Drug information services

Over 40% of patients not told about side effects of their medicines

Hospital patients are not getting enough information about how to take care of themselves after discharge, according to a report by the Care Quality Commission.…

Providing medicines information to the masses

Sarah Cavanagh, acting director of East Anglia Regional Medicines Information Service for Ipswich Hospital, looks back on her career and her work with a Tropical Health and Education Trust programme supporting training of health workers and capacity building in Mozambique…

Improving medicines education to consumers by redesigning written medicines information resources

Written medicines information is an important part of consumer education, with the interpretation of this information dependent on adequate consumer health literacy. This form of education is especially important in an acute care setting where patients may be discharged from hospital on a number of …

How to use the new BNF and BNF for Children app

Around 500,000 print copies of the BNF and BNF for Children are distributed to healthcare professionals each year. A new app which combines BNF and BNF for Children content ensures the availability of drug information through a smart device.…

What pharmacists do at NHS 111

SaÅ¡a Jankovic finds out how pharmacists play an integral role at the non-emergency medical helpline for England and Scotland.…

Q&A: Providing official standards for UK medicines and pharmaceutical substances — the British Pharmacopoeia

James Pound, editor-in-chief of the British Pharmacopoeia (BP), explains how the BP is evolving to meet the changing needs of its many users and discusses how it compares and harmonises with other pharmacopoeias worldwide.…

A useful reference text of psychotropic medicines

‘Clinical handbook of psychotropic drugs 21st edition’, edited by Ric M Procyshyn, Kalyna Z Bezchlibnyk-Butler, J Joel Jeffries.…

A welcome revamp of the BNF

The redesigned BNF remains an extensive and authoritative reference text for pharmacists and healthcare professionals.…

New edition of BNF brings ‘fundamental change’

Major changes have been made to the structure and appearance of the British National Formulary, the medicines and prescribing reference book used by NHS healthcare professionals.…

Q&A: Why we redesigned the BNF

British National Formulary director Karen Baxter tells Stephen Robinson what users can expect from the publication’s new look and why the changes were needed.…