From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
The Australian Medicines
Handbook or AMH is
a medical reference text commonly
used in practice by health
professionals (particularly
general practitioners and
pharmacists) in
Australia. It is a
highly-regarded source of concise,
independent drug information to
aid in the practice of
evidence-based medicine. The
AMH is largely based on the model
of the
British National Formulary
(BNF) but contains completely
Australian content.
The AMH is published by an
independent company – Australian
Medicines Handbook Pty Ltd, based
in
Adelaide, South Australia.
Structure
The AMH contains three main
types of information:
- drug monographs - relevant
information about individual
drugs by drug name (e.g.
enalapril)
- class statements - relevant
information about classes of
drugs (e.g.
ACE inhibitors)
- therapeutic considerations -
relevant information about
disease management and treatment
selection (e.g.
heart failure)
History
The idea of such a text was
first proposed in 1991 and became
a collaboration between the
Australian Society of Clinical and
Experimental Pharmacologists and
Toxicologists (ASCEPT), the
Pharmaceutical Society of
Australia (PSA) and the
Royal Australian College of
General Practitioners (RACGP).
These three organisations continue
to sponsor the production of the
AMH.
After seven years of
development, and with the aid of a
Commonwealth grant, the first
edition was published in May 1998.
It was initially published every
two years (1998, 2000 and 2002
editions), but has been published
on an annual basis since 2002.
Publication formats
The current print edition, the
seventh published, is the
Australian Medicines Handbook 2006
(released January 2006). The AMH
is also available in an electronic
format, known as eAMH, for
Microsoft Windows and
Mac OS X platforms on
CD-ROM and online through the
Health Care Network. A version
for
personal digital assistants (PDAs),
known as pAMH, is available
for devices based on the
Windows Mobile (Pocket
PC) platform.
Australian Medicines Handbook
also publish two companion texts:
"AMH Drug Choice Companion:
Emergency and Primary Care" and "AMH
Drug Choice Companion: Aged Care",
which deal with
pharmacotherapeutics in these
specialised areas.
Past editions
- Misan GM (Ed.) (1998).
Australian Medicines Handbook.
Adelaide: Australian Medicines
Handbook.
ISBN 0-6463532-6-8
- Rossi S (Ed.) (2000).
Australian Medicines Handbook
(2 ed.). Adelaide: Australian
Medicines Handbook.
ISBN 0-646-38303-5
- Rossi S (Ed.) (2002).
Australian Medicines Handbook
2002. Adelaide: Australian
Medicines Handbook.
ISBN 0-9578521-1-8
- Rossi S (Ed.) (2003).
Australian Medicines Handbook
2003. Adelaide: Australian
Medicines Handbook.
ISBN 0-9578521-2-6
- Rossi S (Ed.) (2004).
Australian Medicines Handbook
2004. Adelaide: Australian
Medicines Handbook.
ISBN 0-9578521-4-2
- Rossi S (Ed.) (2005).
Australian Medicines Handbook
2005. Adelaide: Australian
Medicines Handbook.
ISBN 0-9578521-9-3
- Rossi S (Ed.) (2006).
Australian Medicines Handbook
2006. Adelaide: Australian
Medicines Handbook.
ISBN 0-9757919-2-3
