Hospitality, promotional

Promoting an Optimal Response to Therapy Superficial and deep fungal infections respond slowly to antifungal therapy. Many patients experience anxiety and depression over the fact that therapy must continue for a prolonged time Depending on the method of treatment, patients may be faced with many problems during therapy and therefore need time to talk about problems as they arise Examples of problems are the cost of treatment, hospitalization (when required), the failure of treatment to adequately control the infection, and loss of income. The nurse must help the patient and the family to understand that therapy must be continued until tlie infection is under control. In some cases, therapy may take weeks or months. 

Promoting an Optimal Response to Therapy IRON Iron salts are preferably given between meals widi water but can be given with food or meals if gastrointestinal upset occurs. If die patient is receiving odier drugp, the nurse checks with the hospital pharmacist regarding die simultaneous administration of iron salts with other dru . ... 

Kummerer K, Henninger A (2003) Promoting resistance by the emission of antibiotics from hospital and households into effluent. Clin Microbiol Infect 9 1203-1214... 

It has repeatedly been shown that penicillin and tetracyclines retain their growth-promoting activity when used in the same agricultural surroundings for periods of 30 years or longer. Furthermore, tetracyclines continue to be effective in the treatment of both human and animal diseases. Atkinson and Lorian (19) found that coli. Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staph, epidermidis showed "virtually the same susceptibilities" to tetracycline in 242 US hospitals, 1971 to 1982. 

The Code apphes to the promotion of medicines to UK health professionals and to appropriate administrative staff in hospitals and health authorities and the like, and to information made available about those medicines to the general public. The Code does not apply to the promotion of OTC medicines (defined as those medicines primarily promoted to the general public rather than health professionals) except in certain circumstances namely, when they are promoted to a health professional with a view to the writing of a prescription rather than simply recommending the purchase of the medicine by the patient. 

Some of the more controversial provisions are contained in the sections of the Directive relating to advertising to health professionals, and in particular the extent to which pharmaceutical companies may support and sponsor pharmaceutical conferences and offer hospitality, gifts, etc. in the promotional context. The fundamental limitations that the EC legislation introduces include the following. 

Hospitality available at sales promotions must always be reasonable in level and secondary to the main purposes of the meeting. It may be offered only to healthcare professionals. 

Promotional material should be tailored to the audience to whom it is directed. For example, promotional material devised for general practitioners might not be appropriate for hospital doctors and, similarly, material devised for clinicians might not be appropriate for use with National Health Service administrative staff. 

Companies shall preserve all certificates. In relation to certificates for promotional material, the material in the form certified and information indicating the persons to whom it was addressed, the method of dissemination and the date of first dissemination must also be preserved. In relation to certificates for meetings involving travel outside the UK, details of the programme, the venue, the reasons for using the venue, the audience, the anticipated and actual costs and the nature of the hospitality and the like must also be preserved. 

Attention is drawn to the requirements of Clauses 18 and 19 which prohibit the provision of any financial inducement for the purposes of sales promotion and require that any hospitality provided is secondary to the purpose of a meeting, is not out of proportion to the occasion and does not extend beyond members of the health professions or appropriate administrative staff. 

Representatives should be provided with written instructions on the application of the Code to their work even if they are also provided with an actual copy of it. Their instructions should cover such matters as the company s policies on meetings and hospitality, and the associated allowable expenditure, and the specific requirements for representatives in Clause 15 of the Code. It should be made clear how reporting to the scientific service of the company is to be carried out in relation to information about the medicines which they promote which comes to their notice, particularly reports of side-effects (Clause 15.6). 

These combined contraceptives seem to function by inducing feedback inhibition of gonadotrophin secretion which, in turn, inhibits the process of ovulation (Chapter 8). They also induce alterations in the endometrial tissue that may prevent implantation. Furthermore, the progestogen promotes thickening of the cervical mucus, which renders it less hospitable to sperm cells. This combination of effects is quite effective in preventing pregnancy. 

With these caveats in mind, 1 now briefly examine various ratios (Table 9.2). Rosenthal et al. (2002) report that while DTCA increased from 1.2% of total revenues in 1996 to 2.2% in 2000, over this same time period, hospital-based promotion and medical journal advertising decreased from 1.6% to 1.1 % of total revenues. Although the DTCA-to-sales ratio fell slightly in 2001 and 2002, by 2003, at 2.2%, its value is the same as in 2000. These numbers. 

III.b.1.4. Drugs and therapeutics committees in districts and hospitals. A drugs and therapeutics committee (DTC), also called a pharmacy and therapeutics committee, is a committee designated to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines in the facility or area under its jurisdiction. Such committees are well-established in industrial countries as a successful way of promoting more rational, cost-effective use of medicines in hospitals (Table 7). Governments may encourage hospitals to have DTCs by making it an accreditation requirement to various professional societies. DTC members should represent all the major specialities and the administration they should also be independent and declare any conflict of interest. A senior doctor... 

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