This study documented the types and quality of sexual health medications obtained by immigrant Latinos from non-medical sources. Samples of the medications were purchased from non-medical sources in the rural Southeast by trained native Spanish-speaking "buyers". Medications were screened the presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients using mass spectrometry. Eleven medications ...

Priapism is defined as a prolonged and persistent erection of the penis without sexual stimulation. This is a poorly understood disease process with little information on the pathophysiology of this erectile disorder. Complications from this disorder are devastating due to the irreversible erectile damage and resultant erectile dysfunction (ED). Stuttering ...

Many over-the-counter medications are available to help alleviate common discomforts experienced during pregnancy. Although many appear to be safe, ealthcare providers must familiarize themselves with these medications.

OBJECTIVES: As medical care evolves, automated sphygmomanometers must be able to provide accurate and timely blood pressure (BP) data to the healthcare provider. We evaluated the performance of a new hand-held, battery-operated device, the Welch Allyn ProBP 3400, to the AAMI SP 10 criteria. We also performed British Hypertension Society ...

The aim of this study was to describe qualitatively and quantitatively dietary supplements (DS) and medication use in elite athletes. Athletes (n=912; age 23.9±6 years; 72% male) reported medications and DSs taken within 3 days before doping control. We analyzed data collected from 2006 to 2008, indentified and classified substances. ...

Background: The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease-derived estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is used widely. Although validated in stable chronic kidney disease (CKD) outpatients, it is not known how it performs in those presenting with acute medical illness. Aim: We aimed to compare eGFR with Cockroft Gault (CG) ...

Objective The long-term goal of this work is the automated discovery of anaphoric relations from the clinical narrative. The creation of a gold standard set from a cross-institutional corpus of clinical notes and high-level characteristics of that gold standard are described. Methods A standard methodology for annotation guideline development, gold ...

Background. Clinical guidelines recommend medications as first line treatment for many musculoskeletal injuries. As first line health professionals for musculoskeletal conditions, including sprains and strains, physiotherapists may be asked to recommend suitable medications. Currently recommending medications is outside of the physiotherapists scope of practice. However there is evidence that physiotherapists often ...

In the past two decades, there has been an exponential increase in the use of medicinal herbal products around the world. In various countries, these products are classified and promoted as foods, not pharmaceuticals, which facilitate their availability on the international market without requiring a medical prescription. Since older adults ...

Medication prescribing is a complex process where the focus tends to be on starting new medication, changing a drug regimen, and continuing a drug regimen. On occasion, a prudent approach to prescribing may necessitate ending an ongoing course of medication, either because it should not have been started in the ...

The British and Dutch share a long naval-, war- and medical history, in good times as well as bad. Their language has a common Germanic origin, but the English people may use special ways to express values or opinions, from which the sometimes paradoxical meaning is not always clear to ...

The British and Dutch share a long naval-, war- and medical history, in good times as well as bad. Their language has a common Germanic origin, but the English people may use special ways to express values or opinions, from which the sometimes paradoxical meaning is not always clear to ...

The humanities are increasingly recognized as an important component of medical student education. This study addresses whether early exposure to healthy older adults through the humanities may prepare medical students for positive relationships with aging patients. Few studies have presented a detailed example of a humanistic endeavor organized by medical ...

Several sets of explicit criteria for potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) have been developed by expert consensus. The purpose of this review is to summarize and compare existing criteria to enable more informed choices about their use. After a systematic literature search was conducted, seven examples of criteria published between 1991 ...

Osteoporosis is a significant health problem, especially for older women. Prescription osteoporosis medication can reduce fractures, but many women do not accept treatment or discontinue treatment before benefits are achieved. To explore older women's views about prescription osteoporosis medication use in depth and to identify specific beliefs and experiences that ...

Picking up prescriptions is an essential but previously unstudied component of adherence for patients who use retail pharmacies. Understanding the epidemiology and correlates of prescription abandonment may have an important effect on health care quality. To evaluate the rates and correlates of prescription abandonment. Cross-sectional cohort study. One large retail ...

delirium is a common clinical problem and is associated with adverse health outcomes. Many medications have been associated with the development of delirium, but the strength of the associations is uncertain and it is unclear which medications should be avoided in people at risk of delirium. we conducted a systematic ...

To evaluate how many patients with overactive bladder still take their prescribed medication at least 12 months later and to find out the reasons for discontinuation of the therapy. Two hundred and ten patients who had received a prescription for anticholinergic medication were contacted by telephone 12-46 months later. Out of 210 ...

Purpose of the project was to test a Web-based program designed to prevent prescription drug misuse. Study sample consisted of 346 working women randomized into either an experimental or wait-list control condition. Analysis of covariance and logistic regression were used to compare responses. Women receiving the intervention had greater knowledge ...

Rosacea is a chronic skin condition that requires lifelong treatment. Given the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, many physicians are re-evaluating their use of antibiotics for long-term treatment of rosacea. To examine trends in the treatment of rosacea and the comorbidities associated with this skin condition. From 2002-2006, the National Ambulatory ...

The number of safe and effective medication treatments for psychiatric illness has expanded substantially over the past 10 to 15 years. Knowing when and how to prescribe psychotropics--and knowing which medication to prescribe--can be challenging, but with knowledge of some basic principles, this task can be performed adeptly by physicians ...

To evaluate the impact of generic substitution decision support on electronic (e-) prescribing of generic medications. The authors analyzed retrospective outpatient e-prescribing data from an academic medical center and affiliated network for July 1, 2005-September 30, 2008 using an interrupted time-series design to assess the rate of generic prescribing before ...

Large events have been defined in many ways, from the vague description of a focused gathering of people to the more specific description of an event with at least 1,000 spectators and participants who are gathered at a specific location for a defined period of time. Regardless of the definition ...

Multiple medication use is common in older adults and may ameliorate symptoms, improve and extend quality of life, and occasionally cure disease. Unfortunately, multiple medication use is also a major risk factor for prescribing and adherence problems, adverse drug events, and other adverse health outcomes. Using the case of an ...

Unlike most other drugs that only affect individual patients if used incorrectly for self-medication, misused antibiotics add to the global risk of increased spread of bacterial resistance. This review focuses on self-medication with antibiotics in Europe and its determinants. High prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics has been repeatedly found in ...

During 1999-2006, rates of unintentional drug-related deaths increased 120% in the U.S. This report describes demographics and trends of unintentional medication overdose deaths among Oklahoma residents to target prevention strategies. Oklahoma medical examiner data regarding fatal unintentional poisonings involving at least one prescription or over-the-counter medication during 1994-2006 and opioid ...

In the context of CPOE of standardized antineoplastic drugs, the objectives of the present study were to determine the incidence of prescribing medication errors (PME) and to analyse PME related to antineoplastic treatment in university teaching hospitals. All consecutive prescribing medication orders over 1 year were analysed prospectively. Potential clinical ...

The question of whether new medical graduates are adequately prepared for the challenge of prescribing has been raised. Although broad outcomes for prescribing competency have been agreed, clarity is needed on the detailed outcomes expected of new graduates. This study aimed to create a consensus on the required competencies for ...

Monitoring appropriate categories of medication sales can provide early warning of certain disease outbreaks. This paper presents a methodology for choosing and monitoring medication sales relevant for the surveillance of gastroenteritis and assesses the operational characteristics of the selected medications for early warning. Acute diarrhoea incidences in mainland France were ...

Self-medication is defined as the selection and use of medicines by individuals (or a member of the individuals' family) to treat self-recognized or self-diagnosed conditions or symptoms. Several benefits have been linked to appropriate self-medication, among them: increased access to medication and relief for the patient, the active role of ...

Like many payers, the Department of Defense (DoD) has limited ability to work directly with prescribers to ensure appropriate medication use. Many older beneficiaries are prescribed multiple maintenance medications, placing them at higher risk for adverse drug interactions, contraindicated medication use, and other polypharmacy-related problems. Medication reviews may mitigate these ...

Self-medication includes several forms through which the individual him/herself or the ones responsible for him/her decide, without medical evaluation, which drug they will use and in which way for the symptomatic relief and "cure" of a condition. It involves sharing drugs with other members of the family and social group, ...

In December 2007, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and the National Patient Safety Agency in the UK (NICE-NPSA) published guidance that recommends all adults admitted to hospital receive medication reconciliation, usually by pharmacy staff. A costing and report tool was provided indicating a resource requirement of 12.9 ...

Neuroenhancement (NE) refers to the use of prescription medications by healthy persons to boost their cognitive skills. This growing phenomenon represents a potential market not only for pharmaceutical manufacturers but also for physicians who might enter the potentially lucrative specialty of so-called cosmetic neurology. But before the medical establishment gears ...

This study assessed the proportion of large, child-serving community mental health centers that used medication guidelines. Two hundred clinic directors from across the country completed an hour-long semi-structured interview, and 152 of these directors answered whether or not medication guidelines were used at their clinics. Half of these clinics' directors ...

to categorise online suppliers of Viagra based on their legal status, and to quantify the suppliers within each category. Google was used to search for websites offering to sell or supply either proprietary Viagra tablets or generic versions containing sildenafil citrate. Relevant websites were classified as falling into one of ...

Non-medical use of sedatives is an ongoing problem. However, very little is known about the characteristics of individuals who use sedatives non-medically, or the motives behind such use. The present analysis, involving a sample of individuals reporting non-medical use of sedatives in the past 12 months (N=188), examined the relationship ...

Since 2002 the US Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system has initiated national policies and programmes to reduce smoking among its patients and to increase evidence-based treatment for smoking. To document changes in dispensing rates of cessation-related medications in VA from 2004 to 2008. Retrospective analysis of VA administrative data. Prescription ...

North America features some of the world's highest consumption levels for controlled psychoactive prescription drugs (PPDs; e.g. prescription opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants), with non-medical use and related harms (e.g. morbidity, mortality) rising in key populations in recent years. While the determinants, characteristics and impacts of these 'use' problems are increasingly well ...

To estimate medical expenditures attributable to diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) and severe hypoglycemia among privately insured insulin-treated U.S. youth with diabetes. We analyzed the insurance claims of 7,556 youth, age ≤ 19 years, with insulin-treated diabetes. The youth were continuously enrolled in fee-for-service health plans, and claims were obtained from the ...

Gastric acid suppressant medications used as stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) in the intensive care unit (ICU) are often prescribed inappropriately after discharge. We present tools to reduce the use and cost of non-indicated SUP. To reduce the non-indicated use of SUP after hospital discharge originally started in the ICU, using ...

Changes in delivery of health care services has led to pressure for community pharmacists to extend their traditional role and become more involved with patient-focussed services such as medication reviews, in collaboration with general practitioners (GPs). This has not been generally implemented into routine practice, and many barriers have been ...

Despite lack of scientific evidence about the safety of complementary and alternative medicines, the reported use of such remedies during pregnancies has increased. This study was undertaken to investigate the use of herbs, vitamins, and over-the-counter and prescription medications among pregnant Hispanic women and reasons for use, and to assess ...

Medications play a large part in today's health-care delivery. Indeed, it is this centrality to health care that has fuelled various debates about the cost and benefits of different drugs, especially expensive medicines associated with cancer treatments and multiple sclerosis (MS). Undoubtedly, medications have been responsible for improved patient outcomes ...

Medication management is a major part of nursing practice. Ensuring safety in medication management is all the more important in the community, where patients are not under constant observation of a health-care professional. One of the prime factors in maintaining safety with medication is establishing and maintaining adequate and safe ...

There is growing concern about whether passive surveillance can detect adverse drug events (ADEs). Our objective was to demonstrate the reach of an interactive voice response system (IVRS) to systematically monitor symptoms experienced by ambulatory patients prescribed one of 31 medications, and to document whether there were differences in our ...

To examine patterns and recent trends in multiclass psychotropic treatment among youth visits to office-based physicians in the United States. Annual data from the 1996-2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys were analyzed to examine patterns and trends in multiclass psychotropic treatment within a nationally representative sample of 3,466 child and ...

Assess whether a convenient care clinic (CCC) medical weight-loss program can promote weight loss. Prospective cohort study with follow-up at 10 weeks. A CCC (Lindora Health Clinic) weight-loss program (Lean for Life) based in a retail pharmacy (Rite Aid Pharmacy) in Costa Mesa, California. The first 100 people to purchase ...

Online pharmacies (OPs) are recognized as a potential threat to public health. The growth of an unregulated global drugs market risks increasing the spread of counterfeit medicines which are often delivered to consumers without a medical prescription. The aim of the study was to assess the strategies of argumentation that ...

Nursing home residents usually suffer from a variety of medical conditions and are prescribed a wider variety of medications than any other subpopulation. Polypharmacy is associated with the occurrence of adverse events. The purposes of this study were to describe the medication prescription patterns of residents who died in a ...