Health System

Leaders in ambulatory care pharmacy practice, medicine, and nursing met to draft recommendations to advance patient care in ambulatory settings.

Poor prescriber choices are setting patients up for for allergic reactions, super-resistant infections, and deadly diarrhea caused by C. difficile.

Teen can buy generic morning-after contraceptive directly from OTC shelves without proving age.

Patients more than 80 years old are being “over-treated” for stroke prevention with statins and antihypertensive drugs, and doctors need to actively rethink their priorities and beliefs about stroke prevention, according to a new study published in Evidence Based Medicine.

FDA advisors decided against recommending over-the-counter (OTC) marketing approval of Primatene HFA inhaler (Armstrong Pharmaceuticals) for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma in patients 12 years and older, at last week’s joint meeting of the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee.

Study finds similar levels of contamination by microorganisms on stethoscopes and physicians' dominant hands.

The DEA proposal to move hydrocodone combination products from Schedule III to Schedule II could have a major impact on pharmacies.

Blood pressure medications used by many older adults can increase the risk of serious fall injuries by 30% to 40%.

18 research centers are working to establish guidelines for safe step-down procedures for patients with well-controlled asthma.

Azithromycin, a commonly prescribed antibiotic for common infections since the early 1990s, is becoming less effective because of growing antimicrobial resistance.

Patients with severe injuries initially evaluated at non-trauma center emergency departments are less likely to be transferred to a trauma center if they have insurance, according to study published online ahead of print in JAMA Surgery.

Canadian researchers have identified 10 clinical characteristics and developed a preliminary risk scale to help standardize admission practices for COPD patients.

FDA approved droxidopa (Northera, Chelsea Therapeutics) capsules for the treatment of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (NOH). NOH is a rare, chronic and often debilitating condition that is associated with Parkinson's disease, multiple-system atrophy, and pure autonomic failure.

Nearly 12% of Medicare patients who receive inpatient rehabilitation following discharge from acute-care hospitalization are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days after discharge from the rehabilitation facility, according to a study in the Feb. 12 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association."

Saline shortages are affecting three out of four hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the country, with nearly 30% of these facilities not having adequate supplies to meet patient needs, according to a survey by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Patients who take low-dose aspirin daily can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 20%.

Among patients with high ASCVD risk, lower-intensity statin plus a bile acid sequestrant or ezetimibe lowered LDL cholesterol as well as higher-intensity statin mono therapy did.

Analysts expect to see key developments in categories that include cancer, heart failure, obesity and diabetes, and hepatitis C. They also look toward some greatly needed antibiotics to deploy in the war against superbugs.

FDA approved vortioxetine as oral tablets indicated for the treatment of major depressive disorder.

Medicare patients with only two chronic diseases and two Rx meds would be eligible for CMS-funded MTM services.

With horses, it happened when they couldn't work anymore. Pharmacists, not so much.

Your district manager is bashing you with metrics at the expense of your patients and pharmacy practice. You're in professional hell. It may be time to activate plan B.

The year-long CPE series will include knowledge-based education in the magazine and online; online interactive cases; and live MTM and motivational interviewing training at regional meetings.

An overly aggressive government is making a tough job tougher, but the pharmacist's first ethical concern must be for the patient.

Any physician office that dispenses medications should be informed about its state's legal/regulatory obligations.

There are many definitions of family. Pharmacists share a world of experience, and that can mean a lot.

Among more than 4,500 patients studied, there were 45 strokes and 103 major bleeding events after an average follow-up of 325 ± 164 days.

Hawaii does not permit the return of medications to retail pharmacies once they are dispensed, making the need for take-back events even greater..

More than 40,000 domain names may be connected to online pharmacies at any given time.

Study finds that current eligibility criteria are too stringent. If plans lowered the drug-count requirement to the federal minimum of two, MTM eligibility would increase by almost two-thirds.