Sheldon S. Sones, RPh, FASCP, is president of Sheldon S. Sones and Associates, a pharmacy and accreditation consulting firm based in Newington, Conn.
Q: Is there a certain format that has to be used for drug formulary in an ambulatory surgery center? Ours is set up in columns of item, description and then generic. Since most of our drugs are generic can I start with that instead?
Sheldon Sones: I think the focus has to be what is most "useful" to staff and physicians, and that would be a tossup as it depends whether they know the generic name or not. You are quite on target by embracing the generic name as most hospital formularies do just that.
The best suggestion would be to list both since you have a relatively few number of drugs (compared to the hospitals). I would do the following format and list BOTH as entries —generic and trade (proprietary) name:
Diphenhydramine HCl (Benadryl) 50 mg./ ml. 1 ml. Ampules
and
Benadryl (Diphenhydramine HCL) 50 mg./ ml. 1 ml. Ampules
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One further suggestion: The American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) categorizes formulary inclusions into drug classifications, such as 8:00 Anti-Infective Agents, 24:00 Cardiovascular Agents, 28:00 Central Nervous System Agents, etc. Within each category there may be subdivisions, such as 28:04 General Anesthetics, 28:08 Analgesics and Antipyretics. Organizations can consider following this format.
Learn more about Sheldon S. Sones and Associates at www.sheldonsones.com.
More Articles Featuring Sheldon Sones:
Surgery Center Guidance: Understanding Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
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Perioperative Implications of Five Herbal Medications