Correct prescription writing habits could have a great influence on the fate of drug therapy as well as the health of patients. One of the major types of errors in prescriptions is the "errors of commission". In this study attempts were made to examine 519 prescriptions of the internal ward of Ayatollah Taleghani teaching hospital over a period of 3 months in terms of the nature and extent of t...

Background: prescribing is the first and foremost component in the process of using drugs. Hence, it is a vital element in rational drug use. The concept of rational prescribing requires that the prescriber follows correct and complete prescription writing. Prescribing errors may have various detrimental consequences. Hence, the components of a prescription should be clearly written, free of dr...

AIMS To determine the contribution of heroin, prescription opioids, cocaine and alcohol/drug combinations to the total overdose death rate and identify changes in drug overdose patterns among New Mexico subpopulations. DESIGN We analyzed medical examiner data for all unintentional drug overdose deaths in New Mexico during 1990-2005. Age-adjusted drug overdose death rates were calculated by se...

In creating the Medicare prescription drug benefit and stipulating that it be managed by private-sector prescription drug insurance plans, Congress opened a huge business opportunity for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Although hardly noticed by the general public, PBMs already administer prescription drug benefits for nearly everyone with employer coverage and for many Medicaid recipients. T...

Background: This study was aimed to evaluate the orthopedists’ prescription pattern for outpatients referred to private clinics in Kerman province, Iran. Methods: In this study a total of 59,613 outpatients’ prescriptions issued by orthopedists contracting with Iran Health insurance organization and Iran Social Security Organization from the 1st May...

Shortages of pharmaceutical drugs pose a serious and growing threat to public health. Although the number of drugs in shortage in the United States in any given year is very small, the number of prescription drug shortages in the country nearly tripled between 2005 and 2010. Drug shortages are becoming more severe as well as more frequent. The affected medicines include cancer treatments, anest...

KEY FINDINGS Over the last 10 years, the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44% to 48%. The use of two or more drugs increased from 25% to 31%. The use of five or more drugs increased from 6% to 11%. In 2007-2008, 1 out of every 5 children and 9 out of 10 older Americans reported using at least one prescription drug in the past month...

BACKGROUND The rising costs of health care and, in particular, prescription drugs remains a challenge. Health professionals' ability to promote cost-effective prescription drug use is critical, yet this subject is not included consistently in the curriculum of most health professional schools. As experts in prescription drug selection, use, and cost, pharmacists are in a unique position to help...