Pink Book General Advice and Introduction

Prescribing Instructions for Medicines

• A new section has been added to these instructions titled After Hours Discharge and Community Prescribing.
• In the section titled Use of Medicines Outside PHARMAC Hospital Medicines List (HML) Restrictions added that the Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment (NPPA) application process is for an individual patient whose clinical circumstances are exceptional.
• In the section titled All Outpatient and Discharge Prescriptions – General Advice – Funding Issues the option to fax special authority applications when unable to apply electronically has been removed to align with a Ministry of Health change from 1 December 2020 (published in the PHARMAC Update).

Antimicrobial Guidelines

Penicillin Allergy

• This page now links to the new Hospital HealthPathway Adverse Reactions to Penicillins in Adults.

Bacterial Endocarditis Treatment

• Advice added to beta-lactams that dose reduction might be required in severe renal impairment (CrCl less than 30 mL/min) and to seek advice from Infectious Diseases/Pharmacy.

Antimicrobial Susceptibilities

• New section on Antimicrobial Susceptibilities has been added to help make local antimicrobial susceptibility patterns (also known as “sensitivities” or “antibiogram” more accessible).

Prescribing Guidelines

Drug-Food Interactions

• Added summary box that states: The timing of medicine administration with regard to food is not important for most medicines. Limit advice about food to those few medicines where the interaction is clinically relevant.
• Added definitions for abbreviations with food (w) and without food (wo); and example medicines for each.

Ion Transporters

• Reviewed.

Pharmacokinetic Table

Vildagliptan

• Added