About Us

History|People|AMH Editorial Process

Australian Medicines Handbook's mission is to provide concise practical, reliable, comparative drug information to promote quality use of medicines in Australia.

The company is independent of both government and the pharmaceutical industry, and maintains its editorial independence through an editorial committee, highly skilled editorial staff and an open peer review process.

History

In February 1991 the Consumers Health Forum and the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT) held a meeting to discuss how prescribing in Australia might be improved. The need for an independent and up-to-date source of Australian drug information to foster rational prescribing had been recognised for some time. There was unanimous agreement by those present that Australia should develop a national formulary like the British National Formulary (BNF,www.bnf.org), which has achieved a remarkable place in clinical practice as an indispensable, widely used source of independent drug information.

The task of developing an independent national formulary, to be called the Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH) was undertaken by three organisations, ASCEPT, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). These organisations obtained a grant from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Human Services in 1995 to produce a hard copy of the first edition. Although modeled on the BNF the AMH was to be totally Australian and its contents were to reflect contemporary Australian clinical practice.

What have we achieved?

The first edition of the Australian Medicines Handbook was published in May 1998, and it is currently published annually in hard copy format each January. It is also produced in CD-ROM format (eAMH), with six-monthly updates, and a PDA version (pAMH) was introduced in 2004.

AMH is also distributed online by Health Communication Network (HCN). Current customers include a number of State Health Departments, major public hospitals and universities.

AMH is now a recommended text for many pharmacy, nursing and medical schools throughout Australia. The Pharmacy Boards of Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria have made the AMH a mandatory requirement for pharmacies. The Royal College of Nursing Australia supports the use of the AMH to their members and to the nursing community at large.

The National Prescribing Service (NPS) in their work with health professionals encourage them to access appropriate information to ensure the best and most cost-effective treatment for their patients. NPS actively promotes use of Australian Medicines Handbook.

AMH Editorial Process

AMH content is derived in-house by a team of highly skilled and experienced editors who are pharmacists and doctors. Editors possess postgraduate training and experience in areas such as drug information and critical appraisal, public health, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics and editing. Work experiences are broad and include the pharmaceutical industry, academic detailing, hospital based clinical practice, and medical writing.

The editorial process is as follows:

Step one: Research, updating current content or preparing new content

Our editors find emerging information about medications or other therapies by scanning reference texts, journals and other sources of high quality, with a particular bias toward Australian publications. They also follow up on feedback from readers or reviewers. New information is edited into the text of the previous edition. Any major changes or topics not previously covered by the AMH require consultation with the Editorial Advisory Committee (EAC), a group of medical practitioners and pharmacists who oversee AMH content. For more information about the EAC please click here

Step two: Internal review

The editors consult with a Senior Editor to develop the first draft. Steps one and two can take from a few days to several months, depending on the type and amount of content being updated or newly prepared. Information regarding drug use in renal impairment and pregnancy or breastfeeding is reviewed by external associate editors who are specialist clinical pharmacists.

A range of quality assurance procedures are also applied.

Step three: External review

The first draft is sent to EAC members and Reviewers for comments. We ask that the reviewed drafts are returned within two to three weeks.

Step four: Incorporating comments

The editors examine the comments made by reviewers and EAC. If the comments are unclear or if they raise further issues, we may have to contact reviewers again for clarification. Editors may do more research to verify comments with research papers or they may seek expert opinions. They consult with the senior staff and incorporate the changes to create the second draft.

Step five: Final approval

The second draft is submitted to a selected member of the EAC for final review. Only necessary changes are made. At this stage, usually any major changes are left for the next edition. The copy is signed off and becomes the final document.

Step six: Production

The final document is typeset then proofread and spell-checked before either being sent to the printer to be published or being converted to electronic formats by our IT team.

People

Managing Editor

Simone Rossi BPharm

Editorial Projects Manager

Craig Patterson BPharm, Dip Hosp Pharm

Senior Editors

Eve Hurley BPharm
Anne Sutcliffe BSc BPharm

Editors

Fay Abbott AUA (Pharm), BA
Tess Cardinal BPharm (Hons)
Jane Curtis BPharm
Katrina Hutchinson BPharm
Janet McNeece BPharm MPS
Susan Piper BPharm
Louise Quinn BPharm
Louise Sheridan BPharm
Julie Walters BScPhm MApplSc

Content Coordinator

Suzanne Gale BPharm

Editorial Assistant

Alma Ianella

Manager, Quality Assurance and Development

Jean-Pierre Calabretto BPharm, MCompSt PhD

IT Manager

Jesse Bugden

Senior Application Developer

Kieran Fleming BCompInfSc, BA(Multimedia)

Application Developer

Quentin Hartweg BCompInfSc, BMan

Helpdesk Officer

Shona Klocke

General Manager

Peter Farrell

Business Manager

Alison Campbell Ass Dip Comp Sc, Ass Dip Acc

Sales Account Manager

Darlene Davis

Marketing Officer

Georgie Paschke BComn

Administration Assistant

Tanya Radovanovic

Editorial Advisory Committee

Prof Nick Buckley MD, FRACP (Chairman)
Medical Professorial Unit, Prince of Wales Hospital Clinical School, Prince of Wales Hospital, NSW

Dr Helen Calabretto RN, RM, PhD, FRCNA
Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of South Australia, SA

Prof Chris Del Mar, MD, FRACGP, FAFPHM
Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Bond University, QLD

Dr John Dowden MBBS (UK), FRACGP, MRCGP, MICGP
Editor, Australian Prescriber, Canberra, ACT

Prof David Gordon MBBS, FRACP, FRCPA, PhD
Head, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Flinders Medical Centre & Flinders University, SA

Assoc Prof Sarah Hilmer PhD, FRACP
Pharmacology, Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney, NSW

Prof Andrew McLachlan BPharm (Hons), PhD, FPS, FACPP
Professor of Pharmacy (Aged Care), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney and Centre for Education & Research on Ageing, Concord RG Hospital, NSW

Ms Simone Rossi BPharm
Australian Medicines Handbook

Dr W Jane Smith MBBS, FRACGP, Grad DipFM, MHS
Assoc. Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Qld

Prof Andrew Somogyi PhC, Dip Hosp Pharm, MSc, PhD
Discipline of Pharmacology, University of Adelaide, SA

Prof Anne Tonkin
Director, Medicine Learning & Teaching Unit, University of Adelaide, SA

Associate members

Mr Vaughn Eaton BPharm MClinPharm, FSHP
Director, Pharmacy Services, Flinders Medical Centre, SA

Mr Neil Hotham, BPharm
Senior Specialist Drug Information Pharmacist, Women's and Children's Hospital, SA

Board of Directors

Mr Tony Nunan (Chairman)
PSA

Emeritus Professor Felix Bochner
ASCEPT

Dr Zena Burgess
RACGP

Dr W Jane Smith
RACGP

Mr Frank Payne
PSA

Professor Andrew Somogyi
ASCEPT

Owners

Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists
ASCEPT Secretariat
Lilydale, Victoria 3140
Phone: 03 9739 7697
Fax: 03 9737 7076
AMH Board of Directors Nominees:
Emeritus Professor Felix Bochner
Professor Andrew Somogyi

Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA)
Curtin, Australian Capital Territory 2605
Phone: 02 6281 1366
Fax: 02 6285 2869
AMH Board of Directors Nominees:
Mr Anthony J Nunan (Chairman)
Mr Frank Payne

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
South Melbourne, Victoria 3205
Phone: 03 9214 1414
Fax: 03 9214 1400
AMH Board of Directors Nominees:
Dr Zena Burgess
Dr W Jane Smith