. Written Orders, Progress Notes, etc.).
Banned Abbreviations Potential Problem Preferred Terms
U (for unit) Mistaken as zero, four or cc. Write “unit”
IU (for international unit) Mistaken for IV (intravenous) or 10 Write “international unit”
Q.D., Q.O.D. Mistaken for each other or Q.I.D. Write “daily” and “every other day”
Trailing zero (X.0mg) Decimal Point Missed Never write trailing “0”
Lack of leading zero (.Xmg) Decimal Point Missed Use “0” before decimal point
MS, MSO4,MgSO4 Confused for one another Write out morphine or
(morphine or magnesium sulfate magnesium sulfate.