PJ, November 2003

A new standard coding system for reporting patient safety incidents

Over the next year the National Patient Safety Agency will be rolling out the new National Reporting and Learning System for NHS-funded health care in England and Wales. In this article, David Cousins, head of safe medication practice at the NPSA, highlights some important features of the system and…

National reporting and learning is crucial for better patient safety

The National Patient Safety Agency will be rolling out the new National Reporting and Learning System for National Health Service-funded health care in England and Wales during the next year. In the first of four articles, Wendy Harris, senior pharmacist at the NPSA, reviews the evidence on reportin…

Guide to economic evaluations

This second article on pharmacoeconomics gives an overview of how to assess the quality of an economic evaluation and discusses how economic evaluations are used to influence the provision of health care.…

An introduction to health economics

Economics is increasingly being used to make health policy decisions and pharmacists need to understand the basic concepts involved. This article explains some of the concepts and terms that pharmacists may come across.…

Anaesthesia and surgical pain relief: managing post-operative pain

Pain following surgery distresses patients and can slow their recovery. The second part of this month’s special feature sets out the options for treating post-operative pain.…

Anaesthesia and surgical pain relief — the ideal general anaesthetic agent

The aim of this article is to describe the properties of the ideal anaesthetic agent, review how close today’s anaesthetic agents are to the ideal and look at the future for anaesthetic agents.…