Achieving rational therapeutics through consensus-based protocols and follow-up.

In this exclusive Hospital Formulary interview, three key members of the therapeutics committee at Hartford Hospital, an 861-bed, private teaching hospital, discuss some of the techniques that they have used to ensure the development of a sound and effective formulary system within their institution. The committee emphasizes a policy-making approach that incorporates, up front, the expertise of key clinicians together with the best available information from the medical literature. Once committee policy has been set, implementation of drug use guidelines is largely automatic, and compliance is carefully monitored and reviewed.