November 2016
News
In this issue
| Melbourne Cup Day Public Holiday |
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| Imatinib Substitution |
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| PDL Alert — Decimal Domino Effect |
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| Changing Approval Number? |
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| Fred Help Centre featured articles and documents |
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| MedView Medicines Workspace – Bridging the gap between acute and community care |
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| PBS Changes effective November 2016 |
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Melbourne Cup Day Public Holiday
Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday 1 November 2016) is a public holiday in Victoria.
Fred Help is available from 8.30am to 5.00pm (EST) on 1300 731 888.
Imatinib Substitution
Pharmacists and dispensers are advised to take caution when substituting imatinib tablets. Not all PBS Items for imatinib tablets are substitutable with other tablet brands or capsules.
The following PBS Items are currently not substitutable with any other codes:
- 9111M imatinib 100mg tablet, 60
- 5443L imatinib 100mg tablet, 60
- 9112N imatinib 400mg tablet, 30
- 5444M imatinib 400mg tablet, 30
For full details on imatinib listings, refer to the PBS Schedule.
PDL Alert — Decimal Domino Effect
A recent spate of dispensing errors reported to PDL involve Sifrol in the strengths of 3.75mg and 0.375mg. If a poorly defined, hand-written prescription is presented for this drug, the chance of misinterpretation becomes high.
The likelihood of an error is further compounded with this drug because it comes in both an immediate release form, denoted in micrograms (mcg) and a controlled release presentation, expressed in milligrams (mg).
If an error is made in dispensing the 375 form of Sifrol, an error of ten times occurs. This could mean that a Parkinsonian patient is grossly under dosed and outcomes could include loss of symptom control. Or a person with Restless Leg Syndrome could be given a dose that is way too high.
To further exacerbate an error of this kind, additional problems may be encountered in attempting to rectify the situation, for example where a consumer has been given the correct strength after taking the incorrect dose and as a result they have a sudden change of dose again.
Pramipexole is a drug that highlights this dilemma as it should be slowly titrated up or down in dose. A sudden change of ten times dosage has resulted in hospital admissions reported to PDL. When an error with this drug is reported to PDL, we always advise that the prescriber be notified and advice sought by the pharmacist on the correct switching procedure.
If you have any questions, call PDL for professional advice and support on 1300 854 838, or visit www.pdl.org.au
Changing Approval Number?
To avoid any interruption in trading at full capacity, it is important you give us plenty of advanced notice.
We have prepared this quick guide to Changing Approval Number for current and new owners to ensure a smooth business transition.
Fred Help Centre featured articles and documents
Adding Own Brand Drugs to Fred Dispense
The Own Brand Drug file is a limitless database where you can store and maintain a list of private items that you regularly dispense, but are not included or maintained in the Monthly Fred Dispense Drug Update.
Drugs that are set up in the Own Brand Drug file appear along with other drugs when searched. They are flagged as PRIVATE within the drug selection screen.
https://help.fredhealth.com.au/media/p/666.aspx
Own Brand items can only be dispensed as Private.
MedView Medicines Workspace – Bridging the gap between acute and community care
One of the key problems facing Australian health care professionals continues to be the lack of consolidated medications information and an inability to easily share information between health professionals. When patients move between community care and hospital and aged care, the absence of good quality and up to date clinical data can contribute to these interactions becoming high risk, resulting in medication misadventures and unnecessary hospital readmissions.
PBS Changes effective November 2016
For your convenience, this newsletter includes a summary of this month's important PBS changes.
For the full Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits, go to the PBS website at http://www.pbs.gov.au/ where you can search the schedule by drug name.