This authoritative, objective and well-referenced book provides information essential to those concerned with improving the rational use of drugs in the management of acute diarrhoea in infants and young children and with tackling the immense problems posed by the prescribing of clinically useless and potentially dangerous drugs. Noting that diarrhoeal diseases continue to claim some 4 million young lives each year, the book gathers the information needed to argue against the widespread use of medicine that have no established clinical benefits, are frequently harmful, and - most importantly - may delay or replace effective treatment measures. The book also responds to the problem of antibiotic resistance and the corresponding need to curtail the unnecessary widespread use of antimicrobial medications.

A drug policy is a crucial ingredient in every country's national health strategy as it provides a strategic framework to identify goals and commitments. This publication discusses the key components of such a policy. Issues covered include: the selection of essential drugs, affordability; finance and supply; regulation and quality assurance; rational use; research; human resources; monitoring and evaluation.

Managed Care Pharmacy Practice, Second Edition offers information critical to the development and operation of a managed care pharmacy program. The text also covers the changes that have taken place within the delivery of pharmacy services, as well as the evolving role of pharmacists.

Drug Utilization Research (DUR) is an eclectic scientific discipline, integrating descriptive and analytical methods for the quantification, understanding and evaluation of the processes of prescribing, dispensing and consumption of medicines and for the testing of interventions to enhance the quality of these processes. The discipline is closely related and linked mainly to the broader field of pharmacoepidemiology, but also to health outcomes research, pharmacovigilance and health economics. Drug Utilization Research is a unique, practical guide to the assessment and evaluation of prescribing practices and to interventions to improve the use of medicines in populations. Edited by an international expert team from the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE), DUR is the only title to cover both the methodology and applications of drug utilization research and covers areas such as health policy, specific populations, therapeutics and adherence.

Avoiding infection has always been expensive. Some human populations escaped tropical infections by migrating into cold climates but then had to procure fuel, warm clothing, durable housing, and crops from a short growing season. Waterborne infections were averted by owning your own well or supporting a community reservoir. Everyone got vaccines in rich countries, while people in others got them later if at all. Antimicrobial agents seemed at first to be an exception. They did not need to be delivered through a cold chain and to everyone, as vaccines did. They had to be given only to infected patients and often then as relatively cheap injectables or pills off a shelf for only a few days to get astonishing cures. Antimicrobials not only were better than most other innovations but also reached more of the world’s people sooner. The problem appeared later. After each new antimicrobial became widely used, genes expressing resistance to it began to emerge and spread through bacterial populations. Patients infected with bacteria expressing such resistance genes then failed treatment and remained infected or died. Growing resistance to antimicrobial agents began to take away more and more of the cures that the agents had brought.

Encyclopedia of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy, Three Volume Set covers definitions, concepts, methods, theories and applications of clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice. It highlights why and how this field has a significant impact on healthcare. The work brings baseline knowledge, along with the latest, most cutting-edge research. In addition, new treatments, algorithms, standard treatment guidelines, and pharmacotherapies regarding diseases and disorders are also covered. The book's main focus lies on the pharmacy practice side, covering pharmacy practice research, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics, social and administrative pharmacy, public health pharmacy, pharmaceutical systems research, the future of pharmacy, and new interventional models of pharmaceutical care. By providing concise expositions on a broad range of topics, this book is an excellent resource for those seeking information beyond their specific areas of expertise. This outstanding reference is essential for anyone involved in the study of pharmacy practice. Provides a ‘one-stop’ resource for access to information written by world-leading scholars in the field Meticulously organized, with articles split into three clear sections, it is the ideal resource for students, researchers and professionals to find relevant information Contains concise and accessible chapters that are ideal as an authoritative introduction for non-specialists and readers from the undergraduate level upwards Includes multimedia options, such as hyperlinked references and further readings, cross-references and videos

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.