Pharmacist News and Research

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There are many tasks that a pharmacist is responsible for each day. Pharmacists are some of the most accessible members of the healthcare team, as individuals can seek their advice quickly and easily, even without an appointment.

Automated dispensing unit provides more accurate pharmacy automation

For central fill and mail order pharmacies looking to move their unit-of-use dispensing and pre-pack dispensing from A-frames to more accurate pharmacy automation, Tension International Automation Solutions (TIAS) offers the ADU-3500L. The automated dispensing unit (ADU) automates the dispensing, labeling and verification of pre-packaged products, and pharmaceutical and nutraceutical units-of-use.

10 Aug 2009

Delirium in hospitalized adults: Situation critical, no relief available

Every year as many as seven million adults in the United States experience delirium during hospitalization. In a systematic review of the scientific literature on delirium prevention and treatment, investigators from the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University, and Wishard Health Services found that despite the significant health and financial burdens of delirium for hospitalized adults, no effective way to prevent or treat the condition has been identified.

6 Jul 2009

e-health enables more personalized medicine; group fights for digital patient rights

Tonia Odom, a 35-year-old patient with rheumatoid arthritis, a sick father and a young son, each of whom has multiple health problems, has found some relief to the problems of managing her families' array of illnesses in at a Duke University clinic that's a model of the "medical home" approach to medicine, the New York Times reports.

23 Jun 2009

Hormone therapy may confer more aggressive properties to prostate tumours

Hormone therapy is often given to patients with advanced prostate cancer. While it is true that the treatment prevents growth of the tumour, it also changes its properties. Some of these changes may result in the tumour becoming more aggressive and more liable to form metastases. This is one of the conclusion of a thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

10 Jun 2009

Commonly used medications may produce cognitive impairment in seniors

Many drugs commonly prescribed to older adults for a variety of common medical conditions including allergies, hypertension, asthma, and cardiovascular disease appear to negatively affect the aging brain causing immediate but possibly reversible cognitive impairment, including delirium, in older adults according to a clinical review now available online in the Journal of Clinical Interventions in Aging, a peer reviewed, open access publication.

1 Jun 2009

Transplant patients experience worse outcomes from cancer

After comparing two patient cancer registries - one featuring transplant patients and the other the general population - researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that transplant patients experience worse outcomes from cancer.

17 May 2009

New system to check medication errors

Every day, pharmacists sidestep potential mix-ups while they're filling prescriptions-perhaps the doctor's scrawl is hard to decipher or sometimes the drug bottle is mistaken for another that looks awfully similar.

27 Apr 2009

Kingston University research aims to improve 'chemo' treatment for cancer sufferers

A Kingston University pharmacist has secured funding to explore ways to improve chemotherapy treatment for cancer sufferers.

20 Apr 2009

Safety of Bitter orange herbal weight loss product questioned

The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is reportedly examining whether there are any risks associated with an over-the-counter (OTC) herbal weight loss programme sold in Australia.

13 Apr 2009

The invisible woman: Availability and culpability in reproductive health jurisprudence

Women's health is increasingly undervalued in conflicts over reproductive rights, including clashes based on moral objections under so-called conscience clauses, a new study by a University of Illinois legal expert found.

12 Apr 2009

Stakeholders participate in regional White House forum on health care reform

At Monday's White House forum on health care reform held in Los Angeles, the discussion concerning how to fix our broken health care system and cover the 47 million Americans (6.8 million Californians) who are uninsured underscored the need for action now.

9 Apr 2009

Cost-cutting measures are creeping into the medicine cabinet

Cost-cutting measures are creeping into the medicine cabinet. We split pills in half or take the drugs every other day to stretch our doses. We stop filling the prescriptions for our most expensive drugs. We buy prescriptions from online pharmacies with questionable credentials.

6 Apr 2009

Women's health increasingly undervalued in conflicts over reproductive rights

Beth Burkstrand-Reid says a review of recent reproductive rights cases shows that judges may shortchange women's health when it is pitted against other legal interests, such as religious freedom, potentially leading to rulings that could put health at risk.

1 Apr 2009

Tools for more accurate dosage of drugs against HIV/AIDS and malaria

A doctoral thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that it is possible to describe and quantify the relationships between dose, concentration and effectiveness of several drugs against HIV/AIDS and malaria.

8 Mar 2009