Comparison of gentamicin dose estimates derived from manual calculations, the Australian 'Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic' nomogram and the SeBA-GEN and DoseCalc software programs.

Aim: To compare gentamicin dose estimates from four predictive methods.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted, comprising patients at Fremantle Hospital who received gentamicin therapy and had at least one gentamicin serum concentration reported. A manual calculation method, the Australian 'Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic' (TGA) nomogram and the SeBA-GEN and DoseCalc software packages were compared.

A review of the pharmacoeconomics of pharmaceutical care.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the therapeutic use of drugs results in adverse outcomes and contributes to high rates of morbidity and mortality. The causes of drug-related problems are multifactorial and their assessment has been based on factors such as inappropriate prescribing, inappropriate delivery, inappropriate patient behaviour, patient idiosyncrasy and inappropriate monitoring. The cost in the ambulatory setting has been estimated to exceed total prescription pharmaceutical use.

Distribution and excretion of sertraline and N-desmethylsertraline in human milk.

Aims: To characterise milk/plasma (M/P) ratio and infant exposure, for sertraline and N-desmethylsertraline, in breast-feeding women taking sertraline for the treatment of depression.

Methods: Eight women (mean age 28 years) taking sertraline (1.05 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) and their infants (mean age 5.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting: development of a management protocol.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is still an important and common problem. Despite the introduction of new antiemetic drugs, the management of PONV remains difficult. In this article we describe the development and evaluation of a management protocol for PONV, which consists of a treatment algorithm accompanied by a nursing education program.