It is not known how clinicians assess polypharmacy or the medication-related characteristics that influence their assessment. The aim of this study was to examine the level of agreement between clinicians when assessing polypharmacy and to identify medication-related characteristics that influence their assessment. Twenty cases of patients with varying levels of comorbidity and polypharmacy wer...

PURPOSE To explore risk perception and medicines information needs in pregnant women with epilepsy (WWE). METHOD In-depth interviews with pregnant WWE treated with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). RESULTS Ten women aged 22-39 years in 20-34 weeks' gestation were interviewed. Avoiding seizures by taking AEDs in pregnancy outweighed perceived risks, but dose adjustments during and after pregnancy ...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the availability of tracer medicines in pharmaceutical services in primary health care of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). METHODS This is a cross-sectional and evaluative study, part of the Pesquisa Nacional Sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos - Serviços, 2015 (PNAUM - National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational...

OBJECTIVE Generic medicines provide a safe and economical medical treatment and are used routinely throughout the world. However, a significant proportion of individuals view generic medicines as less safe, less effective and of lower quality compared with their equivalent branded medicines. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an educational intervention on improving perceptions and p...

An estimated 27 million South Africans use indigenous medicines (Mander, 1997, Medicinal plant marketing and strategies for sustaining the plant supply in the Bushbuckridge area and Mpumalanga Province. Institute for Natural Resources, University of Natal. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa). Although herbal remedies are freely available in amayeza stores, or Xhosa chemists, for self-medication, li...

BACKGROUND Online drug information compendia (ODIC) are valuable tools that health care professionals (HCPs) and consumers use to educate themselves on pharmaceutical products. Research suggests that these resources, although informative and easily accessible, may contain misinformation, posing risk for product misuse and patient harm. OBJECTIVE Evaluate drug summaries within ODIC for accurac...

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in the endocrine system. This dreadful disease is found in all parts of the world and is becoming a serious threat to mankind health. There are lots of chemical agents available to control and to treat diabetic patients, but total recovery from diabetes has not been reported up to this date. Alternative to these synthetic agents, plants provide a pote...

BACKGROUND Recent investigations by the Ministry of Health of Cambodia suggest that counterfeit medicines have been introduced into the pharmaceutical market in tampered packaging. To further explore this possibility, an interview survey was conducted at the wholesaler level to investigate the medicinal supply chain in Cambodia. METHODS Managing executives of 62 (83.8%) registered wholesalers...

As pharmaceutical companies and conservation groups increasingly recognize the biomedical and economic potential of indigenous medicines from tropical rainforests, romanticized stereotypes of rainforest medicines as inherently beneficial abound. These ideas fail to take into consideration the question of why those living in the rainforest need medicines, and whether or not “traditional” medicin...

BACKGROUND Little attention has been paid to patients' ideas about medicines and such ideas might well have relevance for understanding non-adherence to medication. AIM This qualitative study set out to describe the ideas about medicines and the self-reported adherence to medication of a general practice population. METHOD Semistructured interviews were conducted with 30 adult patients (att...