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The Merck Manual of Medical Information ‐ Home Edition

1998; Wiley; Volume: 28; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/jppr1998285388

0310-6810

Geraldine Moses,

Medical Research and Practices

for the care plan.The decision-making principles which determine whether a change to the plan needs to be made and how to document changes in the patient medical history are included.Because the Clinical Skills Program was developed for use in the United States, it has a number of limitations.American generic and trade names are used, along with non-SI units.Some drugs mentioned are not available in Australia.The format, layout and nomenclature of the patient medical history varies considerably in parts from the style used in Australian hospitals.It includes, for example, a section for physicians orders, and information on financial and insurance data collected for billing purposes.These differences in style and also the large size of the history may make it more confusing than useful.The expectations of the role of the pharmacist may not correspond to Australian practice.Two examples found in the example patient medical history are 'theophylline IV continuous infusion to be dosed by pharmacist' and 'pharmacist to determine acetate and chloride content in a TPN order'.The text tends to be wordy and repetitive and an extensive amount of documentation is required.Allowing for the limitations discussed above, the Clinical Skills Program is still a useful self-study package, either for individual use or in a group setting.It teaches the thought processes and problem-solving skills needed to apply pharmaceutical care, although this level of pharmaceutical care may be too timeintensive for Australian hospital practice.People who may benefit from this program include pharmacy students, recent graduates and practising pharmacists wishing to extend and improve their clinical skills.The SHPA Committee of Speciality Practice in Clinical Pharmacy is seeking funds to develop a similar training program more suitable for Australian pharmacists.