Tartrazine-containing drugs.

Although the incidence of tartrazine sensitivity in the general population is low, serious adverse reactions have occurred. To prevent unnecessary exposure of sensitive patients, physicians should avoid prescribing tartrazine-containing drugs. Because of new FDA requirements that manufacturers list tartrazine dye in both over-the-counter and prescription drugs, many manufacturers have reformulated their products to remove this colorant. Therefore, previously published lists of tartrazine-containing drugs are outdated. We conducted a survey of American manufacturers to derive a current list of tartrazine-containing drugs. This list is intended for use as a guide for health professionals who wish to avoid products containing tartrazine in prescribing for patients sensitive to it.

A novel comprehensive DUE program--five years of experience.

A comprehensive program has been developed to evaluate prescribing practices in diverse drug therapy categories and in all areas of the institution. Input for topic selection comes not only from the pharmacy department, but also from QA, medical staff, and nursing. The development of monitoring criteria and review of the results by the P&T Committee, Medical Executive Committee, and other key medical staff members, promotes ownership of the program by the medical staff. The benefit of this ownership is active support for the program and participation in peer review. Overall, the results of this cost-effective program include limited use of broad spectrum antibiotics, select prescribing of high-risk drugs, and focused educational efforts to improve quality of patient care. The primary goal for the future of the program is to develop criteria and documentation mechanisms for reporting measurable clinical outcomes. In making the transition, it is important to use the success and impact of the current program as the foundation. This is particularly true for the concurrent monitoring program and its immediate feedback mechanism. The major challenge will be evaluating negative clinical outcomes and developing corrective actions as well as documenting the positive outcomes and the avoidance of negative outcomes of the current program. To meet this challenge, the DUE program must be integrated with all other institutional QA programs. Although a difficult task, this is a significant yet necessary step in the right direction for assuring optimal patient care.