The improvement of physical and mental health due to pharmaceutical or prescription drugs, has given Americans a sense of protection and trust against drug medications. In today’s time, expanded use of prescription meds are a key component of modern health care. What Americans often fail to realize is that even though these drugs may seem safe, they can pose a threat to human life. Many consumers fail to read or pay attention to the drug labels upon use. Consumers often overlook prescription drug labels because the “labels fail to attract attention” (Bello). A study conducted by Nora Bello, an assistant professor of statistics and psychology, found that prescription drug labels often fail to bring immediate attention to patients and consumers. Because labeling on the majority of drug products are so minuscule, consumers often bypass critical information that is needed upon consumption. In the study orchestrated by Bello, she took participants whom would interact with vials of medications and studied their routines prior to consuming the drug. Researchers tracked the participants’ eye movement over the drug labels to measure how attentive they were before taking the drug. The experiment found that over fifty percent of participants failed to even observe the warning labels on the prescription bottles. What this state’s about many consumers is that little attention is being paid to reading drug labels. Instead of skimming past this information that is provided, consumers should take a deeper look at what they are consuming.
Because consumers are paying little attention to what’s on drug panels, some manufacturers have taken this to their advantage. Although consumers pay little attention to what is produced on drug labels, they hav...
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...g facts are being downplayed. Every day millions of patients around the world rely on some type of medication to help them live better. If the risks of these medical products are being downplayed or absent, then how are they being helped live better? Drug labels should now be required to have legible font that clearly highlights the negative effects of the product. There should be a wider range of information that is converted into a packet pre packaged with the vial of medication for the consumer. Consumers should be able to know what the drug maker knows, without any limitations so that their life is not put into risk. With the implement of these changes consumers won’t have to worry about what’s being put into their body. This is better for the consumer and better for the manufacturer because neither will have the chance to say that the risks were not perceived.
In Melody Peterson’s “Our Daily Meds” , the history of marketing and advertising in the pharmaceutical industry is explored. The first chapter of the book, entitled “Creating disease”, focuses on how major pharmaceutical companies successfully create new ailments that members of the public believe exist. According to Peterson, the success that these drug manufacturers have experienced can be attributed to the malleability of disease, the use of influencial people to promote new drugs, the marketing behind pills, and the use of media outlets.
Auton, Frank. “Opinion: The Case for Advertising Pharmaceuticals Directly to Consumers”. Future Medicinal Chemistry. July 2009. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Auton%20F%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=21426028. Web. 20 April 2014.
In America today, many people are in need of medical help. In fact,the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 75% of the population complain of physical problems (Federal Trade Commission 9). They complain, for example, of fatigue, colds, headaches, and countless other "ailments." When these symptoms strike, 65% purchase over-the counter, or OTC, drugs. In order to take advantage of this demand, five billion dollars is spent by the pharmaceutical industry on marketing each year . This marketing, usually in the form of advert...
In Melody Peterson’s “Our Daily Meds” , the history of marketing and advertising in the pharmaceutical industry is explored. The first chapter of the book, entitled “Creating disease”, focuses on how major pharmaceutical companies successfully create new ailments that members of the public believe exist. According to Peterson, the success that these drug manufacturers have experienced can be attributed to the malleability of disease, the use of influencial people to promote new drugs and the efficient usage of media outlets.
Although writing a prescription may be an easy way to put a bandaid on a problem, people tend to forget that medication can’t be responsible for curing our nation. Slowly we are becoming a country where pills are handed out like candy, causing a severe series of negative effects and downfalls. Ray Bradbury, the author of the award winning novel Fahrenheit 451, is definitely in agreement. In 1951, when the novel was written, Bradbury was able to make the prediction that the innocent use of medication would soon turn into an extreme drug epidemic, and unfortunately he wasn’t wrong. The overuse of drugs in the United States, such as mental illness medication
FDA have been modified completely since 1906. The market itself, the science behind it, and the
Office, U. A. (2002). Prescription drugs: FDA oversight of direct-to-consumeradvertising has limitations (GAO-3-177). Washington, D.C.
Sharpe, Katherine. “Medication: The Smart-pill Oversell.” Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. Nature Publishing Group. 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 March 2014.
Although the pharmaceutical industry says that prescription medicines are as safe as they can possibly be, prescribed drugs have a high increase of risking a patient’s health. According to the law, drug makers seek Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for specific uses of their products and conduct trials to test their drugs safety and effectiveness in patients with specific conditions. The FDA demands that drug companies conduct rigorous clinical trials to prove a drugs safety and effectiveness in treating a particular disease. However, once the FDA approves a drug for one use, doctors can prescribe it for whatever they want. The FDA is considering loosening the monitoring of off-label prescriptions, but if anything, regulations should be tightened. Despite the practices of some medical personnel, the risk of serious medical complications demands that the FDA regulate and restrict off-label use of prescription drugs.
Drug advertising for prescription medications comes in many forms including ads in magazines or newspaper, TV commercials, radio broadcasts, brochures, etc. It was in the mid 80s when drug companies started to direct information on prescription drugs to consumers instead of only focusing information on the physicians or pharmacists (FDA, 2012). The change seen in prescription drug promotion towards the public is known as direct-to-consumer advertising. This type of advertising is completely directed to a general audience rather than healthcare providers.
Prescription drug advertising is a normal part of living in the United States. Considering what people can learn through advertising in society is almost unreal. The US population have encountered drug advertisements dating back to the early 1900’s. From heroin to aspirin and everything in between were at once listed to be advertised. Fast forward to today, and pharmaceutical companies continue to use high amounts of prescription drugs advertisements. People right now are seeing the effects that these advertisements have in negative ways, but also at the same time creating benefits in society.
Pharmacy is a booming field when it comes to medicine, but it certainly has controversial issues such as compounding drugs. While the practice of making drugs customized to a patient seems ethical, there are problems that come along with it. Drug compounding was the norm in the past, but over time consumers began to see issues with it. Drug compounding still occurs to this day because some patients do need medicine specifically tailored to their needs. Compounding has also been the focus of recent disasters, some of which occurred less than two years ago. Whatever side one may take on this issue, it is clear that compounding medicine will be a polarizing issue for years to come.
One of the fastest growing problems in America today is the abuse of prescription drugs. In the past 10 years, the misuse of prescribed medications has skyrocketed, making it a National issue that many people are attempting to attack. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: opiates, depressants, and stimulants are the three drug classifications most commonly abused by Americans (Kendall 175). The abuse of opioids will be the main focus of this paper, however depressants and stimulants will be briefly discussed as well. A multitude of research on the subject has concluded that there is more than a single solution to the problem, involving taking immediate action as well as making prevention efforts. Looking at the functionalist and symbolic interactionist perspectives help sociologist to identify causes, effects, and solutions of the abuse of prescription drugs in America.
Daily, millions of people are perusing the grocery store, buying food for their families, completely unaware of what they are purchasing. A study on consumer research regarding food labels by the FDA found only a small percentage of people actually read the food labels and understand what they mean apart from only the calories and fat; ingredients are another story. “According to a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, about 61.5 percent reported using the nutrition facts panel when deciding to purchase food. Fewer people paid attention to the list of ingredients” (CNN Health). The FDA is aware that labeling could help reverse the acceleration we are seeing in heart diseases and obesity, but labeling does not help people to read the ingredients if they do not understand pseudonyms, and vitamins. “The surveys also revealed frequent misunderstanding of the meaning of the daily/value column that shows how each nutrient fits into a healthy diet, “(American journal Nutrition, WEB). Many different harmful ingredients are secretly hidden in labels and people skimming ov...
Pharmacists play a key role in patient care and well-being. Not only do quality pharmacists dispense prescriptions to their patient’s, but they also consul them on how to get superior results. By maintain a thoughtful relationship and open communication with patients, pharmacists are able to best access their patient’s needs. As a pharmacist, it would be my goal to have that strong relationship with my patients. My dad personally struggled with taking his prescriptions, as most individuals diagnosed with severe clinical depression do. Clearly it is not his pharmacist’s fault my dad didn’t take his medication before it was too late. His pharmacist simply did his job. However, as a pharmacist, I would go above and beyond, the extra mile, to access