Objective. The reduced use of sugars-containing (SC) liquid medicines has increased the use of other dose forms, potentially resulting in more widespread dental effects, including tooth wear. The aim of this study was to assess the erosive potential of 97 paediatric medicines in vitro . Methods. The study took the form of in vitro measurement of endogenous pH and titratable acidity (mmol). Endogenous pH was measured using a pH meter, followed by titration to pH 7.0 with 0.1-M NaOH. Results. Overall, 55 (57%) formulations had an endogenous pH of < 5.5. The mean ( ± SD) endogenous pH and titratable acidity for 41 SC formulations were 5.26 ± 1.30 and 0.139 ± 0.133 mmol, respectively; for 56 sugars-free (SF) formulations, these figures were 5.73 ± 1.53 and 0.413 ± 1.50 mmol ( P > 0.05). Compared with their SC bioequivalents, eight SF medicines showed no significant differences for pH or titratable acidity, while 15 higher-strength medicines showed lower pH ( P = 0.035) and greater titratable acidity ( P = 0.016) than their lower-strength equivalents. Chewable and dispersible tablets ( P < 0.001), gastrointestinal medicines ( P = 0.002) and antibiotics ( P = 0.007) were significant predictors of higher pH. In contrast, effervescent tablets ( P < 0.001), and nutrition and blood preparations ( P = 0.021) were significant predictors of higher titratable acidity. Conclusions. Paediatric SF medicines were not more erosive than SC medicines in vitro ; a more significant predictor of their erosive potential was dose form.

MAS release NHS resources (especially in relation to GP consultations) by preventing (or minimizing) patient use of alternative and more costly branches of the NHS.

Objectives Suitably qualified pharmacists in the UK are able to prescribe all medicines. While doctors' prescribing errors are well documented, there is little information on the rate and nature of pharmacists' prescribing errors. Our aim was to measure the prevalence of prescribing errors by pharmacists. Methods Prescribing by pharmacists, for inpatients admitted to three hospitals in North East England was studied. Part one measured the extent of prescribing by pharmacists as a proportion of all prescribing on a single day. The number of medication orders, reason for prescribing and therapeutic category were collected by the researcher (OC). In part two, pharmacist prescribing was reviewed for safety and accuracy by ward-based clinical pharmacists over 10 days; errors were documented and categorised as per EQUIP study. Results Part 1: Pharmacists prescribed one or more medication orders for 182 (39.8%) of 457 patients, accounting for 12.9% (680 from 5274) of all medication orders prescribed on a single census day. Pharmacists prescribed medicines from 12 out of 15 British National Formulary categories (no prescribing of drugs used in malignancy, immunology and anaesthetics). Part 2: 1415 pharmacist-prescribed medication orders were checked by clinical pharmacists, with four errors (0.3%) reported. Conclusions This study suggests that prescribing pharmacists can provide a valuable role in safely prescribing for a broad range of inpatients in UK general hospitals.

has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, a worldwide licence to the Publishers and its licensees in perpetuity, in all forms, formats and media (whether known now or created in the future), to (a) publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the Contribution, (b) translate the Contribution into other languages, create adaptations, reprints, include within collections and create summaries, extracts and/or, abstracts of the Contribution, (c) create any other derivative work(s) based on the Contribution, (d) to exploit all subsidiary rights in the Contribution, (e) the inclusion of electronic links from the Contribution to third party material where-ever it may be located and (f) licence any third party to do any or all of the above.