AARP Guide to Pills (Conyers)

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The AARP Guide to Pills Michael Conyers LIBR 150 Spring 2009

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Transcript of AARP Guide to Pills (Conyers)

Page 1: AARP Guide to Pills (Conyers)

The AARP Guide to Pills

Michael Conyers

LIBR 150

Spring 2009

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Bibliographic Information

Call Number – 615.1 Aa75 2006

Citation - Hochadel, Maryanne. The AARP Guide to Pills. 1st edition. New York: Sterling Pub, 2006.

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Arrangement and Indexing– Table of Contents, arranged by subject headings

– Preface includes articles by two Harvard educated doctors and a consumer activist

– Includes generic drugs listed alphabetically in the Drug Entries chapter

– Disease and Disorder Index

– Drug Index is comprehensive, cross-referencing generic to related brand name drugs. Pages are alphabetically tabbed for easy reference.

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Table of ContentsEditorial Board – Gold Standard

Editorial Review Board – The AARP Guide to PillsPreface

Medications and Older AmericansThe Wise Use of Prescription Drugs

Managing Your Prescription Drug Costs

How to Use This BookInteractions with Dietary Supplements and Food

FDA-Approved Medication GuidesDrug Entries

Disease and Disorder IndexIndex of Generic and Brand-Name Drugs

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Currency

This book is the first edition, and was published in 2006, with drug information current as of 2005. Although

Amazon.com lists the publish date of January 2007 for the paperback, there is no evidence this is an updated edition,

but a re-release of the hardcover.

Currency is important in regards to drug guides as every year drugs are released to the market, and knowledge changes. Many drug books release updated yearly editions, but the

AARP guide has not done that thus far.

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ScopeThis book provides detailed descriptions of over 1,200 common

medications that are used by Americans over 50 years old. This includes easy to reference information about:

• the purpose for which the drug is prescribed • any personal health issues that should be brought to the attention of the

readers physician to ensure safe use of the drug • whether certain foods or beverages should be avoided when taking the

medication • what to do if a dose is missed • which prescription and over-the-counter drugs, nutritional supplements,

or herbal products may affect how your prescribed medication works in your body

• how certain medications can mask symptoms or interfere with diagnostic test results

• what side effects you may expect, and which of them you should report to your physician right away

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Intended Purpose

– Per the AARP website, this reference book is especially intended for Americans over the age of 50. Its aim is to provide simple, readable information to this audience answering the important questions they might have about common medications. Every medication has a color picture of the pill and alphabetically tabbed pages for easy reference. This book should help readers become more well informed about the drugs that are being prescribed today.

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Additional Purposes Served• This book can be used by relatives

or caregivers of people on medication who might not have interactions with the doctor or pharmacist prescribing the drugs.

• Color pictures can help people identify unknown drugs

• Preface essays can help consumers learn how to understand when real drug side effects are happening, how to use drugs wisely and tips on managing prescription drug costs effectively

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Format and Special Features

• Format– Hardcover, single volume book, xxxvii, 981 p. : col. Ill. ; 25 cm – No other formats other than print

• Special Features– Tabbed browsing for easy reference– Each medication listing follows a concise and consistent format– Disease and Disorder Index lets readers find medications related to

diagnoses.– Includes a caution on Vioxx and instructions on the return of

unused pills– Lists drugs that may pose a serious health concern and require an

FDA Approved Medication Guide

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Authority– Editor in Chief Maryanne Hochadel is a Doctor of Pharmacy, The

University of Arizona (1989) and a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, The University of Arizona (1998). Her expertise is in overseeing drug informatics including medical and clinical contents. She has been developing various products and educating the elderly about the effects of their medications for 21 years, and currently works in the electronic medical reference field developing software for medical and drug content information.

– The AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) co-published and sponsored this book. It is a well known, non-profit organization that was established in 1958 and has over 35 million members age 50 years or older. They publish many titles on health, personal finance, lifestyle and other subjects to enrich the lives of older Americans.

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Examples of Reference UseQuestions that could be asked that this book might help answer:

Q: What drugs are commonly used for smoking cessation?A: Check Disease and Disorder Index – smoking cessation, lists Nicotine chewing gum, Nicotine lozenge and Nicotine skin patch with pages where entries can be found

Q: How can I save money when I buy prescription drugs?A: In Preface, reference essay “Managing Your Prescription Drug Costs” by Katherine Greider, page xviii

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Complementary Print Sources– Complete Guide to Symptoms, Illness & Surgery, 5th Edition –

This book can be a good reference for readers to understand the illnesses or diseases the medications found in the AARP book are treating.

– Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine: The New Approach to Using the Best of Natural Therapies and Conventional Medicine – A guide which can help people on medication discover other possible ways to treat their illness besides conventional treatments.

Both of these books encourage patients to conduct better informed dialog with their doctors. They help patients ask the right questions, and understand the

answers.

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Personal ImpressionI thought I would take this book for a spin since I take a medication myself, and I looked it up. There it is! There are plenty of drugs in here that younger people take to treat asthma, depression, and headache for example – so people like me who are not in AARP can use this book too. Though I have to admit I’m a lot closer to 50 than 20 these days.

I found the indexing to be really useful, especially the illness relates to what drugs index. It would be interesting to see all the possible drugs that could medicate for an illness, and then through reading the descriptions understand why your doctor prescribed a certain one to you.

Overall, I found this to be a good, unique book reference for senior citizens. You don’t have to sift through EVERY drug known to man as in some reference guides. Still, I can’t get over that they don’t do a yearly updated edition. Drug knowledge changes so often - I’d always use the latest edition I can find, and unfortunately AARP does not have a 2009 edition like their peers.

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