International journal of clinical pharmacy
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Storage and disposal of unused medications: knowledge, behavior, and attitudes among Serbian people.
Improper disposal of medications potentially poses a significant environmental risk and storage of expired and unused medications in households provides an increased risk of accidental childhood poisonings. ⋯ Public services in Serbia, including government and health sectors, need to be more proactive about educating people on how to store and dispose medications, as well as finding a way for implementation of the law on medications wastage destruction.
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Smoking is a major public health problem in Qatar. The potential for community pharmacists to offer smoking cessation counseling in this country can be high. ⋯ Qatar community pharmacists have positive attitudes toward smoking cessation counseling. These attitudes need to be translated into action. Interventions should be implemented to overcome perceived barriers and to improve smoking cessation activities among pharmacists.
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Patients at risk of experiencing medicine-related problems do not always appear willing to participate in collaborative medication management services. Little is known about the psycho-social factors which motivate patients to participate in these services. The theory of motivated information management (TMIM) suggests that patients' willingness to participate may be motivated by their uncertainty and worry about their medicines. ⋯ Worry about medicines is a key factor in motivating participants to engage in medicines information-seeking. Older persons who rely heavily on heuristics appeared less likely to worry about their medicines and willing to participate in medication management services. Age-related reduction in the motivation to participate may have important implications for medication safety. Further examination of this effect is warranted because older persons are at greatest risk of medicine related problems.
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Multicenter Study
Evaluation of potentially inappropriate medications among older residents of Malaysian nursing homes.
There is an increasing evidence of medicines related issues such as inappropriate prescribing among older people. Inappropriate prescribing is an important risk factor for adverse drug reactions and hospitalizations in the older people. ⋯ Potentially inappropriate medications are highly prevalent among older residents living in the nursing homes and are associated with number of medications and longer nursing home stay. Further research is warranted to study the impact of PIMs towards health related outcomes in these elderly.
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Multicenter Study
Irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders: evaluating self-medication in an Asian community setting.
Gastrointestinal disorders frequently present symptoms which are often self-treated. ⋯ Patients who fulfilled criteria for irritable bowel syndrome had a high tendency to self-treat their gastrointestinal symptoms. Constipation complaints were also common. Around one in five patients self-medicated gastrointestinal symptoms inappropriately, with antacids being the most common.