Our Story...
The King Guide to Parenteral
Admixtures was first published in 1971 by James C.King, Ph.D., to
provide a comprehensive compilation of data on the compatibility of
parenteral drug admixtures. Today, King Guide includes compatibility
data for parenteral medication administered in various patient care
settings, including homecare environments.
Dr. King's goal in publishing King
Guide was to provide practitioners with a comprehensive, timely, and
authoritative reference on parenteral admixtures. He designed King Guide
so that updated information could be added easily to the original
compilation of information. Beginning with the first year of
publication, quarterly supplements have been an integral and valued
feature of "his Guide". Quarterly supplements to King Guide are
published to keep the contents up-to-date.
Dr. King envisioned King Guide as the
replacement for numerous compatibility charts that were in use in the
1960's. He viewed those compilations as inadequate in supporting the
needs of practitioners seeking current compatibility and stability
information about parenterals. The initial body of information that was
published as King Guide in 1971 was summarized by Dr. King from
references one through twenty-four. Most of those initial references
were recompilations of even earlier reports, so ascertaining the
original sources was difficult. Therefore any unreferenced remark or
notation in any of the monographs is derived from one of these first
twenty-four references. All other data entries are individually
referenced.
Soon after the initial publication of
King Guide , a number of pharmacists and nurses requested a mechanism
whereby they could share their observations on extemporaneous parenteral
admixtures. Over the years, literally hundreds of practitioners have
reported their observations to King Guide . These contributions to King
Guide are recognized in the references as personal communications. These
practitioners' willingness to share their experiences with us is greatly
appreciated, and has added an important practical dimension to King
Guide.
When Dr. King retired in 1992, he
asked Dr. Pat Catania to help him by serving as Contributing Editor. The
King Guide is now published by Dr. King's daughter, Elizabeth Hudnell,
president of King Guide Publications, Inc. As King Guide approaches its
fourth decade of usage by practitioners, Dr. Catania, and all of us at
King Guide Publications will continue Dr. King's plan - to provide a
comprehensive, timely, and authoritative reference on parenteral drug
compatibility.
Since 1992, the
King Guide has been transformed into a reference available in just about
every media. In addition to the original updateable loose-leaf
edition, the King Guide is now available in bound, CD-ROM, Internet, and
PDA formats. In addition, the King Guide is available on other drug
information resources as a licensed addition to create powerful all-in-one
references.
