This is a report of a conference which was held on Tuesday 28 February 1967 and attended by approximately 100 people, the majority of whom were doctors, nurses and pharmacists. The doctor's view about inpatient medication was concerned with problems arising from prescribing systems in hospitals. It was suggested that a multidisciplinary approach involving all the relevant professions and a scientific approach using work study analysis could help the problems. The nurse's view pointed out that nurses have a wide variety of duties to perform, and that sound teaching methods should eliminate problems with drug administration on the wards. The pharmacist acts as an intermediary between the doctor who prescribe and the nurse who administers medications to the patient. It was stressed that a proper system should exist for drug administration whereby every patient should receive the right drug in the right dosage by the right route at the right time. This was essential with so many drugs available, most of them with powerful pharmacological actions.