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The Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR), renamed Prescriber's Digital Reference after its physical publication was discontinued, is a compilation of manufacturers' prescribing information (package insert) on prescription drugs, updated regularly and published by ConnectiveRx.[ citation needed ]
The original PDR was titled Physician's Desk Reference but was renamed because not all prescribers are physicians and the reference is no longer a hardback book stored on a desk. While designed to provide physicians with the full legally mandated information relevant to writing prescriptions (just as its name suggests), it is widely available in libraries and bookstores, widely used by other medical specialists, and sometimes valuable to the layman. The compilation is financially supported in part by pharmaceutical manufacturing corporations which create drugs listed within its pages. The 71st Edition, published in 2017, was the final hardcover edition. It weighed in at 4.6 pounds (2.1 kg) and contained information on over 1,000 drugs. [1]
Since then, the PDR has been available online (PDR.net) for free, and has been integrated into some electronic health record (EHR) systems. PDR.net also links to a free mobile app.[ citation needed ]
The Physicians' Desk Reference was first published in 1947 by Medical Economics Inc., a magazine publisher founded by Lansing Chapman. [2] Medical Economics Inc. merged with Reinhold Publishing in 1966 to form Chapman-Reinhold. [3] Litton Industries, which owned the American Book Company, acquired Chapman-Reinhold in 1968. [4] Litton sold its publishing business to the International Thomson Organization (ITO) in 1981. [5]
Since the late 20th century, a consumer edition has been offered at a much reduced price. Electronic editions are available on CD-ROM and the World Wide Web to subscribers. In 1984, Paul C. Kranz and Michael Grondin travelled to Oradell, New Jersey, and presented to Medical Economics (then-publisher of the PDR) a prototype developed by Grondin on a TI 99/4A computer of how a digital copy of the PDR would work and benefit clinicians. The idea originally conceived by Kranz was well received by the president and vice-president of IT and an agreement was struck to investigate. The result was the PDR on CD-ROM. The main edition is usable by determined laypeople in conjunction with a medical dictionary.[ citation needed ]
ITO successor Thomson Reuters sold the Physicians' Desk Reference to Lee Equity Partners in 2009; Lee formed the new parent company PDR Network. Lee sold PDR Network to Genstar Capital in 2015. [6] Genstar merged PDR Network into the new company ConnectiveRx. [7]
The PDR material contained includes:
The PDR has several versions and related volumes:
A prescription, often abbreviated ℞ or Rx, is a formal communication from a physician or other registered healthcare professional to a pharmacist, authorizing them to dispense a specific prescription drug for a specific patient. Historically, it was a physician's instruction to an apothecary listing the materials to be compounded into a treatment—the symbol ℞ comes from the first word of a medieval prescription, Latin recipere, that gave the list of the materials to be compounded.
A prescription drug is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without a license and without sufficient education. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.
International Thomson Organization (ITO) was a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources, that existed from 1978 to 1989. It was formed as a reorganisation of the Thomson Organization, which had been founded by Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet in 1959. It merged with Thomson Newspapers to become the Thomson Corporation in 1989.
Pharmaceutical marketing is a branch of marketing science and practice focused on the communication, differential positioning and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, like specialist drugs, biotech drugs and over-the-counter drugs. By extension, this definition is sometimes also used for marketing practices applied to nutraceuticals and medical devices.
Secobarbital is a short-acting barbiturate derivative drug that was patented in 1934 in the United States. It possesses anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, sedative, and hypnotic properties. In the United Kingdom, it was known as quinalbarbitone. It is the most frequently used drug in physician-assisted suicide within the United States. Secobarbital is considered to be an obsolete sedative-hypnotic, and as a result, it has largely been replaced by the benzodiazepine family. Seconal was widely abused, known on the street as "red devils" or "reds". Among the barbiturates, secobarbital carries a particularly high risk of abuse and addiction, largely responsible for its falling out of use.
CVS Caremark is the pharmacy benefit management subsidiary of CVS Health, headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) refers to the marketing and advertising of pharmaceutical products directly to consumers as patients, as opposed to specifically targeting health professionals. The term is synonymous primarily with the advertising of prescription medicines via mass media platforms—most commonly on television and in magazines, but also via online platforms.
In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis is the assessment that a particular medical condition is present while an indication is a reason for use. The opposite of an indication is a contraindication, a reason to withhold a certain medical treatment because the risks of treatment clearly outweigh the benefits.
Structured Product Labeling (SPL) is a Health Level Seven International (HL7) standard which defines the content of human prescription drug labeling in an XML format. The "drug labeling" includes all published material accompanying a drug, such as the Prescribing Information which contains a great deal of detailed information about the drug. As of Release 4 of the SPL standard, 22,000 FDA informational product inserts have been encoded according to the standard.
The prescriptive authority for psychologists (RxP) movement is a movement in the United States of America among certain psychologists to give prescriptive authority to psychologists with predoctoral or postdoctoral graduate-level training in clinical psychopharmacology; successful passage of a standardized, national examination ; supervised clinical experience; or a certificate from the Department of Defense Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project; or a diploma from the Prescribing Psychologists Register to enable them, according to state law, to prescribe psychotropic medications to treat mental disorders. This approach is non-traditional medical training focused on the specialized training to prescribe for mental health disorders by a psychologist. It includes rigorous didactics and supervised clinical experience. Legislation pertaining to prescriptive authority for psychologists has been introduced over 180 times in over half of the United States. It has passed in seven states, due largely to substantial lobbying efforts by the American Psychological Association (APA), the largest professional organization of psychologists in the world with over 157,000 members. Prior to RxP legislation and in American states where it has not been passed, this role has been played by psychiatrists, who possess a medical degree and thus the authority to prescribe medication, but more frequently (60-80%) by primary care providers who can prescribe psychotropics, but lack extensive training in psychotropic drugs and in diagnosing and treating psychological disorders. According to the APA, the movement is a reaction to the growing public need for mental health services, particularly in under-resourced areas where patients have little or no access to psychiatrists.
First Databank (FDB) is a major provider of drug and medical device databases that help inform healthcare professionals to make decisions. FDB partners with information system developers to deliver useful medication- and medical device-related information to clinicians, business associates, and patients. FDB is part of Hearst and the Hearst Health network.
A formulary is a list of pharmaceutical drugs, often decided upon by a group of people, for various reasons such as insurance coverage or use at a medical facility. Traditionally, a formulary contained a collection of formulas for the compounding and testing of medication. Today, the main function of a prescription formulary is to specify particular medications that are approved to be prescribed at a particular hospital, in a particular health system, or under a particular health insurance policy. The development of prescription formularies is based on evaluations of efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of drugs.
Electronic prescription is the computer-based electronic generation, transmission, and filling of a medical prescription, taking the place of paper and faxed prescriptions. E-prescribing allows a physician, physician assistant, pharmacist, or nurse practitioner to use digital prescription software to electronically transmit a new prescription or renewal authorization to a community or mail-order pharmacy. It outlines the ability to send error-free, accurate, and understandable prescriptions electronically from the healthcare provider to the pharmacy. E-prescribing is meant to reduce the risks associated with traditional prescription script writing. It is also one of the major reasons for the push for electronic medical records. By sharing medical prescription information, e-prescribing seeks to connect the patient's team of healthcare providers to facilitate knowledgeable decision making.
In the United States, prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) or prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are state-run programs which collect and distribute data about the prescription and dispensation of federally controlled substances and, depending on state requirements, other potentially abusable prescription drugs. PMPs are meant to help prevent adverse drug-related events such as opioid overdoses, drug diversion, and substance abuse by decreasing the amount and/or frequency of opioid prescribing, and by identifying those patients who are obtaining prescriptions from multiple providers or those physicians overprescribing opioids.
NewsRx is a media and technology company focusing on digital media, printed media, news services, and knowledge discovery through its BUTTER platform. In 1995 the company was the world's largest producer of health news. The company publishes 194 news weeklies in health and other fields, which are distributed to subscribers and partners including LexisNexis, Factiva, the Wall Street Journal Professional Edition, Thomson Reuters, ProQuest, and Cengage Learning. C W Henderson founded the company in 1984 and its first publication was AIDS Weekly. In the early 2000s, the firm added the imprint, VerticalNews to publish news weeklies in non-health fields. Now based in Atlanta, Georgia, the company reports through its daily news service and publishes reference books through its partner, ScholarlyEditions. NewsRx launched its BUTTER platform in 2015, which is a knowledge discovery engine that delivers its content to academics, researchers, and professionals.
Monthly Prescribing Reference (MPR) is an online medical website and monthly drug reference publication based in New York City. Monthly Prescribing Reference (MPR) is a widely recognized medical publication that provides comprehensive drug information and prescribing guidelines for healthcare professionals. It is designed to serve as a quick reference guide for physicians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals involved in prescribing medications.
RxList is an online medical resource of US prescription medications providing full prescribing information and patient education. It was founded in 1995 by Neil Sandow, Pharm.D.
Surescripts is an American information technology company based in Arlington, Virginia that supports e-prescription, the electronic transmission of prescriptions between health care organizations and pharmacies, as well as general health information exchange (HIE) of medical records.
The Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act is proposed legislation in the 117th United States Congress. The bill is designed to lower prescription drug costs in the United States. Notably, the law gives the federal government the power to negotiate prescription drug prices. The legislation takes the name of late Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings.
RXNT is an American privately held healthcare software technology company. The company provides ambulatory practices, hospitals, medical billers, and other healthcare professionals with digital health tools. The company was created in 1999, as a standalone e-prescribing system.