BACKGROUND With the use of medicines being a broad and extensive part of health management, mechanisms to ensure quality use of medicines are essential. Drug usage evaluation (DUE) is an evidence-based quality improvement methodology, designed to improve the quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of drug use. The purpose of this paper is to describe a national DUE methodology used to improve he...

BACKGROUND Patient satisfaction is the ultimate goal of healthcare system which can be achieved from good patient-healthcare professional relationship and quality of healthcare services provided. Study was conducted to determine the baseline satisfaction level of newly diagnosed diabetics and to explore the impact of pharmaceutical care intervention on patients' satisfaction during their follow...

As a determining factor in various diseases and the leading known cause of preventable mortality and morbidity, tobacco use is the number one public health problem in developed countries. Facing this health problem requires authorities and health professionals to promote, via specific programs, health campaigns that improve patients' access to smoking cessation services. Pharmaceutical care has...

The concept of quality in health services can be defined as meeting the set requirements at the lowest possible cost. Health care services need to be of good quality for achieving the desired outcomes. These principles were extended to the community pharmacy services via the philosophy of pharmaceutical care in the beginning of 1990’s. In pharmaceutical care, pharmacists take more responsibilit...

BACKGROUND Pharmaceutical companies in Africa need to invest in both facilities and quality management systems to achieve good manufacturing practice (GMP) compliance. Compliance to international GMP standards is important to the attainment of World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification. However, most of the local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies may be deterred from investing in qua...

BACKGROUND Pharmaceutical care is the direct interaction between pharmacist and patient, in order to improve therapeutic compliance, promote adequate pharmacotherapeutic follow-up, and improve quality of life. Pharmaceutical care may be effective in reducing complications and in improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases, like Chagas heart disease, while bringing a positive...

The influenza A/H1N1 pandemic in 2009e2010 brought a hug impact to both scientists and public health authorities in public health sector in Korea. The Korean scientists traced the pathogenesis and chronological localization of influenza A/H1N1 [1], and also checked antiviral resistance in Korea [2]. Surveillance data on influenza-like illness (ILI) utilized to model to estimate the influenza pa...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this review is to explore interactions between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry including sales representatives and their impact on physicians' attitude and prescribing habits. DATA SOURCES PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Google scholar electronic databases were searched from 1992 to August 2016 using free-text words and medical subject headings rele...

The primary aim of patient care is to provide the best medication that can produce the best treatment with minimal or no harm. This is only possible when the entire health care workers play their card well through correct prescription, dispensing, drug administration and adequate patient monitoring. However, the outcome is not always favorable because of the limited time undergone by the drug d...

BACKGROUND International initiatives such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the President's Malaria Initiative have significantly increased availability and access to medicines in some parts of the developing world. Despite this, however, skills remain limited on quantifying needs for medications and ordering, receivin...