From Drug Topics: Stories of interest to community, retail, and independent pharmacists
July 2, 2009
By:Alaina Scott, Senior Editor
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it is requiring manufacturers to put a boxed warning on the prescribing information for the smoking cessation drugs Chantix and Zyban.
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July 1, 2009
By:Drug Topics staff
Pharmacists speak out about pharmacist duties and working conditions, diminishment of the profession, what to do with "Plan B," and drive-throughs.
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July 1, 2009
By:Dana K. Cassell
Perhaps as a byproduct of global warming, poison ivy, oak, and sumac plants are spreading in numbers and their virulence is expanding. Several manufacturers are offering products designed to treat the rash, blisters, and infamous itch of these seasonal irritants.
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July 1, 2009
By:Martin Sipkoff
Underpinning the epidemic of type 2 diabetes across America is the epidemic of prediabetes, a condition that makes the development of full-blown diabetes 15 times more likely. Only about 4 percent of prediabetic adults are informed of their status by their healthcare practitioners. Community pharmacists are in a unique position to raise consumer awareness and implement interventions through screening, patient counseling, and physician referrals.
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July 1, 2009
By:Drug Topics staff
Novo Nordisk, Bayer, and Health Mart are sponsoring a campaign to highlight the role of community pharmacists in supporting early detection and management of diabetes.
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July 1, 2009
By:Mari Edlin
Medication therapy management (MTM) programs have been part of prescription drug plans since 2005 after being mandated into law in 2003. MTM gained some muscle when Medicare patients began to enroll in 2006. The 2010 draft Call Letter issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is expected to push the MTM movement even further.
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July 1, 2009
By:Margaret Mulligan, BA, BSN, RN, Editor-in-Chief
Out of every 250 prescriptions written in a day, four result in medication errors. A retail customer stands a 1-in-30 chance of receiving an incorrectly filled medication. For every 1,000 prescriptions, one error is clinically important. The solution, according to pharmacists: Pharmacist-driven initiatives.
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July 1, 2009
By:Jim Plagakis, RPh
What dancing was to Travolta, pharmacy practice is to Plagakis. But when he rates himself as a husband, the Plagakis jig turns into cringe.
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July 1, 2009
By:Martin Sipkoff
Controversy has surrounded the use of drug-eluting stents (DES) since their introduction as a tool of interventional cardiology in 2003. Studies released that year associated DES with increased risk of blood-clotting several years after implantation, and use declined. Since 2007, when the FDA concluded that DES could be appropriate therapy for some patients, intense scrutiny has produced little evidence that DES carry more risk than bare stents do.
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| Drug Topics is a monthly news magazine, guided by a board of pharmacy leaders, reporting on all phases of community, retail, and health-system issues and trends. We cover managed care and professional, national, and state activities as well as new therapies involving prescription and OTC drugs.
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| What do you spend the most time counseling customers on? | | | | OTC medications | | 58% | | | Painkillers | | 13% | | | Adverse drug reactions | | 20% | | |
| Other | | 9% | |
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