Development of Hospital Formulary for Geriatric Patients: A Review

Providing the maximum safe and effective medication at the right time to the patient is the prime aphorism of all the health care setting. It can be done by the continuous updation and reviewing the informations about a medication. For hospital settings these informations can be authenticated and encompassed and it is known as hospital formulary. According to WHO hospital formulary is “a manual containing clinically oriented summaries of pharmacological information about selected drugs†[2].Formulary enumerating is an evidence based system which helps the physician to find out the correct medication with accurate dose determination. Such type of prescribing is known as rational prescribing. Geriatric patients are the patients who are in the age group of sixty five and above. So they have to experience a number of medical conditions together it is known as multiple co morbidities. As a result they have to administer so several medications together it is known as polypharmacy. It leads to increased burden of pills. The polypharmacy and inappropriate medications are the major route of medication errors in geriatric patients. The precise and up to date informations about the drugs used in such patients are necessary for achieving the therapeutic goal of improved patient safety and medication adherences.