http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around the clock for a month. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-prescription-drug-aimed-curbing-painkiller.html Medications Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:56:22 EST news285407776 Rite Aid is expanding a new drugstore clinic that allows customers to have virtual visits with doctors who can diagnose conditions and prescribe medications based on a 10-minute consultation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-rite-aid-online-clinic.html Health Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:40:01 EST news281358782 A new computer tool to help reduce the risk of commonly made drug prescribing errors has been launched by a primary care research team and the PRIMIS business unit at The University of Nottingham. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-tool-safer-gp.html Health Mon, 18 Feb 2013 07:59:26 EST news280396741 Patients on medication for long-term conditions can often face difficulties with taking their medication as directed by their doctor.  In addition to the potentially detrimental effect on their health, the cost to the NHS of people not taking their medicines properly is estimated at more than £500 million per year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-medication.html Health Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:40:02 EST news279876095 Conscience clauses, which allow pharmacists to opt out of providing the "morning after pill" without a prescription, risk unwanted pregnancies and undermine the principle of universal healthcare in the NHS, say pharmacists in the Journal of Medical Ethics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-unwarranted-pregnancies-morning-pill-conscience.html Medications Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:30:02 EST news278789690 (HealthDay)—Taking too much acetaminophen, an active ingredient in many commonly used drugs for fever and pain relief, including Tylenol, can cause liver damage, experts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warn. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-cold-flu-remedies-liver.html Medications Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:10:04 EST news278789293 (HealthDay)—Sporadic shortages of both the flu vaccine and the flu treatment Tamiflu are being reported, as this year's intense flu season continues, according to a top U.S. health official. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-shortages-flu-vaccine-tamiflu-fda.html Medications Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:48:31 EST news277494168 Children who regularly see specialists for chronic medical conditions are also using complementary medicine at a high rate, demonstrates recently published research from the University of Alberta and the University of Ottawa. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-alternative-medicine-high-amoung-children.html Pediatrics Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:10:04 EST news277298328 New York's governor declared a public health emergency Saturday for the state because of the severity of the flu season, as officials across the U.S. grapple with the worst flu outbreak in several years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-flu-emergency-declared-ny-20k.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sat, 12 Jan 2013 17:45:51 EST news277235136 (HealthDay)—The popularity of "walk-in" medical clinics located in pharmacies, superstores and workplaces nationwide is increasing rapidly, according to a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-poll-popularity-walk-in-retail-health.html Health Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:02:19 EST news276861726 (HealthDay)—Tamiflu (oseltamivir) can now be given to children as young as 2 weeks old under an expanded approval announced Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fda-tamiflu-babies-year.html Medications Sat, 22 Dec 2012 18:40:01 EST news275416514 People with HIV are being hospitalized in Ontario significantly less often than they were 15 years ago when combination antiretroviral drug therapy (cART) was introduced, new research has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-people-hiv-hospitalized-combination-antiretroviral.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:53:21 EST news274985593 Medication reconciliation is a safety practice in which health care professionals review patients' medication regimens when patients transition between settings to reduce the likelihood of adverse drug effects. It is among the most complex clinical tasks required of physicians, nurses and pharmacists, who must work cooperatively to minimize discrepancies and inappropriate medication orders. Now, a University of Missouri gerontologiccal nursing expert suggests that acknowledging practitioners' varying perspectives on the purpose of medication reconciliation and their roles in the process might increase implementation in health care institutions such as hospitals and nursing homes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-health-care-practitioners-cooperate-medication-mismanagement.html Medications Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:01:31 EST news274380437 (HealthDay)—The incomes of U.S. doctors have grown less than the incomes of other health professionals over the past few decades, a new study indicates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-doctors-lag-health-professionals.html Health Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:00:02 EST news273262133 More than 85,000 medications are discontinued each year by physicians, yet while physicians share this information with their patients, it is too often not shared with the pharmacists. This communication gap, identified by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, allows discontinued medications continue to be dispensed at pharmacies, representing an important patient safety concern. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-medications-discontinuedand-pharmacist.html Medications Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:00:03 EST news272562576 Approximately 1,735 patients a year on average die in the Netherlands as a result of mistakes. Health care professionals try to learn from these incidents and near misses, but the learning process is often confined within the individual organizations and the individual links in the health care chain. But incidents and near misses occur just as much when patients are referred from one link to another. Research into communication between the various links on incidents and near misses shows up the weak spots in the learning process within the chain. On 9 November 2012 Greet van der Kaap, research lecturer at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Zwolle, is to receive her PhD from the University of Twente on 'The Weakest Link, inter-organisational communication about (near) incidents in the health care chain'. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-incidents-health-chain.html Health Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:49:13 EST news271928940 (AP)—Massachusetts state officials investigating a pharmacy linked to a deadly outbreak of meningitis said Tuesday they found shoddy sterilization practices and unclean conditions there, including debris-covered floor mats and standing water from a leaking boiler. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-state-visible-fungus-meningitis-linked-firm.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:50:02 EST news270229115 The Food and Drug Administration is warning the public that most Internet pharmacies are fraudulent, selling drugs that likely are counterfeit and could harm or even kill people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-fda-online-pharmacies.html Medications Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:54:11 EST news268037642 Drugs prescribed to treat anxiety, depression and insomnia may increase patients' risk of being involved in motor vehicle accidents, according to a recent study, published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Based on the findings, the researchers suggested doctors should consider advising patients not to drive while taking these drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-antidepressants-pills-anxiety-drugs.html Medications Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:00:01 EST news266688694 (Medical Xpress)—A published study conducted by researchers at West Virginia University has found that doctor and pharmacy shoppers are at a greater risk for drug-related death. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-doctor-pharmacy-linked-prescription-drug.html Medications Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:50:03 EST news266226209 A centralized prescription network providing real-time information to pharmacists in British Columbia, Canada, resulted in dramatic reductions in inappropriate prescriptions for opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines, widely used and potentially addictive drugs. The findings are reported in a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pharmanet-inappropriate-prescriptions-potentially-addictive.html Medications Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:00:10 EST news265963481 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers at The University of Queensland's School of Pharmacy are making medication use safer by incorporating pharmacists into general practice medical centres. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-role-pharmacistssafer-medication.html Medications Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:17:57 EST news265958269 Canadian researchers have determined that community-based pharmacists could provide an added resource in identifying knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study, published in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), represents the first evidence supporting a collaborative approach to managing knee OA. Findings suggest that involving pharmacists, physiotherapists, and primary care physicians in caring for OA patients improves the quality of care, along with patient function, pain, and quality of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-pharmacists-additional-line-defense-knee.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:00:01 EST news265307393 South Korea's top court Thursday struck down a challenge calling for an end to tough legal punishments for midwives and others administering illegal abortions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-korea-court-abortion.html Other Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:10:01 EST news264933910 The correct therapeutic dose is important for this commonly used painkiller, say the authors, because it is potentially fatal to give too high a dose; and too low a dose may result in more serious illness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-carers-pharmacists-paracetamol-doses-overweight.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:30:04 EST news264693951 (Medical Xpress) -- A study of more than 500 patients admitted to, and discharged from, a big-city medical center suggests that nurse-pharmacist teams trained to track down discrepancies between lists of drugs patients are taking at home and those they are scheduled to take in the hospital might substantially reduce such potentially harmful conflicts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-special-nurse-pharmacist-teams-conflicts-patient.html Other Fri, 03 Aug 2012 08:23:57 EST news263201028 Heterosexual men make up a small but growing number of people infected with HIV in Canada. Yet a new study has found that many of them feel existing HIV-related programs and services don't meet their needs and are geared primarily or exclusively toward gay men and heterosexual women who are living with the virus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-gaps-heterosexual-men-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:40:48 EST news262604438 Since the ancient world the aromatic fragrance of burning Boswellia resin has been part of many religious ceremonies. But frankincense can do much more: The resin from the trunk of Boswellia trees contains anti-inflammatory substances. Pharmacists of University Jena were now able to show where exactly the boswellic acids - which are responsible for the impact of the ingredients of the Boswellia resin - actually interfere in the process of inflammation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-frankincense-medicine-pharmacists-anti-inflammatory-impact.html Medical research Mon, 09 Jul 2012 10:27:21 EST news261048431 (Medical Xpress) -- New research by medics at Trinity College Dublin suggests that folic acid plays a vital role in preventing a major birth defect. This is in addition to the established protection against neural birth defect such as spina bifida The findings published in the July 2012 edition of the leading primary care journal, the British Journal of General Practice show that the risk of having Cleft Lip and Palate (CLP) was more than four times higher if mothers had not taken folic acid in the first trimester. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-links-mothers-lack-folic-acid.html Health Thu, 05 Jul 2012 06:12:51 EST news260687519 (HealthDay) -- A pharmacist-delivered intervention does not significantly improve the rate of clinically important medication errors following discharge among hospitalized heart patients, according to a study published in the July 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-pharmacist-intervention-medication-errors.html Medications Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:27:36 EST news260508429