Drugs, which can be the most cost-effective and cost-beneficial modality of disease management in chronic care, may be hazardous to older adults. It is important that pharmacists ensure that drugs will not further impair the patients' mental, physical, and functional status. (MLW)

The treatment of urinary tract infections is discussed. Specific issues considered include the definition of asymptomatic bacteriuria, the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria, the controversies of who should be treated, and antimicrobial treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria. (MLW)

Within a simulated Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee format, role play is used at Purdue University to illustrate to students the concepts of drug product evaluation and selection as these apply to a hospital formulary system. (Author/LBH)

Arguments about the role of basic science courses in a pharmacy curriculum moving toward additional clinical instruction center around semantics, value judgments, and philosophy. Drug analysis can, however, provide a valuable service in the areas of drug detection and monitoring. (Author/LBH)

The nature of the professional interaction between the pharmacist and the patient was explored, with data collected from 3,743 questions asked of 16 pharmacists during an 8-week period. Factors that might affect the nature of the pharmacist-patient interaction are identified along with a cognitive-based profile of patient wants. (LBH)

A two-semester program entitled "Introduction to Disease States and Related Therapeutics" was introduced into the second professional year at Creighton University's School of Pharmacy. It was divided into 16 identifiable modules that were subdivided into 225 learning packages covering about 95 different disease entities. (LBH)

Offered as an independent, elective, one-credit course available to second-year pharmacy students, a life support course has been taught at the University of Nebraska Medical Center by instructors certified by the American Heart Association. Course structure and materials, student response, and course evaluation are discussed. (LBH)

Problems associated with prescription drug use and misuse are discussed. The role of the pharmacist in providing information that patients need to use drugs appropriately is emphasized. (SFJ)

The trend now driving American health care is that the payors are refusing to pay the true economic costs. Health care technology and the public's demand for it, the growth of managed care (Health Maintenance Organizations), and the need to increase the effectiveness of health care are affecting health care delivery. (MLW)

A literature review on doctor-shopping, anxiety, etc., and a report of a study that explores the relationship of free-floating anxiety to the pharmacy-shopping behavior of elderly, clinic outpatients are presented. Implications for the training of pharmacists are discussed. (JMD)

A methodology currently being used to teach "appropriate behaviors" to senior pharmacy students involves having the student assume the role of the pharmacist in a simulated pharmacist-patient interaction. The interactions are video-taped for later class analysis. (LBH)

The opportunities for clinical research in meeting the needs of the aging (provision of pharmaceutical services for the elderly, pharmacotherapeutics in the elderly, and pharmaceutical aspects of health and illness behaviors of the elderly) are appropriate and realistic activities for pharmacists that should contribute to achieving research…

With consideration given to tort law, specifically Negligence, the author analyzes the standard of care, determines what factors may alter the standard, and suggests how the standard of care may vary with the advent of new developments in any field. (LBH)

A study that sought to identify and describe the nature and content of questions asked by pharmacy patrons at the prescription counter is reported. The results indicate that the pharmacy is an important area in primary and self-health care, and that students should be trained in methods of responding and educating in one-to-one situations. (JMD)

The course, Pharmacy and the Skilled Nursing Facility, is the second clinical component for baccalaureate students at the University of the Pacific. On- and off-campus locations provide students with opportunities to simulate the consultant pharmacist and to master a systematic approach to monitoring long-term-care patient therapy. (Author/LBH)