Understanding Prescription Drugs

The ultimate Canadian guide to prescription medication Over half of all Canadians take at least one prescription drug, but most of us know very little about the medication we're taking, including why we've been prescribed anything in the first place. Understanding Prescription Drugs Canadians For Dummies will answer many of the questions Canadians have about prescription drugs, but were afraid ask our doctors and pharmacists. Topics covered include: * What a prescription drug is * Common concerns * Side effects * Ailments and drugs used to treat them * Prescribing practices Understanding Prescription Drugs For Canadians For Dummies will go beyond the encyclopedic and often overwhelming information offered in massive pill books on the Web. It will empower readers, providing them with the knowledge they need as responsible consumers.

The ultimate Canadian guide to prescription medication Over half of all Canadians take at least one prescription drug, but most of us know very little about the medication we're taking, including why we've been prescribed anything in the first place. Understanding Prescription Drugs Canadians For Dummies will answer many of the questions Canadians have about prescription drugs, but were afraid ask our doctors and pharmacists. Topics covered include: * What a prescription drug is * Common concerns * Side effects * Ailments and drugs used to treat them * Prescribing practices Understanding Prescription Drugs For Canadians For Dummies will go beyond the encyclopedic and often overwhelming information offered in massive pill books on the Web. It will empower readers, providing them with the knowledge they need as responsible consumers.

Raises key questions about topics in the pharmaceutical industry, including how the risks of side effects are weighed, if privatization of that risk is prudent, and the high prices for drugs.

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

In 1996 the Institute of Medicine launched the Quality Chasm Series, a series of reports focused on assessing and improving the nation's quality of health care. Preventing Medication Errors is the newest volume in the series. Responding to the key messages in earlier volumes of the seriesâ€"To Err Is Human (2000), Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), and Patient Safety (2004)â€"this book sets forth an agenda for improving the safety of medication use. It begins by providing an overview of the system for drug development, regulation, distribution, and use. Preventing Medication Errors also examines the peer-reviewed literature on the incidence and the cost of medication errors and the effectiveness of error prevention strategies. Presenting data that will foster the reduction of medication errors, the book provides action agendas detailing the measures needed to improve the safety of medication use in both the short- and long-term. Patients, primary health care providers, health care organizations, purchasers of group health care, legislators, and those affiliated with providing medications and medication- related products and services will benefit from this guide to reducing medication errors.