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.

Few people realize that prescription drugs have become a leading cause of death, disease, and disability. Adverse reactions to widely used drugs, such as psychotropics and birth control pills, as well as biologicals, result in FDA warnings against adverse reactions. The Risks of Prescription Drugs describes how most drugs approved by the FDA are under-tested for adverse drug reactions, yet offer few new benefits. Drugs cause more than 2.2 million hospitalizations and 110,000 hospital-based deaths a year. Serious drug reactions at home or in nursing homes would significantly raise the total. Women, older people, and people with disabilities are least used in clinical trials and most affected. Health policy experts Donald Light, Howard Brody, Peter Conrad, Allan Horwitz, and Cheryl Stults describe how current regulations reward drug companies to expand clinical risks and create new diseases so millions of patients are exposed to unnecessary risks, especially women and the elderly. They reward developing marginally better drugs rather than discovering breakthrough, life-saving drugs. The Risks of Prescription Drugs tackles critical questions about the pharmaceutical industry and the privatization of risk. To what extent does the FDA protect the public from serious side effects and disasters? What is the effect of giving the private sector and markets a greater role and reducing public oversight? This volume considers whether current rules and incentives put patients' health at greater risk, the effect of the expansion of disease categories, the industry's justification of high U.S. prices, and the underlying shifts in the burden of risk borne by individuals in the world of pharmaceuticals. Chapters cover risks of statins for high cholesterol, SSRI drugs for depression and anxiety, and hormone replacement therapy for menopause. A final chapter outlines six changes to make drugs safer and more effective. Suitable for courses on health and aging, gender, disability, and minority studies, this book identifies the Risk Proliferation Syndrome that maximizes the number of people exposed to these risks. Additional Columbia / SSRC books on the privatization of risk and its implications for Americans: Bailouts: Public Money, Private ProfitEdited by Robert E. Wright Disaster and the Politics of InterventionEdited by Andrew Lakoff Health at Risk: America's Ailing Health System-and How to Heal ItEdited by Jacob S. Hacker Laid Off, Laid Low: Political and Economic Consequences of Employment InsecurityEdited by Katherine S. Newman Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of RiskEdited by Mitchell A. Orenstein

Confused about Medicare’s drug coverage? You’re not alone. Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For Dummies explains Part D in plain English and shows you how to find the best deal among numerous drug-coverage plan options. Whether you’re new to Medicare or already in the program, you’ll navigate the system with more ease and confidence, avoid pitfalls and scams, and have plenty of help choosing the plan that’s right for you. This easy-to-understand, consumer-friendly guide helps you find out whether Part D affects any drug coverage you already have and weigh the consequences of going without coverage. You’ll find ways to compare plans, identify the one that covers your drugs at the least cost, and make sure you sign up at the right time. And you’ll learn how to minimize your expenses, use the “right” pharmacies, and troubleshoot any problems with your coverage. Discover how to: Decide whether you need Part D Understand how Part D works, from costs to coverage Choose and enroll in the best plan for you Get up and running with Part D Handle the coverage gap Lower your drug costs Join and switch plans Comply with long-term-care rules and rights Challenge plan decisions Avoid scams and hard-sell marketing Now, more than ever, you need clear, reliable information that helps you understand Part D and make smart, cost-saving healthcare decisions. You need Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For Dummies.

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.

This completely revised edition of the renowned guide presents everything readers need to know about prescription drugs based on the FDA-approved information published in the "Physicians Desk Reference." Original.

In Just the Right Dose: Your Smart Guide to Prescription Drugs & How to Take Them Safely, you'll find answers to the most common questions about over-the-counter and prescription medications, as well as tips on topics such as: - Understanding your prescription - Why it's important to follow the directions, - What types of pills you should never break or chew, and why - The most common types of medicines (such as cream, suppositories, injections) - Remembering to take your medications - Swallowing that pill or capsule - Getting rid of unused drugs - And more!