The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 pp385-412 No 7446
7 April 2007

Jobs and Classified advertising

Leading Article   386

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It's not rocket science 386
So much was expected of the National Patient Safety Agency when it was launched in 2001 that it was bound to struggle to make its mark. Indeed, a relatively small arm of the Department of Health had little chance of changing the culture of a monolith like the NHS, or of making staff change their behaviour overnight so that patients would be less at risk when things went awry
PJ   2007;278:386
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Respect patients and see health improve 386
Last month Raymond Tallis — physician, philosopher and poet — was one of the guests on BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs”. He has devoted much of his medical life to the care of the elderly. One of the points he made was how important it is for old people to be treated with respect: he said that many people find it intrusive and offensive to be addressed by their first name by hospital staff before the invitation to do so is made
PJ   2007;278:386
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News & Features   387-392

News summary  387-391
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Headlines   PDF (120K)

Lead stories
-No single clinical group can dominate new PECs
-Feedback sought on updated medicines use review form
-Technicians will seek membership of future leadership body
-Home reviews do not improve quality of life
-Remuneration in Scotland
-Six in 10 hospital pharmacists have to work unpaid overtime to complete their daily workload
-E-prescribing would help hospitals control infection
-Paracetamol pack cuts had little effect on suicides
-Study shows benefit of omega-3s

Bring patient safety to the foreground 392
Five patient safety alerts were announced by the National Patient Safety Agency last week, along with a programme of work to support their implementation. Tom Moberly looks at the alerts and at the background to the NPSA's recommendations
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Products   393

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Products   393
-Prescription products
-Discontinued products
-Supply issues
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Journal Oversight Board   393

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15 March 2007   393
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Broad Spectrum   394

Commercial and political pressures raise polypharmacy, so patients suffer 394
By Chris Brewer
PJ   2007;278:394
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Letters   395-397

-Supervision
-Pseudoephedrine
-White Paper
PJ   2007;278:395-397
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Agenda for 2007   398

Agenda articles
Why provision of monitored dosage systems must be made a core service 398
Currently, funding for social care is under the control of each individual local authority social services department. The framework that exists to govern both the NHS and the local authority bodies states that it is “not normally reasonable” to use NHS funds on community care services but…
PJ   2007;278:398
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Articles   399-403

Chocolate: indulgence or medicine? 399-401
In 2003, the UK chocolate confectionery market totalled £3.36bn and some claim our love of chocolate may be a contributory factor in the rising number of people who are obese. Every so often, however, reports of the health benefits of chocolate appear in the media. In this article, Sarah Marshall takes a closer look at whether or not eating chocolate is such a bad thing
PJ   2007;278:399-401
Summary   PDF (110K)

Caution should be exercised when OTC chloramphenicol is being considered 402
In this case study, Matthew Anderson and Rosalind Harrison remind pharmacists that patients should be assessed appropriately before chloramphenicol eye-drops are prescribed by doctors or sold over the counter by pharmacists
PJ   2007;278:402
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How practice educator pharmacists help create a positive learning culture 403
In this article, Jill McDonald, on behalf of Thames Valley Practice Educator Pharmacists Group, describes how the introduction of education support pharmacists across Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority has been a success and outlines plans for the future
PJ   2007;278:403
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Meetings   404-405

Reports index

Diabetes care
Rising obesity means more diabetes 404-405
The science of diabetes and the care of patients with the disease were discussed at a recent meeting. Irene Gummerson reports
PJ   2007;278:404-405
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Prescribing & Medicines Management

PJ   2007;278:PM1-PM4
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Hampshire medicines management project saves NHS over £1 million PM1-2
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Secondary care can support PCT aims PM2
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Failings in the system: a case study PM3
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Benefits of becoming an FPMM member PM4
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Onlooker   406

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What are our brains up to while we sleep? 406
William Wordsworth commented that “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting”, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge talked of sleep as a gentle thing “beloved from pole to pole”. There is an enormous amount of literature concerning the phenomenon, but many of its characteristics continue to evade us and we are unable to define it closely
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How chimpanzees used stone hammers to crack nuts 4,000 years ago 406
A revealing annotation in the 12 February issue of New Scientist draws attention to the relation between our own culture and that of chimpanzees some 4,000 years ago. It has been found that in that remote period chimpanzees in the West African rainforest were in the habit of adapting stone tools to break open nuts for food. The technology is believed to be an indication that we and the chimpanzee share a common ancestor
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Hot air on the agenda: can the EU agree an energy policy for Europe? 406
An editorial in the 8 March issue of Nature considers the arguments at present raging in Brussels over the looming problem of climate change and what can be done to meet the challenge
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PJ   2007;278:407-412
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March Council meeting
Council meeting reports

March Council meeting 407
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Council adopts new Code of Ethics 407
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423 struck off for non-payment of retention fee 407
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Regulations for the making of special resolutions to be rushed through 408
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Council seeks approval for first batch of Regulations 408
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Ten motions for debate at branch representatives' meeting 408
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BPC £5 student day-rate extended to all pharmacy students 408
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Official notices 2001 to present

Annual general meeting 409
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Erasures from Registers for non-payment of fees 409-411
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Diary
Diary / Health events

Branch meetings 412
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Society meetings 411-412
-Symposium: Analytical support for clinical trials (2 May)
-Veterinary Pharmacists Group conference (8 June)
-One-day conference: Pharmacists as prescribers — the UK experience (11 June)
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Resources 393
-Care homes
-Controlled Drugs
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