P H A R M A G R A M  

...an educational memo from your Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee

 

January, 2007

Formulary Addition:

 

Dextromethorphan, available as 30mg capsules (DexAlone®) and 30mg/5ml liquid (Delsym®) and is used as a cough suppressant, was added  to the Formulary as an alternative to the combination product containing guaifenesin (Robitussin DM®). Common side effects include abdominal discomfort, constipation, dizziness, and drowsiness.

 

Formulary Autosubstitutions for Drug Deletions and Denials:

 

Deletion:                    Vicodin ES ® (hydrocodone 7.5mg and acetaminophen 750mg) due to the excessive

amount of acetaminophen per tablet

Autosubstitution:     Norco-10 (hydrocodone 10mg and acetaminophen 325mg)

******This Formulary change and substitution will be effective Wednesday, January 3, 2007********

 

Denial:                        Micafungin (Mycamine®) and anidulafungin (Eraxis®) due to therapeutic similarities.

Autosubstitution:     Caspofungin (Cancidas ®)

 

Denial:                        Mometasone (Asmanex®) inhaler due to therapeutic similarity.

Autosubstitution:     Fluticasone (Flovent®)

 

 

PEMINIC for Adverse Drug Events (ADE) as well as Occurrence Reporting:

 

In the December PharmaGram, it was announced that OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and its off-campus sites are implementing a new web-based occurrence reporting tool called Peminic.  It should also be noted that Peminic can be used to report Adverse Drug Events (ADEs). The reported ADEs are collected and tabulated by Utilization Review and then passed on to the ADE Committee. All ADEs may be reported regardless of severity.

Effective January 1st, the ADE Hotline will no longer be used to report ADEs.  Peminic will be the only way to report ADEs or Occurrences.


Watch Out for Drug Names with Suffixes:

The list of drug names with suffixes such as LA, CR, SR, XT continues to grow. Potential life-threatening reactions can occur when drug orders do not include the suffix. One example is if the immediate-release formulation of nifedipine (Procardia® or Adalat®) is ordered in place of the sustained-released (Procardia XL® or Adalat CC®) dosage form. Other examples are listed below.

 

Aspirin EC                 Cardizem CD                        Cardizem SR            Depakote ER                       

Catapres-TTS-1        Bicillin LA                              Bicillin CR                 Detrol LA

Wellbutrin XL             Wellbutrin SR                       Norpace CR              Tegretol XR              

Sinemet CR              Augmentin XR                     Effexor XR                Toprol XL


Drug Information Service: 655-2382 (Monday-Friday 0800-1530)