Pharmaceutical algorithms set in a real time clinical decision support targeting high-alert medications applied to pharmaceutical analysis.

Background: Pharmaceutical analysis of the prescription has to prop up the quality of patients' medication management in a context of medication's risk acculturation. But this activity remains highly variable. Medication-related clinical decision support may succeed in reducing adverse drug events and healthcare costs.

The clinical impact of medication reconciliation on admission to a French hospital: a prospective observational study.

Objective: This study was designed to assess the clinical impact of medication reconciliation using two criteria: the number of inpatients who had experienced at least one medication error; the severity of the potential harm associated with these detected errors.

Method: The study was a prospective observational one. The eligible population included patients aged 65 and over subjected to medication reconciliation at admission.

[A Woman Experienced Severe Thrombocytopenia When Treated With Fluvastatin].

A 62-year-old woman treated with fluvastatin experienced three separate thrombocytopenic illnesses, severe on two occasions associated with nadir platelet count of 57 000/µL and 75 000/µL. The hospital pharmacist replaced fluvastatin by pravastatin during three stays. Platelet count has increased some days after this substitution.

Food allergens submitted to compulsory food labelling in the 50 highest-selling drugs in France.

Many active ingredients and excipients present in allopathic drugs derive from food allergens normally associated with compulsory food labelling. This study was undertaken to evaluate the presence of these components in the various pharmaceutical formulations of the 50 highest-selling drugs in French pharmacies in 2002 (in quantity and/or value), and to assess their labelling on the packaging of these drugs. The 174 pharmaceutical formulations of 86 drugs were studied and the composition of each one was identified using data-processing software.