Prescription Drugs - Keeping Pace with New Releases

Last month the FDA approved forty new medications and six new medications got tentative approval.

With so numerous medications being produced and approved it is overwhelming to consider how physicians, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, can keep pace with the information.

There is finally Auidiolearn.net is the perfect data conduit. They provide audios with over five hundred commonly prescribed medications. The public and medical professionals can also subscribe to the monthly updates at no charge. Audio learning? What a great idea. The audio includes mechanism of action, side effects, indications and interactions. When else will these busy professionals have an opportunity to keep abreast the most recent medications?

It is easy to find a doctor who has not heard of a newly approved drug that will have fewer adverse interactions with other drugs or treat an illness more efficiently. When was the last time a doctor prescribed a less effective drug than one that physician prescribe the most current drug? No one knows. It is going to take which is inferior to alternative available. Some patients suffer serious side effects, such as, muscle aches, stomach pain, nausea, bloating, cramping and rapid heart beat or worse.

Many insurance companies don't cover brand name medications, when there is a generic alternative. What happens if the pharmacy fills a prescription as prescribed and a generic available? A pharmacy that is alert to the generic alternative may inform the doctor to find out if they will the generic. A pharmacist when they try to but the charge through the insurance company and it comes back. Sometimes no one notices until the order is filled and the patient goes to pick up their prescription.

Customers ask the pharmacy tech why the bill is so high and the technician looks into it. This of course takes up the pharmacy tech's valuable. They come back and state that there is a generic available and the insurance company will not pay for brand name medications! Some customers may requests that the pharmacist call the doctor.

On the other hand most consumers aren't aware of the problem with the price. They won't talk to the pharmacist and will either pay the more money or not purchase the medications regardless of how badly it is needed. The higher price without insurance coverage is out of the price range for numerous people.

This may seem unbelievable, but there are millions of elderly people who have to choose between eating and medications. They don't have funds for both. Obviously, it is an unacceptable situation, it takes time and effort to keep up.

If you are a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, pharmaceutical technician I implore you to take an active roll in providing your patients with the most up-to-date information.