Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2002
The polarized debate over complementary and alternative medicine.
Debate about the place and scientific of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased markedly in 2002 following the release of the report of the White House Commission on Alternative and Complementary Medicine Policy. Arguments for and against the integration of CAM into mainstream medicine that have been made are discussed. Positions taken by organizations opposed to CAM are described as are arguments to study the place of CAM further.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2002
Analgesic issues in palliative care, furthering our understanding of pain, the stability and cost of opioid infusion therapy, and opioid effectiveness doses in nociceptive and neuropathic pain.
Literature relating to analgesic issues, pain mechanisms and management, costs of opioid infusions, and the opioids dosing for nociceptive and neuropathic pain are reviewed in the context of palliative care.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2002
Extemporaneous compounding: a return to regulatory limbo?
Extemporaneous compounding of medications has been an integral component of the practice of pharmacy and medicine since the practices began. A staple of early medical and pharmacy practice, even today many patients benefit from compounding at some point in their care. ⋯ With a recent decision by the US Supreme Court, compounding regulation is again uncertain. This commentary reviews compounding practice, the history of compounding regulation, and discusses the current regulatory status of the practice.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2002
Pain and palliative care in The Cochrane Library; Issue number 4, 2001.
The Cochrane Library of systematic reviews is published quarterly. Nine of the 62 new reviews published in Issue 4 for 2001 in February 2002 are relevant to pain and palliative care. Annotated bibliographies for those nine reviews are provided.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2002
Medications through the Internet: what clinicians and patients need to know.
Patients are now able to obtain mail order prescriptions through the Internet from reputable online pharmacies without leaving their home. While this can be a great convenience, the Internet also provides a new means for easily questionable or even illegal prescription medications, i.e., prescription legend medications may be obtained without a prescription and drug products not legally available in the United States can be obtained in this way. ⋯ Clinicians should know where their patients obtain medications, how to verify the validity of the sources of prescriptions, and how to report fraud. Ways to verify the legitimacy of an online pharmacy are described.