The charge of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee at the University of Kansas Medical Center is to recommend policy to the medical staff and hospital administration regarding the therapeutic use of drugs and other related issued. The mission of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics(P&T) Committee is to promote both cost effective and rational drug therapy. The Committee also serves as a liaison between Pharmacy and Medical Staff. Recommendations made by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee are then acted upon by the Executive Committee of the Medical staff prior to implementation.
The current 1995-1996 P&T Committee at KU Medical Center includes the following 22 members:
| Aryeh Hurwitz, MD, Chairman | Clinical Pharmacology |
| Harold Godwin,MS ,RPh, Secretary | Pharmacy |
| Dennis Allin, MD | Emergency Services |
| Kevin Ault, MD | OB-GYN |
| Becky Bishop, RN | Nursing Services |
| Masahiro Chiga, MD | Pathology and Laboratory Medicine |
| Debbie DeYoung, MS, RN | Medical Staff Quality Improvement |
| Norman Estes, MD | Chief of Staff |
| Dan Hinthorn, MD | Medicine (ID) |
| Becky Horvat, PhD | Microbiology |
| Jon Jackson | Associate Administrator |
| Curt Kauer, MD | Cardiovascular |
| Anthony Kovac, MD | Anesthesiology |
| Chi-Wan Lai, MD | Neurology |
| Richard Leff, PharmD | Pharmacy/Pediatrics |
| Carol Lindsley, MD | Pediatrics |
| Rich McKittrick, MD | Internal Medicine (Oncology) |
| William McKnelly, MD | Psychiatry |
| Janette McMillan, RPh | Admin. Coordinator, Pharmacy |
| William Mebust, MD | Surgery (Urology) |
| Mark C. Meyer, MD | Family Practice |
| Tom Valuck, MD | Associate Administrator |
The P&T Committee communicates to the health care staff via the Pharmacy Key, a periodic publication prepared by the KUMC Drug Information Service. Formulary additions, trends in drug therapy, quality assurance activities, and other pertinent P&T Committee actions can be found in this newsletter. The KUMC Formulary is another P&T publication. This reference book lists the pharmaceutical agents available at KUMC, as well as other valuable clinical information. Drug Use Evaluation News is a valuable publication that discusses the results and conclusions of various drug monitoring activities at the Medical Center. Audit Criteria and educational recommendations are also included.
The P&T Committee serves as the consultant body to review the pharmaceutical manufacturer bids to the State of Kansas and to help select agents for formulary use at KUMC. The Committee also monitors the pharmaceutical budget expenditures shown below:
FY 95
This graph represents $15.1 million in total drug expenditures for FY95. IV
solutions were excluded.
*Biotech drugs: Epoetin, G-CSF, GM-CSF, Atgam®, OKT-3®, Human Growth Hormone and
Survanta®.
In creating the KUMC Formulary, the goal of the P&T Committee is to evaluate drug
products and select the most effective, safe and cost effective medications available. As
medications are requested for inclusion into the formulary, the literature on the agent is
reviewed. The drug is also compared to other therapeutically equivalent drugs already on
the formulary. Drug monographs are prepared for the Committee by the Pharmacy Drug
Information Service. The P&T Committee members review the literature provided and vote
to accept or reject the request. In the past year there have been 21 formulary addition
requests. The Committee's actions follow:
13 received full approval, 3 received restricted approval, 5 requests were denied. The
Committee also deleted 6 items from the formulary.
The P&T Committee and the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff have placed restrictions on the use or ordering of certain formulary drugs. Such restrictions may limit the ordering of a particular drug to the attending staff, to a particular medical service, or may require a special written order or approval by a specified attending physician. These restrictions are identified throughout the KUMC Formulary on a drug specific basis. Following is a list of the restricted drugs added to the KUMC Formulary during the 1994-1995 year:
| Lamotrigine (Lamictal®) | Neurology |
| Propoxyphene 100mg/Acetaminophen 650mg (Darvocet-N100®) | Outpatient use only |
| Trimetrexate (Neutrexin®) | Infectious Disease |
As part of the hospital's ongoing Quality Assurance Program, the P&T Committee participates in drug use evaluations, monitors adverse drug reactions(ADR's), and reviews hospital medication error rates.
| Piperacillin/Tazobactam (Zosyn) DUE | Total Parenteral Nutrition DUE |
| Vancomycin DUE | Albumin and Hespan DUE |
| Ondansetron/Granisetron DUE | Midazolam DUE |
| Warfarin DUE | Ketorolac (Toradol) Outpatient DUE |
| Time Period | # of Errors | Total Doses Dispensed | % Error Occurrence Rate |
| 12/10/93-10/6/94 | 454 | 1,321,002 | 0.021% |
| 10/1/94-5/29/95 | 372 | 1,131,222 | 0.032% |
Policies and procedures involving all aspects of drug therapy are reviewed by the P & T Committee. Policies adopted in 1994-1995 include:
