Prescription Sales Research Articles

Predictors of Community Pharmacy Strategic Planning

Predictors of the quality of strategic planning conducted by community pharmacies were identified. A mail questionnaire on strategic planning yielded a total of 562 usable surveys (37.4% response rate). Using a stepwise regression analysis procedure, a model was developed that accounted for over 86% of the variability in community pharmacy strategic planning quality. Eleven variables considered in this research were found to be significant predictors of strategic planning quality: total prescriptions dispensed, dispensing performance, financial performance, pharmacy net income percentage, respondent participation in any strategic planning educational program, time available to conduct strategic planning, ability of strategic planning to maintain prescription sales volume, ability of strategic planning to expand pharmaceutical services, impact of health care reform on the importance of strategic planning, the number of competitors located within the community served, and community pharmacy ownership.

Trends in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease therapy in Canada, 1985 to 1990

Background: In the mid and late 1980s, numerous changes were recommended in the management of obstructive lung diseases. We analyzed drug sales to determine whether these recommendations have resulted in recent changes in prescription drugs used in airway management. Methods: Data on prescription sales in Canada from 1985 to 1990 were obtained from an international pharmaceutical market research organization. Data from a random sampling of physicians that reported patients seen along with the diagnosis and prescriptions given were also reviewed. Results: From 1985 to 1990, there was a 38% increase in prescriptions of all airway drugs. Prescriptions increased significantly for inhaled drugs as follows: inhaledβ 2-agonists, 70%; inhaled steroids, 139%; cromoglycate, 88%; and ipratropium bromide, 204%. Theophylline prescriptions, by contrast, fell significantly, by 19%. Although theophylline was the most commonly prescribed airway medication in 1985, inhaledβ 2-agonists were the most commonly prescribed drug in 1990, and these changes in proportional use were significant. Increases in ipratropium bromide usage was accounted for by increases in prescriptions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Increases in nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs were accounted for by asthma prescriptions. Conclusions: The increase in airway medication prescriptions dispensed in Canada is consistent with an increase in the number of patients treated, an increase in the severity of disease treated, or both.

International Abstracts: The Law, Social Control, And Drug Policy: Models, Factors, And Processes

The law is governmental social control; it is the state's most direct intervention in the normative life of its citizens. Psychoactive drugs are controlled through regulation and prohibition, depending on the legal status of the particular substance. Licit drugs are made available through a regulatory scheme of medical prescription and legal sale; health is protected through investigating, licensing, and monitoring the quality and quantity of drugs and the circumstances in which they are consumed. Illicit drugs are forbidden by criminal statutes which create offenses related to both use (i.e., possession) and distribution (i.e., trafficking, importing); no level of use is acceptable and there is no legal source of supply. The agents of control for licit drugs are physicians, scientists, and health bureaucrats. In contrast, the agents that enforce illicit drug laws are the police, prosecutors, courts, and customs officials. The general preventive effect of the criminal law is activated through the threat o...

Monitoring of Drug Prescriptions for Children in the County of Jämtland and in Sweden as a Whole in 1977–1987

One individual-based (Jämtland) and one population-based (Sweden) monitoring system provided information on the prescription sales of drugs for children in ambulatory care. The overall prescription rate decreased between 1977 and 1987 and it was 20-25% lower in Jämtland than in Sweden as a whole. Antibiotics, drugs for ear, nose and throat diseases and respiratory drugs accounted for three out of four prescriptions. Penicillin V dominated among antibiotics and the prescription rate was stable whereas that of other antibiotics increased. During their first year of life one out of ten children in Jämtland had at least one prescription of antibiotics, during their first five years three out of four children. Prescribing of decongestants, especially systemic, decreased during the study period whereas that of anti-asthmatics increased, partly due to the non-approved use of these drugs for common cough. The results from our study underline the need for pharmaco-epidemiological studies linking prescription data to clinical data in order to answer questions on the rational of present drug treatment practices.

On the differences in psychotropic drug use between the three major urban areas in Sweden

Marked differences in the utilisation of psychotropic drugs between the three major urban areas in Sweden were recorded from four sources of information: drug supplies from wholesalers to pharmacies, drug supplies to hospitals for in-patient use, drugs sold on prescription for out-patient use, and out-patient consultation and drug prescribing as recorded by physicians. The total sales of psychotropics in the counties of Gothenburg (110.8 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day) and Malmö (102.1) were much higher than in the county of Stockholm (73.4), with about 25% of the difference being accounted for by diazepam. Differences in the total sales of psychotropics were not explained by any differences in hospital sales, which amounted to about 10% in all counties. Prescription sales differed due to the higher average number of DDD (defined daily doses) per prescription in Gothenburg and Malmö than in Stockholm (total psychotropics 8 and 15%, respectively), and especially because of the higher number of prescriptions per inhabitant (about 40 and 30-35%, respectively). There was no substantial difference in the pattern of diagnoses between areas, but there was a noticeable difference with regard to prescriber category, as psychiatrists accounted for more of the prescriptions in Stockholm than in Gothenburg and Malmö. The results raise questions about over- and under-treatment of mental disorders and about abuse of drugs. In order to explain the geographical differences in psychotropic drug sales morbidity patterns and prescribing practices should be further explored.

Use of antiasthmatic drugs in Australia

Bronchodilator prescription and sales data for Australia from 1975 to 1986 were analysed. Inhaled beta-agonists were the most commonly prescribed antiasthmatic agents in 1986, followed by sustained-release theophylline and inhaled corticosteroids. Marked increases in prescription sales of these three drug groups over the period were noted. We estimate that non-prescription sales of salbutamol inhalers increased by 410% between 1980 and 1986 (P less than 0.01). Prescribing rates by general practitioners for beta-agonists, sustained-release theophylline and inhaled corticosteroids increased from 1979 to 1986. Prescribing rates of beta-agonists were highest for persons aged 1-11 years and 55 years and over, and increased markedly for children aged 1-11 years over the period. For sustained-release theophylline, prescribing rates were highest for persons 55 years and over. The difficulties in postulating possible relationships between prescribing trends and asthma mortality are discussed.

Lilly Digest: Prescription Sales Show Continued Growth in 1976

Lilly Digest: Prescription Sales Show Continued Growth in 1976

Can Mass Media Advertising Increase Contraceptive Use?

A $330,000 multimedia advertising campaign was undertaken in 4 U.S. cities (Columbus, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; Altoona, Pennsylvania; Jackson, Mississippi) November 1970-May 1971 by the Family Planning Evaluation project (University of North Carolina) to evaluate the cost and effectiveness of commercial advertising in increasing contraceptive utilization among active fertile individuals. The ads ran on radio, television, in special editions of Life and Look, and in local daily, ethnic, and community newspapers. The level of complaints was below what had been anticipated, and there was no unacceptable community opposition even in the saturation cases. The level of awareness was higher during the campaign for television and radio advertising but not for newspaper and magazine advertising (interviews). The number of "new" patients to family planning clinics was low (ranging from 24 to 444) and it appears that mass media advertising is not an effective recruitment technique. No differences were found in new prescription sales of oral contraceptives or sales of condoms between the media sites and their controls during the 6-month campaign. Mass media campaigns might be more effective in non-US settings where contraceptive knowledge is not great and usage is not widespread.

The case history of a resolution. There oughtn't to be a law

A common approach these days to almost any social ill is to propose legislation, and if such legislation is passed, to believe the problem will disappear. There is no reason to suppose that the common approach is the best. Last fall Utah, like many other communities, was experiencing difficulties with amphetamines. The Utah Society of Internal Medicine (USIM) decided to find out what would happen were its members to declare an immediate ban on the prescribing of any and all amphetamines for the treatment of obesity. We were by no means certain of what would happen. We knew scientific opinion was on our side. We also knew that very restrictive legislation was being proposed in an effort to curb drug abuse, so great had been the public outcry. The legislation was aimed mainly at legitimate prescription sales. We believed that such a law would severely complicate the legitimate use of

The Case History of a Resolution

A common approach these days to almost any social ill is to propose legislation, and if such legislation is passed, to believe the problem will disappear. There is no reason to suppose that the common approach is the best. Last fall Utah, like many other communities, was experiencing difficulties with amphetamines. The Utah Society of Internal Medicine (USIM) decided to find out what would happen were its members to declare an immediate ban on the prescribing of any and all amphetamines for the treatment of obesity. We were by no means certain of what would happen. We knew scientific opinion was on our side. We also knew that very restrictive legislation was being proposed in an effort to curb drug abuse, so great had been the public outcry. The legislation was aimed mainly at legitimate prescription sales. We believed that such a law would severely complicate the legitimate use of

Agricultural Chemicals in Relation to Environmental Quality: Insecticides Today and Tomorrow

AbstractInsecticides are used in agriculture as purposeful environmental contaminants to increase cost/benefit ratio in favor of the farmer and the citizen as consumer of food and fiber. However, their use has become a focal point in public concern for the preservation of environmental quality. Insecticides are widely estimated to have returned an average of about $5 to the farmer for every $1 expended. They have become an essential part of farm technology and their use is the inevitable consequences of the monoculture approach to modern high production agriculture. As ever increasing quantities of a widening variety of organic chemicals are used for pest control, the problems of environmental micropollution became intensified. There is an urgent need to learn much more about the environmental distribution and fate of not only the newer insecticides but also of the older materials still widely used.Pesticides of all kinds will be widely used for the forseeable future. However, newer selective and biodegradable compounds must replace the older highly toxic and persistent chemicals. Pest management programs directed by pest control specialists will make pest control an integral part of crop production and will reduce the extent of environmental pollution by pesticides. Prescription sale and supervision of pesticides use will provide the best way to prevent the misuse and abuse of pesticides.