Summary

Inappropriate use of medicines wastes resources and seriously undermines the quality of patient care. A drug and therapeutics committee (DTC) can significantly improve drug use and reduce costs in hospitals and other health care facilities in the following ways:

• providing advice on all aspects of drug management
• developing drug policies
• evaluating and selecting drugs for the formulary list
• developing (or adapting) and implementing standard treatment guidelines
• assessing drug use to identify problems
• conducting interventions to improve drug use
• managing adverse drug reactions and medication errors
• informing all staff members about drug use issues, policies and decisions.