The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7218 p505
5 October 2002

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Some notable gaps in US textbook of drug treatment protocols

‘Drug treatment protocols’ (2nd edition), by the American Pharmaceutical Association. Pp xvii+487. Price £84.50. Washington: American Pharmaceutical Association; 2001. ISBN 1 58212 006 4

This book aims to help health care professionals make "clinically efficient, cost-effective therapeutic decisions" and includes 45 protocols covering nine different therapeutic areas, all presented as templates that can be adapted for local needs. Some of the protocols would require significant change for use in the United Kingdom: units of measurement and medicine doses may be different, some of the medicines listed are not in common use here and the advice given does not always match that from UK advisory bodies.

There are also some notable gaps. For example, the cardiovascular chapter has useful sections on hypertension, heart failure and dyslipidaemia, but contains no information on ischaemic heart disease or anticoagulation. Much of the information approaches topics from a secondary care perspective and for community practitioners there is just one chapter on self-treatable conditions. This includes protocols for constipation, pain, cough and the common cold, but many UK-based references already cover these topics well.

The price and size of the book and the complexity of some of the protocols mean that this is certainly not an aide-memoire for everyday treatment. However, the information within some of the protocols could potentially be very useful, particularly in selected areas of secondary care. For example, the section on venous access device-related occlusion contains advice on appropriate choice of thrombolytics and agents to remove blockages caused by drug precipitates. I would recommend this book as an occasional reference source for a medicines information department or anyone involved in writing treatment protocols.

Damian Child