Categories: Patient Care

Marilyn Stebbins, PharmD, UCSF School of Pharmacy clinical professor and drug benefit expert, explains the problems as of January 2006 with the rollout of the Medicare Part D drug benefit. She advises seniors on how to get the medication coverage that best meets their needs.

A new public board is needed to standardize, measure, and ultimately improve the quality of health care in the United States, according to UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, and University of California colleagues Stephen M. Shortell, PhD, MPH, and Steven A.

Reports to the California Poison Control System of the use of the drug gamma hydroxybutate (GHB) have declined overall from 1999 to 2003. These findings were reported on December 29, 2005 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

The 2005 potential avian flu pandemic caused a shortage of antiviral drugs, leading to concerns about access, efficacy, and distribution.

Leaders from 6 Vietnamese pharmacy schools joined with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy and UCSF Global Health Sciences, and the United States Pharmacopeia to sign a partnership agreement on November 12, 2005 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to expand the role of...

Dissolving thin strips containing over-the-counter medicines are now being used by consumers to treat their coughs and colds and runny noses.

A new benefit for prescription drugs will be offered through Medicare beginning January 1, 2006. Medicare recipients who are eligible for this benefit must evaluate their drug benefit options and enroll in a drug plan.

The growing use of herbals and dietary supplements calls for increasing consumer education of products, their ingredients and effects, possible interactions with other medications, and much more.

The ethical issues behind a pharmacist's personal decision to dispense or not dispense emergency contraceptives and other drugs is explored by doctor of pharmacy students at the School of Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, in a required course on pharmacy law and ethics.

The pros and cons of legislating a pharmacist's right to refuse to dispense emergency contraceptive medications was the topic of discussion at a meeting held Tuesday, April 19, 2005 among doctor of pharmacy students from the School of Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco and law...