▪ Abstract This review discusses pharmaceuticals as social and cultural phenomena by
following their “life cycle” from production, marketing, and prescription to distribution …

Background: Knowledge, perceptions and prescribing behaviour are key to antibiotic
prescribing. The aim of this paper is to systematically review this. Method: An extensive …

The Quality Assurance and Safety: Medicines team in WHO aims to assure the safety of
medicines by ensuring reliable and timely exchange of information on drug safety issues …

Objectives: To better understand reasons for antibiotics being prescribed for sore throats
despite well known evidence that they are generally of little help. Design: Qualitative study …

With the efficacy and costs of medications rising rapidly, it is increasingly important to ensure
that drugs be prescribed as rationally as possible. Yet, physicians' choices of drugs …

This paper examines the impact of changes in the medical marketplace on medicalization in
US society. Using four cases (Viagra, Paxil, human growth hormone and in vitro fertilization) …

Context. Despite growing concern over the escalating antimicrobial resistance problem,
physicians continue to inappropriately prescribe. It has been suggested that a major …

Irrational prescribing is a global problem. Rational prescribing cannot be defined without a
method of measurement and a reference standard. The former is now available but the latter …

This paper conceptualizes a type of physician communication, termed 'online commentary'.
Online commentary is talk that describes what the physician is seeing, feeling or hearing …

Has managed care made it harder for patients and physicians to talk openly and honestly
with one another? Has the Internet changed the way patients communicate with their …