From Ms J. V. Bonham, MRPharmS, and Ms Y. Buck
SIR,—In common with many other hospitals in recent years the pharmacy staff in this trust have used green ink for the endorsement of drug charts. We became concerned that this information was being lost when the medical notes, including drug charts were microfilmed for storage.
Therefore we microfilmed samples of writing from different pens. Those producing dark ink, including fountain pens, fibre tips and roller ball type pens were legible after microfilming. However green ball point pens were not legible and therefore are not suitable for use.
We hope this information is useful to other pharmacy departments.
Janet Bonham
Clinical Services Pharmacist
Yvonne Buck
Medical Records Manager, Northampton General Hospital Trust