Hospital formulary
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Abstracts in Inpharma, deHaen Drugs-in-Use, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA), Reactions, and Clin-Alert were evaluated using the number of omissions and errors as endpoints. Fifty-one abstracts were compared with original articles by pharmacy students using a standardized checklist for drug therapy and adverse drug reaction articles. The overall omission rate per abstract was 3.2 +/- 2.5. ⋯ One error occurred in approximately every fifth abstract. No differences were shown between abstracting services in this regard. Although abstracts and abstracting services can provide useful information--particularly when information is needed in a timely fashion, when an original article is difficult to obtain, or when written in a foreign language--they should not be considered a consistently reliable source of information upon which to base decisions, as evidenced by the number and types of omissions and errors described in this study.