...and supply shortages are sometimes daily battles. A growing concern is drug shortages to hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices. Drug shortages can affect drug therapy, postpone medical procedures, and result in medication errors. An article published in the American Journal of Nursing in November 2011 discussed the national impact of the drug shortage on health systems. Since 1996 the problem of drug shortages has steady increased. As of 2011 there were 232 drugs on the national drug shortage list. “The areas most commonly reported shortages were surgery and anesthesia, emergency care, cardiovascular care, gastrointestinal and nutritional care, and pain management. Thirty-five percent of hospitals reported that the shortages had resulted in adverse outcomes” (Carter, 2011, p. 14). One specific example is the propofol shortage. Propofol is used for sedation during procedures and ventilated patients. Alternative medications are more difficult to titrate resulting in under or over sedation (Carter, 2011). There are several factors that contribute to the national drug shortage. The lack of available raw or bulk materials has a significant impact on drug shortages. “Raw material shortage can result from a number of factors, including a sole source manufacturer that ceases operation, suboptimal quality of the raw material, and wars that disrupts importation” (Brown, Gu, Shaya, & Wertheimer, 2011, p.1) . Natural disasters may also affect the drug shortage by affecting...
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...each other. Treatments for mycosis fungoides Treatments for mycosis fungoides include both skin-directed and systemic treatments. Skin-directed treatments for mycosis fungoides For patients with early-stage mycosis fungoides, treatments are aimed directly at the skin rather than the entire body. Skin-directed treatmetns for mycosis fungoides include • Phototherapy with ultraviolet (UV) light • Topical medicines • Radiation therapy Phototherapy with ultraviolet (UV) light Phototherapy uses two types of ultraviolet (UV) light to destroy cancer cells. A patient may be treated using either ultraviolet A (UVA) or ultraviolet B (UVB) light. Both types of UV light are administered using fluorescent lamps. The light boxes are specially calibrated to maximize the effect of treatment while minimizing the risk of burns. Phototherapy treatments are usually...
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...issues with the pharmaceutical companies, the drugs pricing in America, the impact of different medical career trends, why has the numbers for health care professionals decline over the years, the effect of the different health care policy and what kind of development need to help fix this already crumbling health care industry. There have out cried from the public to congress and health care professionals to help elevate this issue from the American people suffering. There have been little or no definite and concrete solution on their part and the American people are suffering the consequences of high health care bills. This has led to stress on the pharmaceuticals companies all across the United States. The pharmaceutical market is looking forward to the by the year 2020 the United Sates pharmaceutical sales will double fifth globally. The issue with increase of chronic disease will increase in the develop world as it is the under develop world, if there is no effort to improve the health care system. Some of the example is the rising cost of drugs on the American people. The United States people pay a high cost on drugs than any other develop country. This one of the injustice in the health Care industry has must be taken care of in the future to come. The United States forbid the selling of drugs or important it in the United Sates even if that drug has met the FDA requirement of be safe (Barlett & Steele, 2004). Prescription drug prices are outrageously high in the United...
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...Alternative Methods for Cancer Treatment Kevin Moore COM/172 April 16, 2012 Darrell Haley Alternative Methods for Cancer Treatment If someone you know is being treated for cancer, you may want to learn more about what they are going through. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are the main types of cancer treatment. However there are alternative methods for cancer treatment. Surgery is often the first treatment option if the tumor can be taken out of the body. Sometimes only part of the tumor can be removed. Radiation, chemotherapy, or both might be used to shrink the tumor before or after surgery. Doctors use chemotherapy to kill cancer cells. The term chemotherapy (often shortened to "chemo") refers to the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Usually, the drugs are given intravenously (into a vein, IV) or taken by mouth. Chemo drugs then travel through the body in the bloodstream, reaching cancer cells that may have spread (metastasized) from the tumor to other places in the body. Radiation therapy uses high energy rays (such as x-rays) to kill cancer cells or shrink tumors. The radiation may come from outside the body (external radiation) or from radioactive materials put right into the tumor (internal or implant radiation). Getting external radiation is much like getting an x-ray. The radiation itself is painless, but tissue damage may cause side effects. Other, newer kinds of treatment you might hear about...
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...Lynn Divers thought she had heard the worst of it when doctors told her that her daughter Alyssa had cancer. But the diagnosis was only the first in a series of emotional bombshells: Alyssa’s cancer, osteosarcoma, is rare, and in her case, aggressive, requiring a cocktail of different chemotherapy drugs. She didn’t respond well to the first regimen that doctors tried, which led to their adding three other punishing medications to her treatment. Because of the chemotherapy, Alyssa’s kidneys were in danger of failing, so she would need nightly infusions of phosphorous to keep her organs functioning. Then came the truly heartbreaking news. In late February, when Divers called the hospital to confirm Alyssa’s upcoming chemotherapy treatment, the nurse informed her that there was a drug shortage. The hospital couldn’t be sure that there would be enough methotrexate — the cornerstone of therapy for some childhood cancers, including leukemia and osteosarcoma — to treat Alyssa, now 10. Divers was told she might have to reschedule the session; the hospital would let her know. “It made me sick to my stomach to hear that,” says Divers, a former chaplain from Palmyra, Va. “Alyssa was in treatment for over a year already, and the last thing you want to do is add unnecessary delays in treatment, which gives the cancer a chance to catch up.” Divers explains that her daughter’s cancer doubles in tumor load every 34 days, “so you need to hit it again and again to eradicate it.” The story...
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...supply are an indispensible part of the chain. So there is a medicine issue of demand and supply in America, which eventually has required US government intervention is of serious concern. Initially, from the article, it is can be explored that the demand of vital drugs like generic drug that is used to treat cancer, where shortage reports seem most critical and total number for drug shortage reached 232 in 2011 (The Economist, 2011). The factor caused this firstly is because of limited production capacity. So, as the demand for this type of medicines increasing, production lines are stretched to limitation. As a result, the shortage is caused while price goes up too. Another factor for America medicine shortage is the consequence of long run excessive production. The medicine firms are willing to produce more drugs in order to maximize profits. However, the pressure on production causes a severe drawback on medicine’s quality. The bacterial or fungal contamination will result in large proportion of rejects and lowering real quantity that can be traded to the medical market. Thus, the whole industry has to depend on a handful of manufacturers who are keeping hygienic rules strictly but providing less quantity of drugs, which gives rise to lacking medicine supply again. In this case, a oligopoly market was formed, and US government requires manufacturers to hand in a notice before actually terminating its production six months in advance; it is also banned to sell any scarce medicine...
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...in the United States today are the uninsured and the disenfranchised, the future of the pharmaceutical industry and the shortage of health care personnel. According to Williams and Torrens (2010), there are an estimated 50 million people which includes children that are uninsured. The lack of access to care leads to the compromise of the quality of care, especially for the uninsured. A recent study of the uninsured has shown that they receive only about half as much care as people who are continuously insured. Several studies have shown that when they have a serious disease the diagnosis is not received promptly, nor do they get a more innovative and expensive treatment, according to Slutsky (2007), The pharmaceutical industry issues are endless. As much as the government tries to contain and develop the guidelines for the production of what can improve and extend life lines the market controls pricing , which varies internationally. Of the underinsured, there are the Medicare beneficiaries who cannot afford prescription drugs or long term care services due to lack of coverage. The more innovative and experimental drugs are too expensive and not covered by Medicare or Medicaid. One of the major challenges that health care system faces in the role of General practitioners and attracting students for residency in this field. There is a major shortage of nurses and primary physicians. Ironically, there are not enough slots for residency programs due to cut backs made by...
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...come with a negative side effect. Since the telomerase is adding to the lifespan of the telomere, some adult stem cells may become weak and the healing process that is associated with stem cells may end up taking longer. Another negative effect with increasing telomere length is a higher chance of cancer development. A positive impact of this process is a longer lifespan of chromosomes that will ultimately lead to a longer lifespan of an individual....
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...a half pack of cigarettes per day, knowing what kind of damage cigarettes are capable of causing. (Henningfield, 19) The encyclopedia of psychoactive drugs (Nicotine) by Jack E. Henningfield is about everything one needs to know about Nicotine. Nicotine, which is the psychoactive drug in tobacco, has been a major concern to many of people like governments, scientists, and smokers for as long as it has been around. A number of scientists think of nicotine to be the most addictive drug in existence. The encyclopedia of psychoactive drugs answers the questions that young people are likely to ask about drugs, as well as the ones who are afraid to ask but know they should. Millions of people smoke cigarettes without knowing what they are letting into their body. Tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals and other dangerous ingredients. There are so many that it will take years or research to know exactly which components are harmful. The three major important ingredients are tar, carbon monoxide and nicotine. (Henningfield, 31) Tar is a dark, thick, flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, alcohols, and other compounds. Tar is used for road making and for coating and preserving timber. Tar is one of the major health hazards in cigarette smoking. It causes many types of cancer. Tar is important to the taste of the cigarette and the satisfaction the body gets from smoking. Carbon monoxide is a gas that is made when materials...
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...DRUGS Raymarr Shivers COM/220 April 8,2012 Jennifer Gaylor Introduction Dependency on drugs is considered by many as different in kind and is a chronic illness. Some people think that a drug pusher is just like committing murder. Drugs have been with us since the beginning of time. Depending on different eras and cultures drugs are used differently and with agriculture large quantities of drugs are able to be produced. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the drug epidemic has destroyed many dreams and lives of people of all ages and races. Just about anyone can become an addict when trying out a drug. Most people already know that pain medication is prescribed and available easy and too much and in turn this is creating addicts. In the year of 2010 pharmacies dispensed something like 42 tons of hydrocodone and 69 tons of oxycodone. That’s enough drugs to give each human being in the United States of America 24 Vicodins and 40 Percocet’s. Prescription drugs are exceeding all drugs in levels of abuse. The rates are staggering with deadly results all across...
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...Different places have different diseases to treat and handle them in different ways. The book Improvising Medicine: An African Oncology Ward in an Emerging Cancer Epidemic by Julie Livingston looks at the cancer epidemic in Botswana by telling the story of a cancer ward in the country’s capitol city, Gaborone. In the London Review of Books, Paul Farmer discusses the effect Ebola has had on Liberia in Diary. When discussing diseases one important factor to analyze is...
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...Alcohol as among the drugs that are been abused in large number and has become a major ill in our society. Alcohol destroys the lives of their victims in many ways. Alcoholism is the later stage after been addicted to alcohol but it can be recovered but it needs self discipline. Contents: Page: 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………. 3 1.1. Definition of alcohol…………………………………………………. 3 2.0. Effects of alcohol…………………………………………………….. 3 2.1. Healthy effects of alcohol……………………………………………. 4 2.2. Social effects of alcohol……………………………………………… 4 3.0. Alcoholism…………………………………………………………… 5 4.0. Causes of Alcoholism………………………………………………... 5 4.1. Social and Emotional causes of Alcoholism………………………… 6 5.0. Ways to recover from Alcoholism…………………………………… 6 6.0. Conclusion…………………………………………………………… 7 INTRODUCTION Drug abuse is an intense desire to obtain increasing amounts of a particular substance or substances to the exclusion of all other activities. According to WHO “Drug abuse has become a major ill in our society; it destroys the lives of their victims in many ways because these chemical substances are not intended to be introduced into the human body and as a result weakens the body system for instance the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and brain are often damaged by heavy drug use and all of these organs are vital for life. Due to the broad case with drugs, I have chosen alcohol as an example of drugs been abused in the society. What is alcohol? According to Buddy. T...
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...PDHPE Assessment Task 2 Health Report Question 1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders experience many health inequities compared to non-Indigenous Australians, these include: • Lower life expectancy: Indigenous Australians have lower life expectancy than non-Indigenous Australians. For example: Indigenous boys born between 2010 and 2012 can expect to live to 69.1 years and Indigenous girls to 73.7 years compared with 79.7 for non-Indigenous boys and 83.1 for non-Indigenous girls. • Higher hospitalisations: Indigenous Australians have higher hospitalisation rates compared to non-Indigenous Australians due to their poorer health status. For example: Indigenous Australians were hospitalised for potentially preventable conditions nearly 4 times as often as non-Indigenous Australians between July 2010 and June 2012. • More likely to smoke: Indigenous Australians are more likely to take part in health risk behaviors such as smoking, which contributes to poorer health status. For example: Two out of 5 Indigenous Australians aged 15 and over (41%) were current daily smokers in 2012–13, which, after adjusting for age, was more than twice the rate of smoking among non-Indigenous Australians in 2011–12. • Lower rates of physical activity: Physical inactivity rates are significantly higher in the Indigenous population than in the non-Indigenous population. For...
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...generating billions of dollars in revenues on prescription drugs that have patent protection. Once a drug loses its patent protection, other manufacturers are allowed to make a generic form of the drug. Having a generic form of a brand name drug available should increase the supply in the market for consumers by driving cost down. This paper will discuss the effect of generic drugs and evaluate their effect on the supply and demand for drugs that no longer have patent protection. An example of a prescription drug that recently lost its patent is Lipitor. It is a cholesterol-lowering drug. It has been a top selling drug for several years, totaling over seven billion dollars in sales in the US and a combined total of over ten billion dollars worldwide in 2010. Lipitor’s patent expired on November 30, 2011 making the drug available to be manufactured as a generic drug, therefore increasing affordability to consumers. Until May 2012, Ranbaxy had the sole rights for creating Lipitor’s generic form after the patent expired; after that, it was made available to other drug companies. Pfizer continued to market Lipitor after its patent expired and had spent over eighty seven million dollars in marketing, to generate three hundred eighty three million dollars in the first quarter of 2012. Market power shifted from Pfizer to other drug manufacturers with the expiration of the patent (Hughes, 2012). When a brand name prescription drug such as Lipitor is developed with a patent protection...
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...although rare is a form of cancer that without treatment progresses at an extremely fast rate. The development of drugs to try to halt the rapid rate at which malignant melanoma can grow and infect another organ of the body is an on going project by specialists. Dr Alison developed Ipilimumab in 1999 and it was found in the clinical trials that it does, in most cases, exactly what medical professionals have been looking for. However drugs such as ipilimumab come with risks associated with them. This poses the question of whether the benefits outweigh the risks and cost of the drug. Skin and how malignant melanoma develops Skin is the largest organ in our body, responsible for creating a barrier between the outside and our internal organs. The skin is made up of three layers. The first layer is the epidermis, which is made up of mainly keratinocytes; they make micro-layers, which continually grow outwards to compensate for old layers dying and flaking off. Within the epidermis Langerhans cells are contained which alert the immune system to virus’ and bacterium. The next layer is the dermis, which gives the skin its strength due to the elastin and collagen fibres. Also present in the dermis are; blood vessels which allows the skins temperature to be maintained, and nerves which pick up feelings of heat, pain etc. and relay to the brain. The final layer is the subcutis, which contains a layer of fat that can be used, for energy if there is a shortage of food intake, as insulation...
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