Product categories patient specific

Choose an appropriate category of enteral nutrition (EN) product given patient-specific parameters. 

The Medicines Act divides all medicinal products into three categories general sale list (GSL) items pharmacy medicines (P) and prescription-only medicines (POM). The Act sets out legal requirements associated with each category of medicine and the administration of medicines to patients, including the use of patient specific directions (PSDs) and patient group directions (PGDs). 

By this we mean interactions that occur after the medicine has been administered to the patient. For the most part, they are physical interactions. However, the major distinctions are that the interaction is between the medicine (including excipients) and the body fluids, primarily comprising aqueous solutions, and that they have the potential to influence the rate of absorption of the drug. They will vary depending on the route of administration. Because physiological and biopharmaceutical interactions are so important, and they are not specifically linked, for example, to the stability of the medicinal product, and also because they occur after the medicine has been administered to the patient, they have been included as a special category for the purposes of this discussion. The importance and potential impact of biopharmaceutical interactions of excipients has been recognized for some years (see for example Ref. 29). 

In general, no more than one product is necessary per category of enteral feeding formulations and it may be possible to omit certain categories based on the specific population and physician prescribing practices within a given institution. The selection of product should be based on meeting patient nutritional requirements. Additional selection criteria include container size and type, liquid or powder form, shelf life, ease of use, and cost. 

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