Faculty Bibliography

A computerized drug-review system both reviews drug orders and notifies clinicians of orders that are considered exceptions to some clinical guidelines. The impact of this system in a psychiatric center in which it has been used since December 1975 is examined in terms of the reduction of the percentage of orders of psychotropic drugs that involve polypharmacy or dose-range exceptions. The results show a substantial reduction in orders in exception since the implementation of the system

Analgesia through nefopam (30 mg, 60 mg, 90 mg), aspirin (325 mg, 650 mg), and placebo were compared in 122 hospitalized patients with moderate to severe postoperative, fracture, or other somatic pain. A double-blind noncrossover study design was used, and patients were evaluated for pain intensity and pain relief over a 6-hr period. Based on sum of pain intensity differences (SPID) scores, treatment effects were consistent and indicative of good dose response to both active medications. Pain relief scores were more variable but were generally in accordance with SPID values. Time-effect curves were similar. Estimated relative potency of nefopam to aspirin was 10.4 with a 95% confidence interval of 6.3 to 20.8 for SPID, indicating that the analgesic potency of nefopam, 60 mg, was equivalent to that of aspirin, 650 mg. Side effects were minimal

In a double-blind controlled study, an oral dose of diphenhydramine hydrochloride (12.5, 25, or 50 mg), methapyrilene fumarate (36, 72, or 144 mg), or placebo was administered to 1295 post-partum patients if they complained of, or anticipated, a sleep problem. Hypnotic activity was assessed clinically by subjective and objective techniques. Methapyrilene and diphenhydramine, at all doses, were found to be effective hypnotics in comparison to placebo, based on sleep latency, sleep duration, awakening in the night, global evaluation, and morning alertness. Increasing the dose of these drugs, in the range studied, produced a minimal increase in effectiveness

An approach for developing quantitative care norms for outpatient acute psychiatric patients is presented. Both the methodological concept of the norming procedure and its application to the needs of Medicaid in Rockland County, New York are given. The methodology is totally general in that it could be applied to concerns related to characterization of services rendered in a wide variety of applications ranging from planning to utilization review. The norms developed relate both to monthly quantity of services rendered and length of active treatment period. Further, the impact of a review rule is discussed in terms of its implication to number of cases reviewed

Dosage estimates of antiinflammatory drugs in human arthritis Phase II trials are difficult to obtain and prolong such trials unnecessarily. Antiinflammatory drugs almost always have analgesic properties in man and good dose estimates for analgesic activity can be obtained. In 140 patients with surgical pain, 300, 600, and 1200 mg of aspirin were compared to 75, 150, and 300 mg of 43-715 (1-isopropyl-4-phenyl-7-methyl-2 (1H) quinazolone), an antiinflammatory quinazolone derivative, for analgesia in a double-blind trial using subjective response methodology. The test drug was shown to be analgesic at a level four times more potent, milligram for milligram, than aspirin, an estimate that should be useful for later definitive Phase II trials in arthritis