Sams epharmacy cum Pharmaclinic cum DIC cum PVC : 2016

Sunday 18 September 2016

Sams e-pharmacy cum PharmaClinic cum DIC - Better Healthcare...Better Ph...

GOD

Saturday 17 September 2016

Patient Satisfaction In Healthcare

Days are over when a patient walking inside a hospital only care about the doctor giving him right treatment for his diseases.

Today's patient is our consumer who unlike any other service industry now expect the same type of customer delight from a hospital in addition to the treatment.

He wants the full value for his money, in terms of having a good doctor, friendly hospital staff, hospital ambiance, his comforts etc.

They judge the hospital on various parameters other than doctor and there view about the hospital can make or break the hospital image.

But why all of a sudden the whole industry is more worried about patient satisfaction ???

The reason is simple : One happy customer will get 2 more customer, but one unhappy customer will cost 10 other customers.

But what exactly do patients want, besides having their conditions treated???

According to a survey, patients valued the interpersonal skills of their doctors as much as if not more than their technical skills.

So how exactly can we ensure that the patients are satisfied ???

This can be a tricky question, the reason being that no two person think alike, I might feel annoyed if a Patient Relation executive keep asking me the details to fill form and try to understand my socio-economic status n all , but on other hand you might think that as a patient care from his side to understand what exactly is the requirement of the patient.

So aiming a 100% patient satisfaction is not a practical target to achieve , but all the organisation should try to achieve the maximum which they are capable of.

A very easy method of ensuring patient satisfaction is SATISFIED & MOTIVATED STAFF, when your staff is happy with the management and are motivated towards work then be assured that 70% of your work is done. Programs need to be in place to help physicians and nurses improve their bedside manners. Secondly, staff and providers need to be fully engaged, and communication is the key here. Patients would like to be acknowledged; simply greeting them as you enter their room sets the right tone for rest of your interaction with them. Next, introduce yourself. Give them your name and your specialty. This is then followed by explaining to them, step by step, in accessible language, what is going to happen and how the procedure is going to last. Finally, spend sometime answering their questions, and thank the patient before leaving their room.

It would seem like patient satisfaction is intricately linked to patient outcomes. Patients who are more satisfied are more likely to adhere to treatment plans and maintain their relationships with their healthcare providers. This essentially translates to lower readmission rates, reduced lengths of stay, and increased savings for the hospitals.

What exactly is patient satisfaction:

Many hospitals think patient satisfaction is all about keeping patients happy; they are missing the point, because patient satisfaction should also be about a hospital’s philosophy about delivery of care, and that involve the complete team of hospital from front office , doctors, nurses, billing, diagnostics, housekeeping etc.

Unfortunately, doctors spend more time improving their medical knowledge than improving their approach to patient care.

What does a hospital achieve from Patient Satisfaction :

Greater profitability.
Improved patient retention and patient loyalty.
Increased patient referrals.
Improved compliance.
Improved productivity.
Better staff morale.
Reduced staff turnover.
Improved collections.
Greater efficiency.
Reduced risk of malpractice suit.
Personal and professional fulfillment.
Name and fame to the organisation

So to sum up all the above things we can just say that A Happy Patient is Key for Success for the Hospital.

There are simple solutions to improve patient satisfaction scores. All a practice needs to do is to listen and take heed of what their patients have to say.

Wednesday 31 August 2016

pharmacists: FUN PHARMACY

GOD

Sunday 28 August 2016

Health is Celebrity: Vitamin A:The vitamin of Vision

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Health is Celebrity: Why Vitamin A is important

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Health is Celebrity: Vitamin A deficiency Effects

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Health is Celebrity: Nausea picture description and defination

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Health is Celebrity: Vertigo picture description and definition

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Health is Celebrity: Vomiting image description

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Health is Celebrity: GERD image description and Difinition

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Health is Celebrity: Bradycardia Image Description And Definition

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Health is Celebrity: Tachycardia image description and difinition

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Health is Celebrity: Acne Image and definition

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Health is Celebrity: Coffee is Skin Docter

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Health is Celebrity: Ebola vaccine research by Johnson and Johnson

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Health is Celebrity: BNF Drugs Classification of Anaesthetic drugs

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Health is Celebrity: Hypnotics and Anxiolytics Drugs classification in ...

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs used for Attention Deficit Hyperacti...

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Health is Celebrity: Drugs for Vertigo Nausea Meniere's disease With Im...

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Health is Celebrity: List of Diuretics used in Cardiac vascular Problem...

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Health is Celebrity: List Of Antiarrhythmic Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Anti hypertensive Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs used for Angina Pectoris

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Health is Celebrity: List of Anti Coagulant Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of anti hyperlipidemic drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs used for Ear, Nose, Oropharynx

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Health is Celebrity: List of Sex Hormones and Anti thyroid Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List Of Ophthalmic Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs Used For Dyspepsia And GERD

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Health is Celebrity: List of Fibinolytic Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Anti Diabetic Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Hypothalamic and Pituitary Hormones and Oe...

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Health is Celebrity: List Of Drugs used In Diarrhea And Irritable Bowel...

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Health is Celebrity: List of Antidepressants Drugs with effect on Centr...

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Health is Celebrity: List of Protein inhibitor Antibiotics

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Health is Celebrity: List of Protein inhibitor Antibiotics

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Health is Celebrity: List of Cell Wall Inhibitors Antibiotics

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Health is Celebrity: List of Antituberculosis Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs Used for Hemorrhoid and Related Prob...

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs used for Parkinson's Disease

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Health is Celebrity: List of Drugs for Treatment of Epilepsy

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Health is Celebrity: Drugs For Substance Dependence

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Health is Celebrity: List of antipsychotic Drugs and antimanic Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List of Vaccines and Immunoglobins

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Health is Celebrity: SHANGHAI – Thirty-five individuals had died in Ne...

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Health is Celebrity: List OF Laxatives Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: Last of Anti fungal Drugs

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Health is Celebrity: List Of Anti Viral Drugs

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Thursday 28 April 2016

Pharmaceutical Policy

Pharmaceutical policy is a branch of health policy that deals with the development, provision and use of medications within a health care system. It embraces drugs (both brand name and generic), biologics (products derived from living sources, as opposed to chemical compositions), vaccines and natural health products. Pharmaceutical policy includes:

Funding of Research in the Life Sciences

In many countries, an agency of the national government (in the U.S. the NIH, in the U.K. the MRC, and in India the DST) funds university researchers to study the causes of disease, which in some cases leads to the development of discoveries which can be transferred to pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies as a basis for drug development. By setting its budget, its research priorities and making decisions about which researchers to fund, there can be a significant impact on the rate of new drug development and on the disease areas in which new drugs are developed. For example, a major investment by the NIH into research on HIV in the 1980s certainly could be viewed as an important foundation for the many antiviral drugs that have subsequently been developed.

Patent Law

While patent laws are written to apply to all inventions, whether mechanical, pharmaceutical, or electronic, the interpretations of patent law made by government patent granting agencies (the United States Patent and Trademark Office, for example) and courts, can be very subject-matter specific with significant impact on the incentives for drug development and the availability of lower-priced generic drugs. For example, a recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Pfizer v. Apotex, 480 F.3d 1348 (Fed.Cir.2007), held invalid a patent on the “pharmaceutical salt” formulation of a previously patented active ingredient. If that decision is not overturned by the United States Supreme Court, generic versions of the drug in controversy, Norvasc (amlodipine besylate) will be available much earlier. If the reasoning of the Federal Circuit in the case is applied more generally to other patents on pharmaceutical formulations, it would have a significant impact in speeding generic drug availability (and, conversely, some negative impact on the incentives and funding for the research and development of new drugs).

Licensing

This involves the approval of a product for sale in a jurisdiction. Typically a national agency such as the US Food and Drug Administration (specifically, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, or CDER), the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency or Health Canada or Ukrainian Drug Registration Agency [1] is responsible for reviewing a product and approving it for sale. The regulatory process typically focuses on quality, safety and efficacy. To be approved for sale a product must demonstrate that it is generally safe (or has a favourable risk/benefit profile relative to the condition it is intended to treat), that it does what the manufacturer claims and that it is produced to high standards. Internal staff and expert advisory committees review products. Once approved, a product is given an approval letter or issued with a notice of compliance, indicating that it may now be sold in the jurisdiction. In some cases, such approvals may have conditions attached, requiring, for example additional ‘post-marketing’ trials to clarify an issue (such as efficacy in certain patient populations or interactions with other products) or criteria limiting the product to certain uses.

Pricing

In many jurisdictions drug prices are regulated. For example, in the UK the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme is intended to ensure that the National Health Service is able to purchase drugs at “reasonable prices.” In Canada, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board examines drug pricing, compares the proposed Canadian price to that of seven other countries and determines if a price is “excessive” or not. In these circumstances, drug manufacturers must submit a proposed price to the appropriate regulatory agency.

Reimbursement

Once a regulatory agency has determined the clinical benefit and safety of a product and pricing has been confirmed (if necessary), a drug manufacturer will typically submit it for evaluation by a payer of some sort. Payers may be private insurance plans, governments (through the provision of benefits plans to insured populations or specialized entities likeCancer Care Ontario, which funds in-hospital oncology drugs) or health care organizations such as hospitals. At this point the critical issue is cost-effectiveness. This is where the discipline of pharmaco-economics is often applied. This is a specialized field of health economics that looks at the cost/benefit of a product in terms of quality of life, alternative treatments (drug and non-drug) and cost reduction or avoidance in other parts of the health care system (for example, a drug may reduce the need for a surgical intervention, thereby saving money). Structures like the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and Canada’s Common Drug Review evaluate products in this way. Some jurisdictions do not, however, evaluate products for cost-effectiveness. In some instances, individual drug benefit plans (or their administrators) may also evaluate products. Additionally, hospitals may have their own review committees (often called a Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committee) to make decisions about which drugs to fund from the hospital budget.

Drug plan administrators may also apply their own pricing rules outside of that set by national pricing agencies. For example, British Columbia uses a pricing model calledreference-based pricing to set the price of drugs in certain classes. Many US pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) use strategies like tiered formularies and preferred listings to encourage competition and downward pricing pressure, resulting in lower prices for benefits plans. Competitive procurement of this sort is common among large purchasers such as the US Veteran’s Health Administration.

Typically, a manufacturer will provide an estimate of the projected use of a drug as well as the expected fiscal impact on a drug plan’s budget. If necessary, a drug plan may negotiate a risk-sharing agreement to mitigate the potential for an unexpectedly large budget impact due to incorrect assumptions and projections.

Because the clinical trials used to generate information to support drug licensing are limited in scope and duration, drug plans may request ongoing post-market trials (often called Phase IV or pragmatic clinical trials) to demonstrate a product’s ‘real world safety and effectiveness.’ These may take the form of a patient registry or other means of data collection and analysis.

Once a product is deemed cost-effective, a price negotiated (or applied in the case of a pricing model) and any risk-sharing agreement negotiated, the drug is placed on a drug list or formulary. Prescribers may choose drugs on the list for their patients, subject to any conditions or patient criteria.

Formulary management

At the core of most reimbursement regimes is the drug list, or formulary. Managing this list can involve many different approaches. Negative lists – products that are not reimbursed under any circumstances are used in some jurisdictions (c.f. Germany). More dynamic formularies may have graduated listings such as Ontario’s recent conditional listing model. As mentioned, formularies may be used to drive choice to lower cost drugs by structuring a sliding scale of co-payments favouring cheaper products or those for which there is a preferential agreement with the manufacturer. This is the principle underlying preferred drug lists used in many US state Medicaid programs. Some jurisdictions and plans (such as Italy) may also categorize drugs according to their ‘essentialness’ and determine the level of reimbursement the plan will provide and the portion that the patient is expected to pay.

Formularies may also segment drugs into categories for which a prior authorization is needed. This is usually done to limit the use of a high cost drug or one that has potential for inappropriate use (sometimes called ‘off-label’ as it involves using a product to treat conditions other than those for which its license was granted). In this circumstance a health care provider would have to seek permission to prescribe the product or the pharmacist would have to obtain permission prior to dispensing it.

Eligibility

Depending on the structure of the health care system, drugs may be purchased by patients themselves, a health care organization on behalf of patients or an insurance plan (public or private). Hospitals typically limit eligibility to their in-patients. Private plans may be employer-sponsored such as Blue Cross, mandated by legislation, as in Quebec or consist of an outsourcing arrangement for a public plan, such as the US Medicare Part D scheme. Public plans may be structured in a variety of ways including:

1. Universal, as in Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
2. Restricted by age, as in the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan for seniors
3. Segmented by disease group, such as Manitoba’s cystic fibrosis drug plan
4. Geared to income, such as US Medicaid programs in many states

Additionally, plans may be structured to respond to the ‘catastrophic’ impact of drug expenses incurred by those with serious diseases or high drug spending relative to income. These patient populations, often called ‘medically needy,’ may have all or part of their drug costs covered by ‘plans of last resort,’ (typically government-sponsored). One such plan is Ontario’s Trillium Drug Program.

Pharmaceutical policy may also be used to respond to health crises. For example, Argentina launched REMEDIAR during its financial crisis of 2002. The government-sponsored program provides a specified list of essential drugs to primary care clinics in low-income neighbourhoods. Similarly, Brazil provides drugs for HIV/AIDS free to all citizens as a deliberate public health policy choice.

Eligibility policy also focuses on cost-sharing between a plan and the beneficiary (the insured person). Co-payments may be used to drive certain prescribing choices (for example, favouring generic over brand drugs or preferred over non-preferred products). Deductibles may be used as part of geared to income plans.

Prescribing

Pharmaceutical policy may also attempt to shape and inform prescribing. Prescribing may be limited to physicians or include certain classes of health care providers such as nurse practitioners and pharmacists. There may be limitations placed on each class of provider. This may take the form of prescribing criteria for a drug, limiting its prescribing to a particular type of specialist physician for example (such as HIV/AIDS drugs to physicians with advanced training in this area), or it may involve special drug lists that a specific type of health care provider (such as a nurse practitioner) may prescribe from.

Plans may also seek to influence prescribing by providing information to prescribers. This practice is often called ‘academic detailing’ to differentiate it from the detailing (provision of drug information) done by pharmaceutical companies. Organizations such as Australia’s National Prescribing Service typify this technique, providing independent information, including head-to-head comparisons and cost-effectiveness information to prescribers to influence their choices.

Additionally, efforts to promote the ‘appropriate use’ of medications may also involve other providers like pharmacists providing clinical consulting services. In settings such as hospitals and long-term care, pharmacists often collaborate closely with physicians to ensure optimal prescribing choices are made. In some jurisdictions, such as Australia, pharmacists are compensated for providing medication reviews for patients outside of acute or long-term care settings. Pharmacist collaboration with family physicians in order to improve prescribing may also be funded.

Pharmacy services

Pharmaceutical policy may also encompass how drugs are provided to beneficiaries. This includes the mechanics of drug distribution and dispensing as well as the funding of such services. For example, some HMOs in the US use a ‘central fill’ approach where all prescriptions are packaged and shipped from a central location instead of at a community pharmacy. In other jurisdictions, retail pharmacies are compensated for dispensing drugs to eligible beneficiaries. A state-operated approach may also be taken, as with Sweden’s Apoteket, which had the monopoly on retail pharmacy until 2009, and was not-for-profit. Pharmaceutical policy may also subsidize smaller, more marginal pharmacies, using the rationale that they are needed health care providers. The UK’s Essential Small Pharmacies Scheme works this way.

Tuesday 29 March 2016

The Pharmaceutical Industry does not create cures.They create customers. Does this statement holds value?

The Pharmaceutical Industry does not create cures.They create cutomers.
Does this statement holds value?
Is it correct to generalise such an industry?
How much this statement is true? Or is the scenario changing with the advent of Pharm D?

Monday 21 March 2016

Drugs are different from medicines/pharma products

drugs imply--- narcotic drugs
medicines imply---therapeutic drugs available on prescription

OTC medicines--- therapeutic drugs available without prescription over the counter
pharma products imply---compounded and dispensed drugs in a pharmacy

See the term "Product development" may mean differ than "drug development "in Pharmacy World . eg in case of Asthama patients use of "Aerosol inhaler" (The medication is typically stored in solution in a pressurized canister that contains a propellant or suspension. ... On activation, the metered-dose inhaler releases a fixed dose of medication in aerosol form through the actuator and into a patient's lungs). So this Pharmaceutical product consists of 2 parts - Aerosol medicine( which is the suspension drug) and Inhaler device ( which is the drug delivery device).

Sometimes it may happen that the newly invented aerosol medicine may require the drug development whereas the inhaler device may not and other times it may hapen that the already established old Aerosol medicine may not require development whereas the newly invented Inhaler drug delivery device may require the development.

So when we say Product development , it may consists of both drug and device development or atleast one of them.

Now in case of only drug development

Preclinical trials mean animal testing and Post marketing surveilance (PMS) means Phase IV trials on humans.

Though I agree that Animal testing results may differ from Human testing results....But many times it happens that the Animal testing results extrapolate to Human testing results..... Therefore regulatory affairs professionals are concerned with post-market surveillance by the FDA at the beginning stages of product development which doesnt mean Preclinical trials (Animal testing).

Always think Pharma Camps(dispensaries) are different from Health Camps/medical camps/dental camps/physiotherapy camps/mental psychotherapy camps

Pharma Camps(Dispensaries) are different from Health Camps/medical camps/dental camps/physiotherapy camps/mental psychotherapy camps

Pharma insurance coverages are different from Health Insurance /medical insurance/dental insurance etc

Nice to know : Psychotherapy expenses are not covered under health insurance .

Sunday 6 March 2016

Always think ... is it Medical/ Medicinal or Pharmaceutical/Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy ?

I am strictly adamantly against about usage of terms like "medicinal" or ''medical'' in any Pharmacy sector, Creates unneccessary confusion :
eg Medical research when actually its a pharmaceutical research
eg Medicinal Chemistry when actually its a Pharmaceutical Chemistry
eg Medical Store when actually its a Pharmacy
eg Medical Representative when actually its a Pharmacy Representative
eg Medical mnemonics when actually it is Pharmacy mnemonics(clinicaly oriented pharma mnemonics are different from industry oriented pharma mnemonics)

Medicinal means (of a substance or plant) having healing properties.
Then what is Pharmacognosy/Herbal/

'Medical examination' is when you get yourself checked out by a doctor to see if your are healthy. You could look up the two words in the dictionary, but the main thing is that plants are not primarily medical, but they have healing properties like medicines...that is the meaning of "medicinal".