INTRODUCTION Adverse drug events (ADEs) have been highlighted as a major patient safety and public health challenge by the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention (ADE Action Plan), which was released by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) in August 2014. The ADE Action Plan focuses on surveillance, evidence-based prevention, incentives, and oversights, ...

Medication choices for the treatment of elevated blood pressure have a large potential impact on both patient outcomes and health care costs. Historic trends of prescribing for hypertension will advance the understanding of physician practice of evidence-based medicine. This study describes both long- and short-term trends in US antihypertensive prescribing from 1990 through 2004. Data were ext...

medication errors and adverse drug events can bring about hospitalization, permanent injury, or death. patients due to lack of adequate understanding of instruction may unintentionally misuse a prescribed medicine. the aims of the study were to examine whether patients with low back pain were correctly able to understand physician's instructions regarding drug use and also to identify influenci...

BACKGROUND Advertising is a crucial component of pharmaceutical industry promotion. Research indicates that information on advertisement materials might be inadequate, inaccurate, biased, and misleading. OBJECTIVE To analyse and critically assess the information presented in print pharmaceutical advertisements in Saudi Arabia. METHODS Pharmaceutical advertisements were collected from 280 co...

Prescription drug misuse among older adults includes inappropriate and harmful use of these drugs. In this study, prescription drug misuse in assisted living settings as reported by direct care workers (DCWs) was examined. Data came from DCWs in 45 assisted living settings located in Pennsylvania. A total of 944 DCWs completed a questionnaire on their opinions of prescription drug misuse. DCWs ...

Multidrug use is well documented among nonmedical users of prescription stimulants. We sought to provide insight into the drug use patterns of those reporting nonmedical use of prescription attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stimulants in an attempt to discern whether such use is a first step in a pattern of drug-abusing behavior or, conversely, is a later development accompanied o...

Hospitals that have adopted Twitter primarily use it to share organizational news, provide general health care information, advertise upcoming community events, and foster networking. The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits that Twitter utilization has had in improving quality of care, access to care, patient satisfaction, and community footprint while assessing the barriers to it...