The importance of learning about natural therapies...

For my final blog posting of the course, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for the instruction on the use of Natural Standard. As someone who works in a chain retail pharmacy with a fairly well-stocked herbal and natural remedies area, I can tell you that I get a lot of questions concerning the various herbal and natural products that we stock. It's important that we as pharmacists have a trusted resource we can turn to when we get these questions, since there are too many different herbal and natural products out there to expect a pharmacist to be able to keep track of. While there is still much to be desired in the field of research concerning the safety and efficacy of these products, a site like Natural Standard is probably the best we have, and is nonetheless very helpful. I particularly like the feature of "letter grading" the levels of evidence concerning the various uses of herbals, as it provides a quick and easy way to assess the efficacy of these products. I also appreciate different monographs will different levels of detail. Often times in a retail pharmacy there is not a lot of time to pore into the details of a certain herbal product, and so the quick monograph would be a lot more helpful in that situation. However, if one has time and wished to go more in-depth, that option is available as well. In addition, you can also print off handouts in layman's terms to give to patients so that they can better understand a given herbal or natural product.

In short, while there is still a lot of research that needs to be done on herbal and natural products to more fully understand their effects, in the meantime resources like this are very important for pharmacists and other clinicians to help their patients. I am glad for the opportunity to learn about this product, and look forward to using it in the future.

World AIDS Day - Test everyone over 13

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, I decided to post this article from WebMD, talking about new recommendations from the American College of Physicians (ACP) stating that physicians should offer routine HIV testing to all patients over the age of 13. Given that HIV screening has become very inexpensive and reliable, this recommendation makes a lot of sense. We have made great strides in treating HIV, but the best treatment is always prevention, and by encouraging all young people to get themselves tested, we can reduce the transmission of the disease drastically. We as health care students and professors should recognize the risks of contracting HIV, and set an example for our students and patients by getting tested ourselves and encouraging others to do so.

I also found it interesting that they chose to release these new guidelines today, on World AIDS Day. It's an important way for the medical community to do their parts to raise awareness of this disease, so that hopefully one day no one will ever become infected with the disease.

FDA opens first foreign office in China

The FDA, prompted by increasing concerns about the safety of drugs and drug products imported from other countries, has opened its first foreign office in China, with plans to open others in India, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America. The FDA says they are doing this to not only keep a closer eye on potentially contaminated products that may come to the U.S., but also to work more closely with the governments of these countries to address the root causes of drug safety problems, and to help them develop ways to ensure that these kinds of problems never happen.

I welcome this move by the FDA. It shows a greater recognition that tainted drugs entering the United States is a serious problem that not only threatens patient health, it also threatens the reputation of drug manufacturers doing business in China and other foreign countries. As I've mentioned in this blog before, I have had several concerned patients at my pharmacy inquire as to the country of origin of the drugs they are receiving, and any positive steps the FDA can take to help alleviate these concerns and assure drug product quality will be welcomed by me. I also believe that establishing these offices will also help foster international cooperation to ensure drug product safety. Being simply a watchdog is not going to be enough, we need to be willing to share our expertise with other countries to ensure proper safety measures are being met, which will also help with drug product safety in the other countries as well.

Young children, old arteries

I found this article today on MSNBC.com talking about some surprising findings in obese children. To me, reading an article like this further underscores the problems we have concerning obesity in this country, and that parents of obese children need to take more responsibility for the health of their children by getting them into exercise programs. Not only will this get young people in the habit of exercising on a regular basis, but it will also dramatically improve their long-term cardiovascular health. We know that it is easiest to teach people good habits when they are younger, and so I think it is extremely important that children learn healthy habits as young as possible, and that parents take the time to educate themselves about providing proper nutrition and exercise for their kids. If we take this seriously as a nation, we can reverse the disturbing trends toward obesity that we are seeing in this country, and in the process save our health care system billions of dollars by preventing obesity-related health problems.

More contaminated heparin, will an Obama FDA help?

I found a couple articles that I wanted to share with you all today. The first is about another batch of contaminated heparin seized by the FDA, and the second speculates that the incoming Obama administration will give the FDA more oversight power. I think this is an important issue, because with more and more drugs being manufactured in China, our patients need to be assured that the drugs they are taking are going to be safe. I have had several people ask me at the pharmacy where the drugs they are taking come from. Luckily, I have not encountered any made in China, but I understand the patients' concerns. Hopefully President-elect Obama will allow the FDA to conduct stronger oversight of imported medications, to ensure the safety of our patients and to assure them that all drugs imported from other countries are pure and safe.

NRT appears to be safe for pregnant women

I found this article from MSNBC.com today, reporting on a study from Denmark which shows that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is safe for pregnant women. While more study is warranted to confirm this, this study does seem to answer a lot of the questions we have about using NRT in pregnant women. Last year, I was taught that the safety of NRT in pregnant women was unknown, and urged to use great caution when recommending NRT to a pregnant woman. However, based on the results of this study, it seems as though it would be appropriate for pharmacists to recommend NRT to a pregnant woman. This is important because it allows pregnant women to use over-the-counter methods to aid them in quitting smoking, which could save them a substantial amount of money. It also allows health care professionals more flexibility in treating pregnant women who wish to quit smoking, an absolute must for mothers-to-be. To help patients quit smoking, it's important to have as many options as possible on the table, and this study gives us more options for pregnant women.

Virginia Pharmacy adds to contraceptive debate

I found this article on MSNBC.com today about a new pharmacy in Virginia that does not dispense contraception of any kind...no condoms, no morning-after pills, and no birth-control. This issue is one that I am still really struggling with in terms of my own thoughts on the issue. I do feel as though business owners ought to be able to sell or not sell whatever they want, but I also feel that there needs to be access to these items in a given area, since many people do not share the Catholic view point on this issue. Perhaps states need to come up with rules that allow for everyone to be within 20 miles of a pharmacy that does sell contraception, I don't really know. It is a very difficult issue, and so I post this article to get everyone thinking about it, so that we as pharmacists can devise a solution to this problem that will satisfy both the pharmacist community and the patient community at large.