2008 Consumer Drug Reference Features New OTC Guide, Safety Warnings
Developed by pharmacists and published by Consumer Reports, the Consumer Drug Reference is a user-friendly guide that helps consumers use their medications safely. The 2008 edition is the second year of a partnership between Consumers Union, the independent nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, and ASHP.
The new edition features:
- The "Guide to Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicines," designed to help consumers choose and safely use non-prescription medicines. The guide also explains how to understand the information on product labels and features a summary of medications used for certain symptoms and conditions.
- Information about Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs - a public education initiative that provides free guidance--including cost information--about prescription medicines for consumers.
- An expanded Drug Identification section with over 1000 photographs of the most commonly used medications, with even more generic products now included, to help consumers to verify that they are taking the right medication.
The Consumer Drug Reference also includes Food and Drug Administration and manufacturer safety warnings, an explanation of the practice of prescribing of medications for off-labeled uses, and more than 60 new drug listings, including many of the drugs recently approved by the FDA, detailed information about specific vaccines, chemotherapy agents and smoking cessation medications.
"Our partnership with Consumers Union continues to deliver a fantastic product that combines superb quality with careful, reliable drug information to provide consumers with easy-to-use knowledge about their medications," said ASHP President Janet A. Silvester, M.B.A., FASHP.
The collaboration between ASHP and Consumers Union follows a previous effort between the two nonprofits that produced the Consumer Reports Medical Guide, a subscription-based online service that includes continuously updated content for non-subscribers.
About ASHP
For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists who practice in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety. The Society's 30,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who practice in inpatient, outpatient, home-care, and long-term-care settings, as well as pharmacy students. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP's Web site, http://www.ashp.org, or its consumer Web site, http://www.SafeMedication.com.
About Consumers Union
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, is an expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To achieve this mission, we test, inform, and protect. To maintain our independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers. CU supports itself through the sale of our information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants.
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
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