HOME—Welcome to ImageVelocityWe're glad you've chosen to check out one of the nation's leading marketing companies. ImageVelocity excels in producing high quality rxbag and pharmacy marketing tools. Now you can renew your orders onlinePharmacy bag orders can now be placed directly through our web site. Go to the

Area. Rx Bag Project is a Big SuccessIt's no secret that our Pharmacy[Rx] bags are big winners for both the pharmacies and the local advertisers. For more info on this great product, now in its 19th successful year, visit our

Promotional Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (5 x 1.5 x 12) and Promotional Items for Your Marketing and Trade Show Promotions

Because our block bottom bags stand neatly on your Pharmacists shelf awaiting collection the paper SOS bag is the perfect packaging format for your store. Consumers recognise the paper bag format as the kind of natural, trustworthy and functional packaging that fits hand in glove with the message pharmaceutical retailers want to give. We produce well in excess of 100 million pharmacy bags each year so can guarantee you receive the maximum available economies of scale. However we are also happy to produce as few as 10,000 bespoke printed paper bags for smaller retailers.

Take Stock Canadian Operations Fully Integrate Phoenix Plant Celebrates Recovery Valassis U. K. Pharmacy Bag Program

Valassis Pharmacy bag Program Differentiates Retailer in the United Kingdom Our pharmacy bag program in the United Kingdom, in conjunction with ASDA, differentiates this large supermarket in the pharmacy category, and has the client singing its praises. ASDA is one of the top three supermarket groups in the United Kingdom. The solution Valassis developed for ASDA Pharmacy satisfies a number of our requirements within one solution, making it highly relevant to our business, said Vikki Harper of ASDA Direct Home Delivery. It uses a clever mechanic a bag containing a range of seasonally themed offers combining ASDAs own brands and editorial features with advertisements, inserts and samples from other major manufacturers. We have produced five pharmacy bags for ASDA around themes including stop smoking, winter survival and summer heat. The polybag includes an open compartment, where the customers prescription is placed, and includes a sealed pouch which contains the themed information, offers and samples.

Customers are receiving a range of offers relevant to them making the shopping experience more rewarding, Vikki added. It is also helping change the way ASDA shoppers perceive the pharmacy in terms of offering services and advice beyond prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines.

Medibag will help grow your business! Medibag has been providing prescription bags to pharmacies since 1988. By providing affordable advertising printed directly on the pharmacy's prescription bags, Medibag helps local businesses operating near these pharmacies reap the rewards of repeat exposure to thousands of walk-in pharmacy customers. Year after year our advertisers return to be featured on their local pharmacy's prescription bags. It has worked for millions, and it can work for you. ťClick here to Learn More

Pharmacy Bags Time-Tested, Trustworthy Products Depend On Duro Bag Duro Bag is the largest supplier of Pharmacy Bags in the industry. As the industry leader, we offer customers a large range of sizes from bags that hold one prescription bottle to bags for multiple prescriptions.

Pharmacy Bags was a nice alternative to the larger plastic bags traditionally used at conference. The bags were nice and crisp. more reviews

We just opened the pharmacy and I was delighted to find the pharmacy bag among the various types/sizes of bags that you carry. more reviews

A FINGERPRINT on a pharmacy bag links Wesley Ceillam to the burglary of his grandmothers tenants home, the Royal Court heard yesterday. But Mr Ceillam, 28, has denied breaking into Roy and Mary Hollands home on 2 April last year and taking a 300ml bottle of liquid morphine. Advocate David Domaille, said the fingerprints were on the bag because Mr Holland used regularly to give Mr Ceillam lifts in his car as a favour to his landlord and that one of those lifts would have coincided with Mr Holland collecting his wifes medication. Advocate Domaille said this made it quite plausible that Mr Ceillam would have come into contact with the bag by, for example, picking it up to take his seat. The court heard how on the afternoon of 2 April, Mr and Mrs Holland had returned home to find that the window of their spare bedroom had been forced open and that the morphine had been taken from a chest of drawers in their bedroom. The police were informed and on 3 April they attended the property on the coast at Cobo and took the pharmacy bag. Tests later found five sets of fingerprints on it. One of the sets was Mr Ceillams. Three of the prints were insufficient for comparison and police do not have a match for the remaining set. But it was not until the following day that police found the pharmacy bag that had previously contained the morphine. There were no prints on it good enough for analysis. Advocate Chris Dunford, prosecuting, told the court that the evidence of the fingerprints was compelling and that just because Mr Ceillams fingerprints were not found on the bag that contained the morphine, it did not mean he had not touched it. On hearing evidence from Mr Holland, Advocate Dunford said the witness had told the court that there would never have been an occasion when he would have given Mr Ceillam a lift at the same time as picking up his wifes medication. Mr Holland added that Mr Ceillam had never been into their home since they had moved into the property. Advocate Domaille said the fact that the result of one set of fingerprints was still outstanding meant that they could easily belong to the actual burglar. He said the evidence was too circumstantial and in no way put Mr Ceillam in the property on 2 April. The jurats are due to deliver their verdict this afternoon. Judge Russell Finch is presiding. Article posted on 19th February, 2008 - 2.25pm

Your sales will jump with one of our imprinted doctor & druggist aids. Call us today at (866) us. to receive a custom quote on promotional doctor & druggist aids for your company.5" x 2 1/2" x 10" - White paper pharmacy bags with serrated top and side gussets. Used by pharmacies and when a unique size is required.

The unique bond between Life Pharmacy and Cure Kids is reflected in the exceptional design of a sustainable carry bag, featuring the work of internationally reknowned photographer Sally Tagg. The bag is raising awareness and funds for Cure Kids and is being sold in Life Pharmacy stores throughout New Zealand. The endangered Tiger-head orchid incorporates the symbolism of the tiger and its bodily strength anmd courage. The same strength and courage is shown by the many young New Zealanders who live with life threatening illnesses every day of their lives. Special thanks to Sally Tagg for her support in this exciting initiative. Click here to purchase a bag and support Cure Kids!

Pharmacy Bags was a nice alternative to the larger plastic bags traditionally used at conference. The bags were nice and crisp.

We just opened the pharmacy and I was delighted to find the pharmacy bag among the various types/sizes of bags that you carry.

I was recently contacted by a perscription bag company about having my ads placed on the bags. These are the tall thin bags they put your perscription in at the drug store - not the shopping bags. I think it should work better than register tape because your ad will only appear once on the bag so you'll get more mileage out of your ad, and the cost is less than half that of register tape. They guarantee a certain number of ads and estimate that in my case it will take about 6 months to use up the ads. One of the pharmacies using the bags is in the same strip mall my store is in, and the other is about 6 miles away. I think their website is medibag. com - not sure. Any thoughts on this type of advertising?

We are a professional company to produce White Pharmacy Bag. Accept mixed orders of customized products, Provide OEM ODM service. China HK White Pharmacy Bag suppliers, White Pharmacy Bag manufacturers.

A prescription drug storage and dispensing arrangement allows prescriptions stored, as they are filled, in a cabinet for customer pickup. The prescriptions are placed into receptacles such as pharmacy envelopes and placed on carriers, e. g., hanger bars, that are transported on a conveyor within the cabinet. The conveyor brings one carrier at a time to an access opening for loading or retrieving of a pharmacy envelope. In one embodiment the hanger bars are rods with spaced annular recesses defining bag positions. Scissors-action arms may be used to suspend the hanger rods from the conveyor webs. The identity of each pharmacy envelope and the location of the respective bar on said conveyor and the bag position are stored in a computer, with information identifying the customer order. When the customer arrives to pick up the prescription, the customer data is entered and the conveyor automatically moves to position the respective hanger bar at the access opening. A laser and mirror arrangement can be used to identify the specific bag location. This arrangement has applications for other customer orders or merchandise. Another embodiment has carrier trays for dispensing punch cards.

I claim. 1. A merchandise dispensing arrangement in which customer items can be stored for customer pickup and from which the filled customer orders can later be removed, comprising a plurality of pharmacy bags into which the customer items are placed for storage. and an automated storage and dispensing apparatus for storing said items in said pharmacy bags, the automated storage dispensing apparatus including a cabinet having an access opening extending laterally across one wall of the cabinet. a conveyor within said cabinet defining a continuous closed loop, a portion of which loop extends vertically past said access opening. a plurality of hanger bars that extend horizontally at spaced positions on said conveyor such that the conveyor controllably moves said bars in sequence to a position at said access opening, each said bar having a plurality of spaced annular recesses thereon defining bag positions along said bar. automated means for storing the identity of each pharmacy bag and the location of the respective bar on said conveyor and the bag position along said bar at which said each said pharmacy bag has been placed. means for entering a customer order identification corresponding to one of said pharmacy bags in which a filled customer order has been stored. means for automatically operating said conveyor to position a respective bar at said access opening. and means identifying the respective bag position along said bar to locate such pharmacy bag so that the customer order can be delivered to a customer. 2. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein each of said bags has a hanger handle theron adapted to seat into any of said annular recesses. 3. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 2, wherein said hanger handle is formed as a two-part member defining a closure for the pharmacy bag. 4. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein each of said bars is formed as a round rod of a given diameter and each said annular recess is a round region of a diameter smaller than said given diameter. 5. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein a load access opening is disposed in a second wall of said cabinet opposite the first-mentioned wall in which the access opening is located, with said conveyor controllably moving said bars in sequence past said load access opening. 6. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein a movable mirror is located at said access opening and is horizontally controllably movable across said opening, and a laser is disposed emitting a beam aimed at said movable mirror, and said means identifying a respective bag location includes means for automatically moving said mirror so that the beam reflected by said mirror illuminates the specific bag location associated with a customer order. 7. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said means identifying the bag position along said bar includes a series of LEDs or laser diodes, each positioned above the carrier and directing a beam downward to a respective corresponding bag position along said bar and means for switching a respective one of said LEDs or laser diodes on one at a time to point to the respective position. 8. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising an access door arrangement disposed at said access opening and having a horizontally movable access slot for accessing a single bag location at a time, and means for automatically moving the slot to an identified bag location corresponding to an identified customer order. 9. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising a robotic arm mechanism situated at the access opening, and having an arm thereon that is movable horizontally to an identified bag location corresponding to a customer order to retrieve the associated pharmacy bag, and is further movable to a delivery location from which the bag can be removed to deliver the associated customer order to the customer. 10. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising a light curtain disposed at said access opening, and including a light transmitter at one side of the access opening, a receiver arrangement situated at an opposite side of said access opening to detect a break in the light generated at said light transmitter, and means for disabling said conveyor when such break is detected. 11. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising means for detecting the presence of an object penetrating said access opening, and means for disabling the conveyor during any time that such penetration is detected. 12. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising for each said hanger bar at least one pair of scissors-action link arms, each said link arm having one end pivotally supported on said conveyor and another end pivotally joined to the like end of the other link arm and also supporting the associated hanger bar. 13. A merchandise dispensing arrangement in which customer orders can be stored for customer pickup and from which the filled customer orders can later be removed, comprising a plurality of pharmacy bags into which the filled customer orders are placed for storage. and an automated storage and dispensing apparatus for storing said pharmacy bags, the automated storage dispensing apparatus including a cabinet having first and second walls disposed on opposite sides of the cabinet, an first access opening extending laterally across the first wall of the cabinet. a second access opening extending laterally across the second wall of said cabinet. a conveyor within said cabinet defining a continuous closed loop, respective portions of which loop extend vertically past said first and second access openings. a plurality of hanger bars that extend horizontally at spaced positions on said conveyor such that the conveyor controllably moves said bars in sequence to positions at said access openings, each said bar having a plurality of spaced annular recesses thereon defining bag positions along said bar. automated means for storing the identity of each pharmacy bag and the location of the respective bar and the bag position along said bar at which said each said pharmacy bag is placed. means for entering a customer order identification corresponding to one of said pharmacy bags in which a filled customer order has been stored. means for automatically operating said conveyor to position a respective bar at said access opening. and means identifying a respective bag position along the bar positioned at said first access opening on which a pharmacy bag containing a filled customer order is to be placed, and means identifying a respective bag position along said bar at said second access opening to locate such pharmacy bag so that the filled customer order can be retrieved for customer delivery. 14. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 13, in which each of said first and second access openings includes means for detecting the presence of an object penetrating the access opening, and means for disabling the conveyor during any time that such penetration is detected. 15. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 14, wherein each said means for detecting includes a light curtain in which a light transmitter is disposed at one side of the access opening, and a receiver arrangement is situated at an opposite side of said access opening to detect a break in the light generated at said light transmitter. 16. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 13, further comprising a movable mirror located at said first access opening and horizontally controllably movable across said opening, and a laser disposed to emit a beam aimed at said movable mirror, and means for automatically moving said mirror so that the beam reflected by said mirror illuminates a specific bag location at which the pharmacy bag containing an associated customer order is to be placed. 17. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 13, wherein said means identifying the bag position along said bar includes a series of LEDs or laser diodes, each positioned above the bar and directing a beam downward to a respective corresponding position along said bar, and means for switching a respective one of said LEDs or laser diodes on one at a time to point to the respective position. 18. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 13, further comprising a movable mirror located at said second access opening and horizontally controllably movable across said opening, a laser disposed to emit a beam aimed at said movable mirror, and means for automatically moving said mirror so that the beam reflected by said mirror illuminates the specific bag location associated with a customer order. 19. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 13, wherein said conveyor comprises left and right drive webs traveling in respective paths along left and right sides of said cabinet, with each of said hanger bars being supported at its ends on said left and right drive webs. 20. The dispensing arrangement according to claim 19, further comprising at ends of each said hanger bar a pair of scissors action link arms each having a first end pivotally supported on an associated one of said drive webs and a second end pivotally joined to the second end of the other of said link arms and supporting the end of said hanger bar. 21. A method of storing and dispensing pharmacy prescription orders for a plurality of respective customers in a pharmacy dispensing arrangement in which a plurality of horizontal hanger bars are supported in spaced relation on a conveyor with each bar having a plurality of spaced bag positions therealong, such that the bars travel controllably in sequence past a loading access opening in one wall of the dispensing arrangement, and past a dispensing access opening in another wall thereof, comprising the steps of filling each said prescription order, placing the filled prescription order into a pharmacy bag which is provided with a hanger, entering data identifying said filled customer prescription order into a data receiving means of said pharmacy dispensing arrangement, the arrangement automatically causing the conveyor to place one of said hanger bars at said load access opening, the arrangement then identifying an available bag position on said hanger bar. and automatically associating in memory the identity of the bar and bag position with the identity of the customer order. the method further including placing the pharmacy bag containing said filled customer prescription order onto said bar at said available bag location. 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising entering into said data receiving means information relating to a filled customer order that is stored in one of said pharmacy bags in said dispensing arrangement. the machine automatically identifying the hanger bar and the pharmacy bag location on which said pharmacy bag containing said filled customer order is stored. automatically moving said conveyor to bring such hanger bar to said dispensing access opening. automatically identifying the bag position on said bar at which said pharmacy bag is located. and removing said pharmacy bag so that the filled customer order can be delivered to the customer.

This invention relates to devices and techniques for dispensing prescription medications or other items that are prepared to a customer order and later to be dispensed to the customer, i. e., stored for later customer pickup. The invention is more especially directed to a medication dispensing unit which allows a pharmacist to fill prescriptions and load the filled prescriptions into the unit, and which keeps track of each of the prescription orders in the unit so each prescription can be easily retrieved when the customer arrives to pick up the filled prescription. When a pharmacy customer, e. g., a medical or dental patient, is issued a prescription by a medical practitioner, the customer can drop the prescription off at the pharmacy or can phone the pharmacy to ask the pharmacist to fill the prescription. In some cases, the physician or other practitioner calls in the prescription to the pharmacy. The pharmacist then prepares the prescription order, i. e., places the medication(s) into appropriate containers, with labels and directions for use, and then places the filled order into a pharmacy bag or other container, which is then placed into a bin to await the customer. Typically, there are twenty-six such bins, one for each letter of the alphabet, and the orders are placed into the bin that corresponds to the customer's last name. When the customer arrives at the pharmacy counter, an employee retrieves the prescription medication from the bin and delivers it to the customer. Unfortunately, this has not been a particularly efficient means of delivery, as the medications can be mis-filed, i. e., placed into a wrong bin, and sometimes the customer's last name is misspelled, also resulting in the medication not being in the expected bin. It would be desirable to employ a pharmacy cabinet in which the filled prescription orders can be stored securely until customer pickup, which will automatically keep track of the location of each filled order, and which will automatically find the customer's filled order for delivery. However, no such apparatus exists at present. A similar problem exists for the film processing counter, which can be at the same drug store or the pharmacy, where exposed film is dropped and the processed film and prints are placed into alphabetic drawers or bins to await customer pickup. Automated merchandise and order storage and tracking systems are sometimes used in some retail operations, for example, in the dry cleaning trade, where garments of numerous customers are stored on a rack, and a computer device keeps track of the locations of the garments so they can be retrieved for the customers. However, these are not readily adaptable for use in a pharmacy or similar environment.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a prescription dispensing arrangement that avoids the drawbacks of the prior art. It is another object to provide a pharmacy storage and delivery arrangement that retains filled prescription orders within a cabinet and keeps track of the identity and location of each filled order so that they can be delivered efficiently to the customers. It is still another object to provide, for use at a pharmacy, a system that automatically tracks the locations of filled prescription orders and safeguards them until delivery to the patient or other customer. Other objects include secure storage of multiple prescription medications in a small footprint or minimal floor space. database control over the locations of these medications. fast retrieval of prescriptions. quick storage of filled prescriptions. and database providing for restocking of medications not picked up by the patient within a specified period of time. The system can allow for bar coding to allow double-checking of prescriptions before dispensing to the customer. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an automated medication dispensing system allows for customer orders, such as prescribed medication, to be stored for customer pickup, and automatically dispenses the filled customer orders when the customer later arrives to pick the order up. In this system there are pharmacy bags, e. g., polyethylene bags or envelopes with hanger handles, into which the filled customer orders are placed for storage. Other storage receptacle could be employed instead of the bags or envelopes. The automated storage and dispensing apparatus then stores, tracks, and dispenses these said pharmacy bags. This automated storage dispensing apparatus employs a cabinet or enclosure in which an access opening extends laterally across one wall. A conveyor arrangement within the cabinet defines a continuous closed loop, and carries a number of transverse horizontal hanger bars or rods. A portion of the conveyor loop extends vertically past the access opening. The hanger bars are at spaced positions on the conveyor and the conveyor controllably moves these bars in sequence to a position at the access opening. Each hanger bar has a series of spaced notches or annular recesses that define respective bag positions along the hanger bar. An automated control arrangement allows for entering the customer and prescription data, so that the identity of each pharmacy bag is stored in memory, as is the location of the respective hanger bar and bag position along the bar at which each pharmacy bag has been placed. This control arrangement also identifies open hanger positions to allow the pharmacist to insert filled pharmacy bags as the orders are filled. When the customer arrives to pick up the prescribed medication, the customer data can be entered, e. g., by swiping a customer card through a reader. The location of the corresponding pharmacy bag is found in which the filled customer order has been stored. The conveyor automatically operates to position the respective bar at the access opening for dispensing. The arrangement of the invention also employs means for identifying the associated bag position along that hanger bar to locate the pharmacy bag so that the customer order can be dispensed to the customer. The conveyor pathway is preferably a continuous closed loop. The conveyor preferably includes a pair of drive webs, e. g., chain or belt arrangements that travel over wheels or pulleys that define the closed loop with the transverse hanger bars or rods, or other carrier means, being supported on their ends upon the drive webs. A gear drive motor drive propels the drive webs, with the gear motor drive preferably being a 90-degree gear motor disposed at a back wall or side wall of the enclosure. This arrangement is remarkably compact. The gear motor drive includes a worm gear that prevents the conveyor from being advanced by hand, so only the pharmacy bags on the one hanger bar can be accessed at a time. The drive webs may be continuous chains or may be continuous belts of a durable synthetic material, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl, reinforced vinyl, Tyvek, or another suitable material. Preferably the hanger bars are formed as a round rods of a given diameter and each of the annular recesses is a round region of a diameter smaller than said given diameter. In a preferred mode, there may be thirty recesses, i. e., thirty bag positions, on each hanger bar. The dispensing arrangement is favorably constructed so that the filled prescription orders are loaded into the cabinet via a load access opening on one side of the cabinet, and then are dispensed to the customers through a second, i. e., dispense access opening at the other side of the cabinet. The conveyor system moves vertically past each of the two access openings and moves the hanger bars controllably into position at the access openings for loading and dispensing. At each of these access openings, means are provided for identifying the desired bag position on the hanger bar, i. e., for inserting the pharmacy bag upon loading, or upon dispensing for finding the pharmacy bag holding the customer's filled prescription. This arrangement can favorably feature a movable mirror that is located at the respective access opening, and which can be moved controllably in a horizontal direction across the access opening. A laser has its beam directed at the mirror, and the mirror is angled to deflect the beam towards the hanger bar. The control arrangement for the system identifies the respective bag location for loading or dispensing, and automatically moves the mirror laterally so that the beam reflected by the mirror illuminates the specific bag location associated with the given customer order. Alternatively, a fixed array of lasers or LEDs may be used for identification of the proper loading or unloading location. An on-board processor or an associated PC or laptop can store the patient and medication information for each pharmacy bag. This provides a positive means of accounting. If a given bag is not dispensed to the customer within some pre-set time period, e. g., within 48 hours, then the processor can notify the pharmacist so that the contents can be restocked or reshelved. The processor determines the shortest path to the hanger bar for a given pharmacy order, and moves the conveyor in one direction or the other (forward or reverse) to bring up the pharmacy bag in the shortest time. An audit trail may be kept in the processor memory to identify who has accessed any given pharmacy bag, and at what time. This can be displayed or downloaded. The conveyor path may be designed to maximize the number of pharmacy bags for the available volume inside the cabinet or enclosure. Upon loading or dispensing the pharmacy bags, the bar coded symbols or other readable indicia may be automatically read to ensure that the proper prescription order is at the correct location or position. The pharmacy staff has access to any of the prescription orders, both at loading and at dispensing, without needing to stoop or bend. There may be regulated access to one hanger bar or rod at a time. A movable slot or multiple door feature can be employed to limit access to only a single pharmacy bag position at the access opening at a given time. As one example of many possible alternative carriers or receptacles to the aforementioned pharmacy bags, trays can be employed for carrying stacks of so-called punch cards that carry a number of individual doses of a medication. The trays can be adapted to hold a number of stacks of these cards in each tray. In another favorable embodiment, scissors action linkage arms are attached at one end to the conveyors and at the other to the hanger bars. This helps reduce spacing between the hanger bars, so that more pharmaceutical envelopes can be carried in the same dimension cabinet. Similar apparatus may be employed for customer ordered items other than pharmaceuticals, for example, photographic film processing, as discussed before. The above and many other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the ensuing description of a selected preferred embodiment, which is to be considered in connection with the accompanying Drawing.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prescription medication dispensing arrangement according to one preferred embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a side elevation of this embodiment FIG. 4 is a top plan view of this embodiment. FIG. 5 shows one example of a hanger bar of this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one of the pharmacy bags or carriers of this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an access opening or window of this embodiment illustrating a plurality of the pharmacy bags placed along one of the hanger bars. FIG. 8 is a to plan view of an alternative embodiment showing a robotic arm employed for retrieval of the pharmacy bags. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment, showing a movable slot for limiting access to the pharmacy bags. FIGS. 10 and 11 are plan and end views, respectively, that show an example of a punch card that contains a number of doses of a medication. FIG. 12 is an elevation showing a tray for carrying a number of stacks of punch cards. FIG. 13 is a detail elevation showing one bin of the tray. FIG. 14 is a schematic side elevation of another embodiment of this invention.

With reference to the Drawing, and initially to FIGS. 1 to 4, a medication dispensing arrangement 10 is configured to hold prescription drug orders as they are filled by a pharmacist and then to dispense the prescription drug orders to the customers. The dispensing arrangement of this embodiment may be employed at the pharmacy counter of a drug store, or may be used in the pharmacy department of a hospital or health center. Other embodiments employing the same general principles can be used in other commercial or service environments where there is a need to hold onto an item prepared for the customer, patient, or other recipient until it can be dispensed to the recipient. In this embodiment, the dispensing arrangement 10 has a cabinet or enclosure 12 here shown with a front wall or front panel 14, with an transverse access opening or window 16 across the front wall 14 . A similar access window 116 is formed on another wall 114 at the opposite, i. e., back, side of the enclosure. On the inside of the enclosure 12 are a number of horizontal carriers, in this case transverse hanger bars or rods 18 (discussed later in reference to FIG. 5), and each rod is adapted to hold a number of pharmacy envelopes or bags 20 (discussed later in reference to FIG. 6). A work shelf 22 is situated just below the transverse access opening 16 . Also there is a light curtain provided for safety purposes, formed of a light transmitter 24 situated at the left side of the access opening 16 and a detector 26 at the right side. The transmitter emits a sheet of light across the opening 16, and the detector picks this up. Any time that a break is detected in the sheet of light, e. g., whenever a person's hand penetrates into the opening, this penetration is detected. The light curtain can be used to disable the action of the conveyor within the cabinet so that the hanger bars 18 can only move if the light screen is clear. Here, a computer controller, e. g., a standard lap top unit 28, is supported on a shelf at one side wall of the cabinet 12, and is used for entering prescription data and customer or patient information. This computer unit 28 is connected with industry standard cabling and connections to a controller board inside the cabinet and controls the action of the conveyor on which the hanger rods or bars are supported. Also shown here, through a cut-away portion of the front panel or wall 14 above the access opening 16, is a laser locator arrangement 100, which identifies the bag or envelope position along the hanger bar 18 where a given envelope 20 is to be placed during loading, or during dispensing where a particular pharmacy envelope 20 is hanging so that it can be identified and retrieved. This laser locator arrangement has a laser 102 emitting a laser beam horizontally, and a movable mirror 104 positioned in the laser beam and angled so as to deflect the laser beam downward and onto the hanger bar 18 that is positioned at the access opening 16 . The mirror 104 is carried on a transverse track 106 and is controllably movable along the track, indexed to positions that correspond to the bag or envelope positions for the envelopes 20 along the hanger bar 18 . Movement of the mirror can be carried out with a stepper motor, timing belt, and linear rail configuration. The absolute position of he movable mirror may be monitored through the use of a radial potentiometer interfaced with the timing belt. An alternative arrangement could employ a series of LEDs or laser diodes, which are generally equivalent for this purpose, each positioned above the bar 18 and directing its beam downward to a respective corresponding position along the hanger bar. A suitable control circuit would power the LEDs or laser diodes one at a time so that a corresponding one of these devices lights to point to the particular bag location. In either case, the locator arrangement produces a visible spot to identify the pharmacy bag (for dispensing to the customer) or an empty space for the pharmacy bag (for loading as the prescription orders are filled). Alternatively, LEDs can be arranged in a longitudinal array facing toward the front of the machine, i. e. towards the operator, to identify bag locations. There may be just above or just below the opening 16 . In this embodiment, there are a pair of endless web conveyors, namely, chain drives 30 and 32 disposed at the right and left of the enclosure or cabinet. As show in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the chain drives 30, 32 define parallel closed loop paths along the left and right walls of the cabinet. A right-angle gear motor drive 34 is situated to one side and drives both of the chain drives in a forward direction and also in a reverse direction, as required. Various sprockets and guide wheels are not shown in detail here. Because its motor is situated at a right angle to the output shaft, this gear motor 34 occupies only a small amount of space in the transverse direction. Also, the drive head of the gear motor 34 is preferably a worm gear drive, in which case the chain drive is held in position any time the motor portion thereof is not turning, so the drive chains 30, 32 cannot be pushed by hand. This precludes a user from accessing a bag that is suspended from bar located away from the access opening simply by reaching in and pulling or pushing the drive mechanism. A controller board 36, shown in FIG. 3, is electrically coupled to the gear motor 34, to the light curtain receiver(s) 26, 126, and to the computer 28, and has suitable electronics to carry out the described functions. Additional sensors, e. g., photosensors, are used for defining the exact stopping location of the hanger bars 18 at the loading and unloading openings. Also shown in FIG. 3 is the second access opening 116 disposed on the cabinet wall opposite the first opening 16, and also guarded with a light curtain formed of a transmitter 124 and receiver or detector 126, similar to the elements 24 and 26 discussed earlier. The hanger bar 18 of this embodiment may be a generally cylindrical rod 40 as shown in FIG. 5, with fittings 46, 46 at its ends adapted to attach to the right and left chain drives 30, 32 respectively. There are a number of spaced apart annular cutouts or recesses 48, i. e., regions that are machined out so as to have a smaller diameter. In this embodiment, there are thirty of these cutouts 48 spaced evenly along the bar. These serve to retain the handles or hooks of pharmacy envelopes or bags 20 and thus define thirty bag positions along the length of the bar. The recesses here help to keep the bags or envelopes from moving laterally on the bar. Instead of the annular recesses, the bag positions may be established using pairs of flanges that extend outward to a greater diameter than the bar or rod. An example of the pharmacy envelope or bag 20 is shown in FIG. 6. Here, the envelope is formed of a polyethylene container 50 that opens at the top, and a two-part extruded hanger handle 52, with a hook 54 formed in it that fits into the dimensions of one of the cutouts or recesses 48 on the hanger bar rod 40 . The polyethylene is preferably a transparent film so that bar coded symbols on materials packaged in the envelope 20 (such as filled prescriptions) may be read with a scanner. A portion of the cabinet 12 of an embodiment is shown in FIG. 7, with a row of the pharmacy envelopes 20 suspended on one of the hanger bars 18 and appearing at the access opening or window 16 . Here, the conveyor has stopped with the one bar 18 and the row of envelopes at a load position or dispense position aligned with the window, and with a successive one of the bars 30 and its associated pharmacy envelopes or bags is shown just below the window inside the cabinet. The light curtain transmitter portion 24 is also shown here just to the left of the access opening. In this embodiment, there may be ten hanger bars or rods 18 carried by the two conveyor drive webs, with each bar or rod having thirty bag positions. This creates a capacity of three hundred pharmacy envelopes. A practical arrangement of any number of pharmacy envelopes can be achieved by selecting the number or hanger bars and length of each, with the cabinet of adequate height and width. For a photo-processing environment, the envelopes containing processed film and prints can be attached to the hanger bar by using a hook or handle that clamps onto the film processing envelope, and can be removed from the envelope when the customer picks up his or her prints and processed film. The prescription medication dispensing arrangement 10 can be favorably employed in the pharmacy of a drug store or of a clinic. As the prescription for a given patient is filled by the pharmacist, the medications constituting that prescription are placed within a bag, box, or container, and are labeled. A bar code is included. Then, this package is placed within one of the re-usable plastic pharmacy envelopes 20, and the extruded plastic handle portion, i. e., hanger handle 52, is pushed together to close the envelope. Then the filled prescription order is ready to be placed into the cabinet. The pharmacist makes an entry into the computer 28 and this creates a signal to the controller board within the cabinet to move the conveyor along the chain path to the nearest available location for loading. This brings up one of the hanger bars 18 to the load-side opening 16, and the laser locator arrangement 100 points a spot at an open or unoccupied recess 48 along the bar. Then the pharmacist places the pharmacy envelope at this location. The computer 28 stores the customer and prescription data as well as the identity of the bar and bag location where the pharmacy envelope is stored. In some embodiments, a scanner can read the bar coded symbol off the filled prescription order, and the arrangement 10 then automatically moves the conveyor to bring up the nearest available empty location. Subsequent pharmacy envelopes are filled and loaded into the cabinet in a similar fashion. The computer keeps track of the physical location of each filled prescription, i. e., each medication, within the cabinet. This can also be carried out, as an option, in an on-board processor on the controller board 36 . The dispensing operation is carried out when the patient or customer arrives at the pharmacy to pick up the medication. When the patient or customer arrives, his or her information is fed into the pharmacy computer. The customer may use a machine-readable card. Then the computer checks its database to find the location of the customer's prescription medications within the storage arrangement cabinet, and using this data signals to the controller board within the cabinet. This causes the conveyor mechanism to bring the appropriate hanger bar into alignment with the dispensing access opening or window 116 . The laser mirror moves along above the access opening to shine a spot of light onto the pharmacy bag or envelope 20 that is carrying the customer's pharmacy order, and the pharmacy bag is removed from the cabinet. Then using the bar code, the pharmacy bag is checked against the patient's information in the computer database to ensure that the correct pharmacy order has been selected and removed (This can be done automatically within the cabinet before removing the pharmacy bag). Finally, the prescription medications are delivered to the customer. The now-empty bag location is identified in the computer database as being available for storage of further medications. In an alternative embodiment as shown in FIG. 8, a robotic arm retrieval arrangement 60 can be used either for loading or unloading the cabinet 12 . In this embodiment, as seen from above, an arm 62 having a claw 64 at its end travels from left to right under control of a transverse drive arrangement 66 . This is controlled to arrive at a bag location as identified in the pharmacy computer, and then the arm 62 extends to reach into the cabinet and retrieve the appropriate pharmacy envelope. The arm 62 then retracts to remove the envelope from the cabinet, and travels to a delivery station 68 at one end of the transverse drive arrangement where the envelope 20 is made available to be dispensed to the patient or customer. There are many possible configurations for the robotic arm, this one being offered as one example. There may be two robotic arm arrangements, one for loading and one for dispensing. Alternatively, the same robotic arm may be employed for both loading and dispensing. The pharmacy bag may be placed into a slot at the front of the cabinet from which the robotic arm picks it up for placement on a hanger bar. In another possible modification, as shown in FIG. 9, a movable slot or door arrangement 70 may be positioned at the access opening 16 of the cabinet as a means of limiting access to a single pharmacy bag location at a time. In the illustrated arrangement, a roll-up panel 72 can be rolled up and released from left and right reel portions 74, 74 such that an slot 76 is positioned automatically at the bag location identified in the computer for a given customer or patient. This configuration may be employed for customer self-service or for other reasons where access to the pharmaceuticals must be restricted. In a variation on this, a series of doors may be positioned at the access opening, with the computer enabling only a single door at one time to be opened for dispensing. A bar code checking procedure may be employed here as an adjunct to moving the slot 76 to the bag location or enabling the door, as the case may be. In a further embodiment, the storage and dispensing mechanism may employ a number of transport trays suspended between the two chain drives or webs 30, 32, rather than hanger bars and envelopes. These trays may be used for holding stacks of so-called punch cards 80, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, in which a flat card 82 has a number of pill locations 84 each defined by a clear plastic bubble on one side and a foil backing on the other. These are commonly employed for medications in which one dose is taken orally one time each day or at some other interval. An example of a multiple-compartment transport tray 86 is shown in FIG. 12. The tray 86 has fittings 88, 88 at its right and left ends for attaching onto the chain drives or webs 30, 32, a flat base 90, and a number of dividers 92 that separate individual bins 94 from left to right across the tray. Each bin 94 holds a stack 96 of the punch cards 80 . An example of a single bin 94 is shown in FIG. 13. In this configuration, the storage and dispensing arrangement 10 can be used for storing an inventory of many types of drugs that are contained on these flat punch cards 80, enabling the pharmacist to fill a prescription by entering the patient and prescription information into the computer, after which the conveyor system brings the tray 86 containing the appropriate stack of punch-card-packaged medication to the access opening 16 . Favorably, the laser and mirror locator arrangement (or a fixed array of LEDs or lasers) will automatically identify the correct bin 94 of the tray 86 . Contact lens packages with lenses of various prescription strengths can also be stored and dispensed from an arrangement of this type. Other possible configurations are also possible, i. e., higher or wider than the embodiments described here. Also, other carriers can be employed instead of the pharmacy envelopes 20 or the trays 86, which here serve as illustrative examples. A cabinet or similar unit incorporating the principles of this invention could be used for other dispensed items in which the access and administration should be closely controlled or to permit accountability of access. A cabinet incorporating the principles of this invention may be used for disposing CDS, DVDs, or video tapes. Another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 14. Here, the cabinet 12 is constructed generally the same as in the prior embodiment(s), with the windows or access openings 16, 116, light curtain elements 24, 26, 124, 126, and shelf or shelves 22 . Within the cabinet, there are a pair of continuous web conveyors, e. g., chain drives, of which one conveyor drive 130 is shown. The drive chains are arranged more central, i. e., closer to the vertical axis of the cabinet, and defining a narrow loop. Here, the hanger rods 40 are not mounted directly onto the drive chains, but are supported on pivoted, scissors action link arms 103 . Each link arm 103 is mounted at one by means of a pivot 105 onto the conveyor or drive chain 130, and these are joined by another pivot 108 to a successive link arm 103 and to the end of an associated hanger rod 40 . The rods preferably each have thirty milled annular recesses to define bag positions as in the prior embodiments. The drive chains are driven by a gear motor, discussed earlier and not shown here. The left and right drive chains are synchronized so they both move together. Here, the scissors action arrangement of the pivoted link arms 103 keeps the hanger bars or rods anterior to the conveyors or drive chains at the front of the cabinet, superior to the drive chains at the top, posterior to the drive chains at the rear of the cabinet, and inferior to the drive chains at the bottom. The scissors action lifts the rod 40 and pharmacy envelopes 20 up at the top and pushes them down at the bottom to create sufficient clearance so that the spacing between hanger bars or rods can be reduced along the front and rear, as shown. The total capacity of the cabinet 12 is increased, without changing the outside dimensions. The scissors-action link arm arrangement as shown here can be used to support the punch card trays and is not limited to use with hanger bars for pharmacy envelopes. In place of the light curtains, a different type of safety interlock could be employed, e. g., a treadle based system or an ultrasonic detector system. The cabinet can be constructed for loading and unloading or dispensing on two different levels, e. g., loaded upstairs and dispensed from downstairs, if such is desired. The arrangement of this invention as described hereinabove has the attribute of secure storage of multiple prescription medications, and achieves this in a small footprint, requiring little additional floor space. This arrangement has database control over the exact locations of the prescription medications, and achieves both quick storage and fast retrieval of the prescriptions. Bar coding for double-checking the prescriptions before dispensing can be carried out automatically or semi-automatically. The database that identifies the stored prescriptions can also be used to identify the prescriptions not picked up by the customer within a specified time, so that the medications can be returned to inventory, i. e., restocked and reshelved. While the invention has been described hereinabove with reference to selected preferred embodiments, it should be recognized that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments. Rather, many modification and variations would present themselves to persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (3.5 x 1.5 x 10),Wholesale Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (3.5 x 1.5 x 10) China, Custom printed Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (3.5 x 1.5 x 10)

Exporters, Suppliers, Manufacturers, Factories, Distributo, Wholesale Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (3.5 x 1.5 x 10) China, Exporters, Custom printed

Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (3.5 x 1.5 x 10) China, Custom printed Bag - White Pharmacy Bag (3.5 x 1.5 x 10)

This custom printed 3 1/2" x 2" x 8" - Popcorn/pharmacy bag. is available with your customized message or custom printed logo. Options for imprinting are outlined in the Imprint Options above. If no printing options are shown, or you have any questions at all, please give an account manager a call for exact customization types we can offer. The supplier may change pricing and details on these custom printed 3 1/2" x 2" x 8" - Popcorn/pharmacy bag before they update us with changes. For this reason, please use the information found on this page as a guide. Your account manager will verify details, pricing, and imprinting options when ordering. Please be sure to contact us if you have any questions for these custom printed 3 1/2" x 2" x 8" - Popcorn/pharmacy bag, or any other promotional items or custom printed gifts you may be searching for. Your dedicated account manager is ready to assist you!

Pharmacy Paper Carrier Bags / Grab Bags / Block bottom bags Pharmacy bags are machine made, using a block bottom style finish. This results in a strong yet economic paper bag suitable for small products, including liquid containers such as medicine bottles. These bags are not supplied with handles, but can have an optional thumb hole to help with opening. They can also be used for food, in quick service restaurants or as promotional sandwich bags from roadside cafes. Please also see counter bags for flat or satchel paper bags. General specification guideline for quotation purposes. Description. Block bottom pharmacy bags Quantity. Minimum (25,000) and maximum you require (per size) Size. (Width) x (Height) + (Gusset) (Inches/cm/mm all acceptable, please specify) Material. 35gsm upwards, Brown or White paper, greaseproof optional. Printing. None/1 colour up to 6 colour including CMYK process print on certain sizes. Lead tims are usually around 5 to 8 weeks Manufactured in.

Pharmacy bags were the first product Ronpak began manufacturing and throughout the years Ronpak has been the leader in the industry of pharmacy bag innovation. Pharmacy bags are used as an internal control security feature andas a method of privacy for the customer. Pharmacy bags are also used as another source of inexpensive advertising and providean effective method to maintain content cleanliness.

For over 120 years Drug Package has been a leading provider of supplies to pharmacies nationwide. Drug Package knows your pharmacy packaging supply needs. Our product line encompasses everything from Laser Labels, Computer Labels, Prescription Blanks, Designer Bags, Apothecary Equipment and Nursing Home Supplies. As a leader and innovator of new products in the pharmacy industry, Drug Package stands alone. It has been our goal to keep pace with changing technology and anticipate new product demands. Pharmacists depend on the quality products and excellent service that Drug Package supplies. All our products feature top quality materials and expert craftsmanship. We work hard to maintain our reputation for responsive customer service and on-time delivery of both stock and custom orders. Some of our supply categories.

Prescription labels and thermal printers for pharmacy labeling. Thermal printing technology for pharmacies. Cognitive Solutions innovative thermal printing solutions reliably print prescription labels Compact Mid-Range Printers printing solutions to meet customer needs cost effective method to reliably print prescription labels CRx’s complete PCL command language compatibility

With 58 years of experience Pharmex is a full service pharmacy supply company providing pharmacists with everything from labeling solutions to the vials they are applied to. Working closely with pharmacists Pharmex is in touch with the tools needed to run a pharmacy more efficiently. As an innovator in the industry, Pharmex is continually evolving its product line to stay in step with the changes in technological advancements in the market. Pharmex does not only supply the warning labels that pharmacies apply but also offers software to generate on demand warning labels. The newly released SoftFonts 7.0 is the leader in the prescription warning label industry. SoftFonts 7.0 will keep pharmacists up to date on all new drug warnings by updating your software monthly with input from Medispan and First Databank. Pharmex is also the industry leader in manufacturing stock and custom laser and thermal labeling solutions. These labels are compatible with most software systems and printers. With advancements in pharmacy technology, Pharmex has developed labeling solutions compatible with various automated dispensing and labeling systems used in both retail and mail order pharmacies. Contact us today to find out more about our labeling and product solutions and how our revolutionary new C2Rx product offering will change the image of the industry.

Soft Fonts™ - JUST RELEASED VERSION 7.0 Software Formatted Warning Labels INSIDE the Pharmacy Software. Soft Fonts™ allows greater accuracy, flexibility and cost savings. From inventing the first pre-printed label and award-winning dispenser, to SIMMS, DIMMS and PharmexPort™ for your printer to our state-of-the-art Soft Fonts™ technology. Pharmex continues setting standards in warning label message development and label dispensing innovation.

Apothecary Products, Inc. is your one-source for all of your pharmacy supplies. We are also a leading supplier of retail products in a variety of categories - medical compliance aids, health and beauty care, baby care, travel accessories and much more. Browse our online catalog for a complete listing. Apothecary Products, Inc. was founded in September of 1975 by its CEO, Terry Noble, a practicing registered pharmacist. Terry had an idea that would assist his fellow pharmacists in the dispensing of liquid medication, resulting in the Reconstitube. His interest in the area of patient compliance has continued by creating a multitude of products that aid the consumer and pharmacist alike. Supply Items.

Apothecary Products Reconstitube Unit Dose Pharmacy Kits IV/Oral Dispensers Glassware Scales, Balances, Weights Mortars and Pestles Compounding and Laboratory Supplies Compounding Chemicals Pharmacy Literature Ointment Supplies Suppository Supplies Capsules and Capsule Counters Dispensing Supplies

Bags • Vials • Toner Cartridges • Labels buy DIRECTLY from the manufacturer..and SAVE! Pharmacy Automation Supplies, your full service source for pharmacy prescription labels, printer consumables, pharmacy prescription bags and all of your pharmacy supply needs. Our mission is to bring you the best pharmacy supplies to make it easy to maintain your pharmacy management systems. The right pharmacy printer consumables are instrumental in making your pharmacy POS management systems an efficient part of your customer service. Pharmacy Automation Supplies is your trustworthy pharmacy printer supply source, making it easy for your pharmacy management systems to support you – and your bottom line. We make it easy to manage your pharmacy with our prescription supplies, including custom pharmacy laser printer labels, custom printed pharmacy RX bags, pharmacy thermal labels, plus new and remanufactured pharmacy printer toner cartridges and refills, and other pharmacy printer consumables. Our pharmacy printer supplies are 100% quality guaranteed, and our personal service in support of your pharmacy POS systems’ printers is second to none.

PHARMACIES—IV Pharmacy PackagingImageVelocity has been supplying pharmacy bags since the days of "Medibag" back in 1988 in Ohio. Since then, our business has grown to serve thousands of pharmacy locations nationwide. The success of our product is a result of the synergy created by the association of the pharmacy chain and the local advertisers. An IV Pharmacy Becomes A Neighbor. The message instilled on every ImageVelocity pharmacy bag goes much deeper than the ad copy printed on the surface. By associating your pharmacy with local advertisers, your pharmacy is joining the "neighborhood" of local businesses. of local businesses. Your pharmacy bag indicates your support of local companies as well as their support for your pharmacy. Here are some of the pharmacy clients we have worked with.

SunPack offers over 10 pharmacy designs that can be customized for your store - or let us work with you to create a bag design unique to your business. OurPharmacy bags set the standard for quality and practicality. We offer only the most useful sizes in Flat, Gusseted, and Square bottom bags.

News Editors, Health/Medical Writers SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 24, 2001 In honor of Antibiotic Awareness Week (September 24-28), pharmacists throughout the state will be passing out bag stuffers to educate nearly 750,000 patients about the proper use of antibiotics.

News Editors, Health/Medical Writers SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 24, 2001 In honor of Antibiotic Awareness Week (September 24-28), pharmacists throughout the state will be passing out bag stuffers to educate nearly

750,000 patients about the proper use of antibiotics. As part of a statewide coalition -- the Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education (AWARE) -- pharmacists are working with other healthcare providers to address the issues surrounding the rising demand for antibiotics and an increased resistance to antibiotics. It's important that people really understand when and how to properly use their medicines including antibiotics, said Carlo Michelotti, R. Ph., MPH, chief executive officer of the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA). Pharmacists can make a big difference in emphasizing the proper use of antibiotics and this education material serves as another communication vehicle for increased awareness. As the healthcare provider who dispenses and consults on medications, pharmacists play a pivotal role in the intricate system of checks and balances, which protects patients from negative drug interactions and ensures their understanding of proper and safe medication use. This is especially important as studies show that 235 million doses of antibiotics are consumed annually and that up to 20-50 percent of prescribed antibiotics are being used improperly. Tips when using antibiotics. -- Do not share antibiotics with others. -- Do not use antibiotics without a doctor or pharmacist's care. -- Do not request an antibiotic - if your doctor says you don't need it, chances are you don't! - Understand that antibiotics are for bacterial infections not for viral infections such as the common cold and flu. -- Finish your medication. Stopping before all the medicine is gone allows any remaining germs to survive and reproduce into stronger germs. -- Use one pharmacy so that your pharmacist can identify whether this prescription is compatible with others you have been taking. Being a part of AWARE enables pharmacists to further carry out the message and reinforce what doctors are doing to teach people to be responsible users of antibiotics, said Michelotti. Always talk to your doctor and pharmacist about your antibiotics!

As part of a statewide coalition -- the Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education (AWARE) -- pharmacists are working with other healthcare providers to address the issues surrounding the rising demand for antibiotics and an increased resistance to antibiotics. It's important that people really understand when and how to properly use their medicines including antibiotics, said Carlo Michelotti, R. Ph., MPH, chief executive officer of the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA). Pharmacists can make a big difference in emphasizing the proper use of antibiotics and this education material serves as another communication vehicle for increased awareness. As the healthcare provider who dispenses and consults on medications, pharmacists play a pivotal role in the intricate system of checks and balances, which protects patients from negative drug interactions and ensures their understanding of proper and safe medication use. This is especially important as studies show that 235 million doses of antibiotics are consumed annually and that up to 20-50 percent of prescribed antibiotics are being used improperly. Tips when using antibiotics. -- Do not share antibiotics with others. -- Do not use antibiotics without a doctor or pharmacist's care. -- Do not request an antibiotic - if your doctor says you don't need it, chances are you don't! - Understand that antibiotics are for bacterial infections not for viral infections such as the common cold and flu. -- Finish your medication. Stopping before all the medicine is gone allows any remaining germs to survive and reproduce into stronger germs. -- Use one pharmacy so that your pharmacist can identify whether this prescription is compatible with others you have been taking. Being a part of AWARE enables pharmacists to further carry out the message and reinforce what doctors are doing to teach people to be responsible users of antibiotics, said Michelotti. Always talk to your doctor and pharmacist about your antibiotics! The California Pharmacists Association is the largest state pharmacy association in the nation and the professional society representing all pharmacists in California. The mission of the association is to act as the leader in advocating the role of the pharmacist as an essential provider of health care and to support pharmacists in providing optimal pharmaceutical care. CPhA has been involved in AWARE, since the steering committee first formed in the fall of 1999. AWARE is spearheaded by the California Medical Association Foundation and includes a coalition of healthcare organizations. Note to the Media. The bag stuffers are available at 750 pharmacies around the state and are written in English and Spanish language. For a list of participating pharmacies, contact CPhA.

Susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration are two essential guideposts for clinicians in their selection of proper antibiotic therapy. The lab and pharmacy in our 212-bed..

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 Community pharmacists from across Scotland are working closely with NHS 24 to help ease pressure on the NHS this winter. Winter isalways a busy time for the whole of the NHS and particularly during the out-of-hours period when GP surgeries are closed. However, the public can help us deliver the care to those who really need it by being prepared and knowing where to go for the most appropriate help and advice. NHS 24, as well as employing its own community pharmacists to help deal with medication related calls to the service, is working closely with community pharmacists throughout Scotland to raise awareness of the increased and vital role of community pharmacists in helping to deliver health care this winter. Not only can your community pharmacist provide you with expert information and advice, but they can also offer treatment for minor ailments and a range of other services over the winter months. Martin Green community pharmacist in Rutherglen, and chairman of the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council said.“Community pharmacists now offer a Minor Ailment Scheme to provide treatment and advice to patients with minor ailments who do not pay for prescription charges. This helps reduce pressure from GP surgeries, but it also means that patients don’t have to book an appointment with their GP.” The minor ailment scheme which was introduced in July this year, is open to people who have registered with a GP surgery in Scotland. who don’t pay for their prescriptions (including children). and don’t live in a nursing or residential care home. Mr Green added.“Its simple, you just register with your local community pharmacy and go to see them. Once we have seen you, we can then provide you with the medication or advice you need to treat symptoms free of charge. The scheme covers a wide range of conditions, however, if the pharmacist feels you should see your GP then you may either be referred directly or advised to make an appointment to see them.” NHS 24 is also asking people to be prepared this winter by ensuring that they have an adequate supply of self-care remedies to treat common winter ailments such as colds, flu and sore throats. Dr George Crooks, Clinical Director of NHS 24 said.“People can get excellent advice from their local community pharmacist about the most appropriate self-care remedies to suit them so that if they do get common winter ailments they have a ready supply of the correct medication to hand. If you take repeat medication, make sure you have enough to cover Christmas and New Year as well as other weekends. “Again, this year, there are two four day public holiday weekends over Christmas and New Year when most GP surgeries will be closed. What we are asking the public to do is to ensure that they have an adequate supply of any repeat or regular medication they take to see them through weekends, public holidays and holidays away from home. Remember to make sure that you have your order into your GP in plenty time for you to collect it from your pharmacist before it closes. By doing so, we can all help to ensure that the NHS can get help to those who really need it most this winter, particularly when GP surgeries are closed.” Help online at www. nhs24.com NHS 24’s website, www. nhs24.com can provide you with details of your local community pharmacy and its opening times. You can also get lots of practical advice on how to prepare for winter, along with the online self-help guide and health encyclopedia. Alternatively, you can call the NHS Helpline on 0800 22 44 88 for further information.. Use your GP surgery for routine appointments Dr Crooks added. “We should all find out in advance when our own GP surgery is open between Christmas and New Year. You should visit your GP surgery for routine appointments between the public holiday weekends and only call NHS out-of-hours services if it can’t wait until your GP practice re-opens.” NHSScotland Campaign NHS 24 has linked up with the rest of the NHS in Scotland to promote appropriate use of out-of-hours services over the winter months. The campaign which involves extensive TV. radio. train. bus. ferry. pharmacy bag. poster and leaflet advertising will provide simple helpful information to help your NHS this winter. The NHSScotland campaign was launched last month and will run throughout the winter. Help and information for older people NHS 24 has worked in partnership with Help the Aged to produce a booklet aimed at providing clear information for older people who may need to access out-of-hours services when GP surgeries are closed. The booklet, has been compiled with the input from older persons focus groups, and contains advice on what you need to do if you are unwell when GP surgeries are closed. The new booklet has been distributed throughout Scotland to community nurses and nursing and residential care homes. For further information please contact Caroline Weintz – corporate affairs manager (press) at NHS 24 on. 07796 941 946. Editor’s Notes1.NHS 24 has linked up with the rest of the NHS in Scotland to promote appropriate use of out-of-hours services over the winter months. The campaign which involves extensive TV. radio. train. bus. ferry. pharmacy bag. poster and leaflet advertising will provide simple helpful information to help your NHS this winter. The NHSScotland campaign was launched last month and will run throughout the winter. 2.The NHSScotland advertising materials are available at. www. nhs24.com along with other health related information including details of local pharmacy opening times. 3.NHS 24 is a confidential telephone health advice, information and referral service available across Scotland. NHS 24 works with local NHS Boards’ out-of-hours services to the provide patients with health advice and help when GP surgeries are closed – during the night, at weekends and on public holidays. 4.Face-to-face care is provided by local NHS Boards. 5.If you or someone you care for is unwell and you feel it can’t wait until your GP surgery re-opens then you can call NHS 24. You will have your call passed to either an experienced nurse for clinical assessment or to a health information advisor for information. Following clinical assessment from a nurse you will be advised to on what you should do next. You may be advised on how to look after yourself at home, or you may be referred to your local Primary Care Emergency Centre (PCEC), Community Pharmacist or Accident Emergency Department. Where clinically appropriate a GP home visit or an ambulance may be arranged for you.

Paper or plastic? Not anymore in San Francisco. The city's Board of Supervisors approved groundbreaking legislation Tuesday to outlaw plastic checkout bags at large supermarkets in about six months and large chain pharmacies in about a year.

The ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, is the first such law in any city in the United States and has been drawing global scrutiny this week. "I am astounded and surprised by the worldwide attention," Mirkarimi said. "Hopefully, other cities and other states will follow suit." Fifty years ago, plastic bags -- starting first with the sandwich bag -- were seen in the United States as a more sanitary and environmentally friendly alternative to the deforesting paper bag. Now an estimated 180 million plastic bags are distributed to shoppers each year in San Francisco. Made of filmy plastic, they are hard to recycle and easily blow into trees and waterways, where they are blamed for killing marine life. They also occupy much-needed landfill space. Two years ago, San Francisco officials considered imposing a 17-cent tax on petroleum-based plastic bags before reaching a deal with the California Grocers Association. The agreement called for large supermarkets to reduce by 10 million the number of bags given to shoppers in 2006. The grocers association said it cut back by 7.6 million, but city officials called that figure unreliable and unverifiable because of poor data supplied by markets. The dispute led to a renewed interest in outlawing the standard plastic bag, which Mirkarimi said Tuesday was a "relic of the past." Under the legislation, which passed 10-1 in the first of two votes, large markets and pharmacies will have the option of using compostable bags made of corn starch or bags made of recyclable paper. San Francisco will join a number of countries, such as Ireland, that already have outlawed plastic bags or have levied a tax on them. Final passage of the legislation is expected at the board's next scheduled meeting, and the mayor is expected to sign it. The grocers association has warned that the new law will lead to higher prices for San Francisco shoppers. "We're disappointed that the Board of Supervisors is going down this path," said Kristin Power, the association's vice president for government relations. "It will frustrate recycling efforts and will increase both consumer and retailer costs. There's also a real concern about the availability and quality of compostable bags." Power said most of the group's members operating in San Francisco are likely to switch to paper bags "simply because of the affordability and availability issues." Mirkarimi's legislation is one in a string of environmentally sensitive measures -- such as outlawing Styrofoam food containers and encouraging clean-fuel construction vehicles at city job sites -- adopted by the city in recent months. "It's really exciting," Jared Blumenfeld, director of the city's Department of the Environment, said after the vote on Tuesday. "We're thrilled. It's been a long time in the making." Blumenfeld said it takes 430,000 gallons of oil to manufacture 100 million bags. Compostable bags can be recycled in the city's green garbage bins and will make it more convenient for residents to recycle food scraps, he said. Recycling of paper bags also is far more active today than it was when the plastic bag was first introduced to U. S. consumers. The lone dissenting voice in the board chamber on Tuesday was Supervisor Ed Jew, who noted that 95,000 small businesses in San Francisco will continue to use plastic bags. Jew, who in his third month in office has taken to critiquing his colleagues for being too quick to burden residents and businesses with new mandates, complained that Mirkarimi's legislation has taken too much of the board's time. "We need to move on to address the larger issues in San Francisco," Jew said shortly before he voted against the ordinance. Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who introduced amendments this month that will subject pharmacy chains to the legislation, said many large businesses in San Francisco already participate in recycling programs. "The target of this legislation is the bags themselves and improving the environment," she said.

S. F. FIRST CITY TO BAN PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS / Supermarkets and chain pharmacies will have to use recyclable or compostable sacks

Decorate the pharmacy. You can usebanners, posters, and balloonsto promote American Pharmacists Month.

Invite the public to a party! Pick one or more days during American Pharmacists Month to offer cake or other treats. Hand out patient education brochures and small promotional items. Invite community leaders and legislators. Raffle off an American Pharmacists Month tote bag filled with everyday products that your patients use.

Replace your usual bags with American Pharmacists Monthplastic bags, or put American Pharmacists Month stickers on pharmacy bags and purchases.

Use a special message promoting American Pharmacists Month when you answer your telephones and on your voicemail. "Hello, this is Main Street Pharmacy, where we're celebrating American Pharmacists Month. How may I assist you today?"

Schedule special health events that encourage patients with the message of "talk to your pharmacist today." Examples include a flu shot clinic or health screening day (e. g., cholesterol, diabetes, osteoporosis screening).

Hold one or more "Medication Check-Ups." Invite your patients to bring all their medications- prescription and nonprescription- to the pharmacy, so pharmacists can examine them for expiration dates, potential drug interactions and other problems.

Invite a local elementary school class to visit the pharmacy. You can demonstrate what it's like to be a pharmacist. You can use the time to teach some basic medication safety concepts. End the trip by giving each child a small memento to commemorate the visit, like the activity book, A Visit to the Pharmacy

Assist with special health events planned for American Pharmacists Month. Conduct blood pressure screenings and encourage patients to take advantage of other pharmacy-based patient care services.

Co-host a party for the public! Pick one or more days during American Pharmacists Month to offer cake or other treats. Hand out patient education brochures and small promotional items, like magnets, tote bags and pens. Volunteer during the event by welcoming patients and demonstrating the prescription-filling process. Show them how your crucial role in the pharmacy impacts their positive experience in improving their medication use.

Encourage the pharmacist to replace your usual bags with American Pharmacists Monthplastic bags, or put American Pharmacists Month stickers on pharmacy bags and purchases.

Use a special message promoting American Pharmacists Month when you answer your telephones and on your voicemail. "Hello, this is Main Street Pharmacy, where we're celebrating American Pharmacists Month. How may I assist you?"

Visit patients in their hospital rooms. Introduce yourself and answer any questions they may have about pharmacy services or drug therapy. Provide patient education brochures and small American Pharmacists Month-themedgiveaways, like magnets, pens, tote bags, etc.

Talk to your administrator(s). Explain the goals and the patient education benefits of American Pharmacists Month to help build a sense of teamwork within the health system. Be sure to invite them to participate in the month's activities.

Create a lobby display. Use it to promote the pharmacy department. Include information about pharmacy services and photos of the pharmacy staff. If your facility is large, consider changing the display weekly to focus on a different pharmacy activity or function. Make the display colorful and fun, with eye-catching elements like red and white streamers or American Pharmacists Monthballoons and banners.

Schedule an "open house." Invite all hospital employees to visit the pharmacy. Conduct brief tours that showcase daily pharmacy operation, and describe how medications move from the initial physician order to the patient. Demonstrating how a pharmacy really operates could prove to be a real draw!

Get the word out. Tell people about American Pharmacists Month and the activities you have planned. Use bulletin boards and internal email systems to communicate with hospital staff. Spread the word to patients using notes on meal trays, announcements on the public address system or with personal room visits.

Host a visit for your senator or representative. Provide your legislators with an invaluable view of the contemporary roles of pharmacists. Be sure they see a pharmacist in your facility conducting valued patient care services that warrant compensation, such as drug therapy management, participation in patient education and wellness activities, and other clinical activities.

Schedule special health events. Use this time to encourage patients with the message of "talk to your pharmacist today." Examples include a flu shot clinic or health screening day (e. g., cholesterol, diabetes, osteoporosis screening.)

Hold one or more "medication check-ups" or "brown bags." Invite patients to bring all their medications- prescription and nonprescription- to the pharmacy. Pharmacists can examine them for expiration dates, potential drug interactions and other problems.

Highlight your pharmacy technicians. Get technicians involved by recognizing their contributions to your operation. Post their photos in the lobby. Give them a "thank you" luncheon complete with a cake. Purchase tokens to distribute on National Pharmacy Technician Day.

Arrange "curbside consultations" for patients and caregivers. Encourage them to talk with pharmacists about medication therapy issues. Hold the sessions in a conference room or other relatively private area, and allot from 5 to 10 minutes per person.

Decorate ambulatory care pharmacies. American Pharmacists Monthbanners, posters and balloonsare great ways to publicize your events.

Invite residents and their guests to a special American Pharmacists Month party. Try holding an ice cream social, afternoon tea or other fun event. Make the atmosphere festive by decorating the designated areas with streamers and American Pharmacists Monthballoons, banners and posters. Provide patient education brochures and small themed giveaways, like magnets, pens, etc.

Develop lunch tray tent cards. Explain the goals of the pharmacy and the services that you offer to the residents. If they have questions about their medication, encourage them to ask to speak with a pharmacist.

If you work part time in a pharmacy, take the initiative and help your supervisor plan activities and events for American Pharmacists Month. Browse the other suggestions on this page for ideas specific to your practice site.

Make an extra effort to recognize pharmacy technicians on National Pharmacy Technician Day. Thank them for their support and the invaluable contributions they make to the profession.

Plan a fundraiser to sell American Pharmacists Month t-shirts or otherpromotional itemsto student pharmacists and faculty. Contact APhA's promotion company, Source 4, for more information about bulk sales at us.

Schedule Operation Immunization, Operation Diabetes, and Heartburn Awareness Challenge programs in October, and promote American Pharmacists Month during these events. Consider decorating the event area with themedballoons, posters or banners.

Celebrate American Pharmacists month on campus by holding a celebratory lunch for all student pharmacists. Invite an honored local practitioner to discuss the importance of leadership and professionalism in pharmacy.

Find out how your local or state pharmacy association plans to observe American Pharmacists Month. Look for ways to participate, and make suggestions for additional events.

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The new bag is HEALTHY LIVING, and is only availiable in the pharmacy. it contains. 10 yorkshire decaff tea bags alpro soya carton rubicon papaya carton baxters lentil and tomato soup can frizz-ease air serum 25ml yazoo milkshake adidas apd spray 35ml one each of ladies and mens optrex dry eye gel ocean spray dried cranberries haribo lite sweets 5m hemming web little book of yakult the inside out diet book 30p coupon off oatly (tesco specific) 25p coupon off korbond haberdashery (tesco specific) sample sachet and 50p off coupon for benefibre coupon for FREE pack of tesco wheat cereal (apricot/cranberry/blueberry/pomegranate and raspberry) 20p coupon off baxtres healthy choice soup 40p copon off st ivel omega 3 milk and a few other leaflets

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University of Iowa News Release April 5, 2005 UI Pharmacy Students Launch Brown Bag Day University of Iowa College of Pharmacy students will hold a Brown Bag Day at the Iowa City Senior Center from 8.30 a. m. to 12.30 p. m. Wednesday, April 13. The students, members of the UI chapter of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Academy of Students of Pharmacy, will assess seniors' prescription and over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements. They also will answer any questions seniors have pertaining to their medications. Adverse drug reactions are the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States, according to the APhA. Students hope the Brown Bag event will raise awareness among seniors about medication use and risks. The event is free and open to all seniors. STORY SOURCE. University of Iowa Health Science Relations, 5135 Westlawn, Iowa City, Iowa us. CONTACTS. Media. David Pedersen, (319) us., david-pedersen@uiowa. edu. Writer. Christine Nicholson

If you have a chronic condition, you may routinely take many different kinds of medications. Often, the dose or times of the medication may need to be adjusted as your health changes. Sometimes, you may also have medications ordered by different doctors, particularly if you visit a number of specialists. These situations can lead to a great deal of confusion when taking medications. As a safety measure, ask to schedule a "brown-bag check-up" with your primary doctor or local pharmacist. A brown-bag check-up is when you gather all of your current medications and over-the-counter products into a "brown-bag" and show them to your doctor or pharmacist so he/she can look for any potential problems. Schedule your brown-bag appointment in advance so the doctor or pharmacist has allotted enough time for the visit. Remember to take any prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, herbal products or "natural products" you are using. During the "check-up", the doctor or pharmacist will review all of the medications and products you are currently taking, to see if they are the same as those listed on your medical record or pharmacy profile. They can double check these medications for the correct dosage strength, frequency, or identify if you are using outdated or discontinued medications. These practitioners can also screen the medications and products for potential duplication of therapy or side effects. This is why it is important to include non-prescription products in the bag. A brown-bag check-up is not only helpful to patients, but is useful for physicians and pharmacists too. This review will help healthcare practitioners know whether you understand how to take the medication, or if you are aware of any special precautions that you may need to know about. This is also a good time for the doctor to discuss with you any special laboratory testing that may be needed with certain drugs. You should be prepared to ask any questions you may have about your medications. Don't be afraid to write them down, so that you do not forget to ask. Having a single doctor "in charge" or aware of all of the medications and products that you take, is a safe rule. If this is impossible, keep your list of medications and over-the counter products up-to-date, and share this information with every doctor or healthcare provider you visit. Remember to fill all your prescriptions at the same pharmacy or inform your pharmacist of any over-the counter, herbal or mail order prescriptions you are taking so that there is complete oversight of your medications. Consider making an appointment today for a "brown-bag check-up", or attend this type of sponsored event when offered through your pharmacy, church or senior center.

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Feb. 18, 2006 KALAMAZOO--All benefits-eligible employees at Western Michigan University are invited to a brown-bag lunch presentation on changes in pharmacy benefits available through the university's Sindecuse Health Center. Sindecuse Chief Pharmacist Bill Green will present Understanding and Maximizing Your WMU Pharmacy Benefits and will answer audience questions. Sponsored by the WMU Administrative Professional Association, the free program will be held from noon to 1 p. m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in 157 Bernhard Center. Employee spouses and other interested family members are welcome to attend. Those attending are invited to bring a brown-bag lunch. Meals also may be purchased in the Bernhard Center Cafeteria and from Bronco Mall restaurants. For more information, contact Joan O'Bryan, APA Professional Development Committee, at joan. obryan@wmich. edu or (269) us. Media contact. Jeanne Baron, (269) us., jeanne. baron@wmich. edu WMU News Office of University Relations Western Michigan University 1903 W Michigan Ave Kalamazoo MI us. USA (269) us. www. wmich. edu/wmu/news

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Pharmacy Paper Carrier Bags / Grab Bags / Block bottom bags Pharmacy bags are machine made, using a block bottom style finish. This results in a strong yet economic paper bag suitable for small products, including liquid containers such as medicine bottles. These bags are not supplied with handles, but can have an optional thumb hole to help with opening. They can also be used for food, in quick service restaurants or as promotional sandwich bags from roadside cafes. Please also see counter bags for flat or satchel paper bags. General specification guideline for quotation purposes. Description. Block bottom pharmacy bags Quantity. Minimum (25,000) and maximum you require (per size) Size. (Width) x (Height) + (Gusset) (Inches/cm/mm all acceptable, please specify) Material. 35gsm upwards, Brown or White paper, greaseproof optional. Printing. None/1 colour up to 6 colour including CMYK process print on certain sizes. Lead tims are usually around 5 to 8 weeks Manufactured in.

The most obvious use for these promotional products is attributed to sack lunches for students who need healthy foods to maintain their attention while in school and even business professionals who need a pick-up in the middle of the day where they have worked all morning while preparing for the second half of the day. The Unlined White Paper Pharmacy Bag With Serrated Cut And Top And Bottom Gussets is often seen in shopping malls and stores, as the sellers incorporate their signature logo and corporate image on paper bags to encourage the future patronage of previous consumers while making it visible to first-time shoppers as well. Unlined white paper pharmacy bag with serrated cut and top and bottom gussets. View additional products in this category.

We offer a variety of media formats which will act as a communication platform for your health improvement messages. Our formats will allow you to reach your local community in he most cost effective manner so you maximise the delivery of your message whilst minimising your cost. This will also ensure that the message you want to send is placed directly into the hands of the local residents and targeted elements of the local community. We print, produce and deliver branded pharmacy bag campaigns via our growing network of high street independent pharmacies, Timms Parker, Rowlands Pharmacies (510 outlets) Co-Op pharmacy in-store outlets within Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda. To promote your local smoking cessation services, support local walk-in centres, raise awareness of flu immunisation, sexual health issues, lifestyle or whatever your PCT/NHS Trust needs to communicate. We offer branding on either counter (OTC) bags or prescription bags in a variety of standard sizes and in conjunction with leaflet distribution if required.

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Over the past several weeks, pharmacists received a mixed bag of news. The first piece of news shouldn't come as any surprise to most pharmacists, because they've heard it before--for the last 18 years, in fact. According to the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll, consumers ranked pharmacists within the top three professions--as they have since 1989.

It's really too bad that some pharmacists don't see themselves in the same light as consumers do. I recently received e-mails from several pharmacists in response to a column I wrote complaining about the commodization of prescriptions. The theme that ran through the majority of the e-mails was that it is too late to change consumers' perception of pharmacy, and all they really want is a bargain. What really startled me was that many freely admitted it was their own inactions that contributed to consumers' perception that pharmacists are only selling a product and not their services. Sadly, I have to agree, pharmacists can be their own worst enemies.

That being said, the other piece of news should come as a wake-up call for all pharmacists, even those who have accepted the notion, as one pharmacist put it, of being no better than a deli counter person. While the news itself is not particularly good for consumers, it does present an excellent opportunity for pharmacists.

A survey by Lightspeed Research revealed that medication noncompliance is a big problem in the United States. Medication therapy management, pharmaceutical care, disease state management--or whatever moniker you give it--will eventually lead to healthier patients. That cause and effect will hopefully someday lead to pharmacists being paid for their services. For sure, it won't happen overnight. But if pharmacists continue to perceive themselves as selling a commodity, it will never happen.

The validity of health information obtained through participants’. reports of current medications (e. g., the brown bag method) is an important, but under-studied, area. In the current study, we examined the congruence of medication reports from a brown bag data collection with the pharmacy prescription records for 1430 participants (ages 23 to 97 years) of the seventh wave of the Seattle Longitudinal Study. Overall, the congruence of the brown bag data and pharmacy records was high. Congruence was better for younger participants, healthier participants, and for medications taken for serious conditions or on a regular basis. When the focus is on assessing participants’. medications at a specific point in time (e. g., on the day of testing), brown bag data may provide more complete information than pharmacy records. Age and health status of the participants as well as the type of medications of interest should be considered when determining the validity of medication information reported by participants.

Congruence typically has not been examined in samples that include these individuals because previous studies (e. g., Ascione, Kirscht, &. Shimp, 1986. Gerbert et al., 1988. Hulka et al., 1975. Opdycke et al., 1994) have defined agreement as the presence of the same drug in two sources for an individual. Specifically, the agreement score represented a ratio of the number of drugs reported in both data sources being compared (e. g., brown bag data and pharmacy data) to the total number of drugs for an individual, counting all that were reported by either source. By definition, this operationalization required that at least one drug be present for each individual in the analysis, either in the brown bag data or in the pharmacy data. The analysis of discrepancies (i. e., errors of omission and commission) conducted in these studies was also dependent on individuals having at least one drug present in one of the data sources being compared. Necessarily, individuals who were not taking medications were excluded from the congruence analysis. In many of these studies, including only individuals who were taking medications was appropriate, due to their focus on medication misuse or other medical purposes. However, for researchers whose focus is on reports of specific categories of drugs, such as those with cognitive side effects or those used to treat cardiovascular disease, it may be just as important to know the validity of reports that participants are not taking a particular type of drug as it is to know the validity of reports that participants are taking a particular type of drug. To address this issue, in a previous paper (i. e., Caskie &. Willis, 2004), we adapted the traditional methods for assessing the congruence of self-reported medications and pharmacy records to include participants without any medications and to measure agreement in terms of both the absence and presence of a drug class for a pre-defined set of drug classes for all individuals.

= 1430) that covers a wider age range (range = 23–.97 years). The current study also includes an explicit comparison of congruence analyses performed with the “.traditional”. method (i. e., excluding anyone with 0 medications, examining only drug classes present for an individual, and defining agreement only in terms of the presence of a drug class) and congruence analyses calculated with the method used in Caskie and Willis (i. e., including all participants, examining all selected drug classes for an individual, and defining agreement as congruent information regarding the absence or the presence of a drug class). The self-report medication data in this study were collected using the brown bag method as part of the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS), an ongoing longitudinal study of adult cognitive development (Schaie, 1996). Because the majority of the SLS sample was recruited through their membership in a health maintenance organization (HMO), pharmacy prescription data were available for all SLS participants currently enrolled in the HMO at the time of the brown bag data collection.

Thus, this study had three main research questions. First, how congruent are brown bag medications and pharmacy prescription records, and are discrepancies attributed to the brown bag data or the pharmacy records? Our analysis compared results obtained including all participants with results obtained for the subsample who had one or more medications to demonstrate differences between the two methods. Second, what individual characteristics in each age group predict the degree of agreement and discrepancy between the brown bag data and the pharmacy prescription records? Third, does congruence vary by drug class? Sixteen drug classes were compared for the total sample and within age group.

= 1430) were a subset of the 1846 individuals tested during the seventh wave (1997–.1999) of the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS). Inclusion of a participant into the analysis sample was dependent on meeting two criteria. (1) brown bag medication data were collected on the participant during the seventh wave of SLS testing and (2) pharmacy records were available from Group Health Cooperative (GHC) of Puget Sound for the time that the participant’.s brown bag data were collected. Approximately 89% (

= 1636) of the individuals tested during the seventh wave of the SLS participated in the brown bag data collection. Of the 1636 brown bag participants, GHC pharmacy data were available for 1430 participants (77% of seventh wave participants).

Computerized pharmacy prescription records from GHC were obtained for participants for the four months prior to the participant’.s date of testing. Almost all (>.93%) of the medications were dispensed in amounts prescribed for 90 days or fewer. 44.9% had a 30-day supply, 9.4% had a 60-day supply, and 18.3% had a 90-day supply. Using the days supply information and the date that the prescription was dispensed, we were able to estimate the end-date for all prescriptions. Prescriptions estimated to be current on the date of the brown bag assessment (i. e., the estimated end-date was on or after the date of the brown bag assessment) and those with supplies that were estimated to have been depleted less than a week prior to the brown bag assessment were included in the analysis. Medications in the anti-infective class were included if they were current or estimated to be depleted within 2 days prior to the brown bag assessment. The shorter window for anti-infective medications was used because this class had a much shorter modal prescription length (i. e., 10 days) than the other drug classes.

The therapeutic purpose for each prescription medication in the GHC pharmacy data was assigned a code in the system developed by GHC (Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, 2002). Each brown bag medication was also coded using the same GHC coding system. For both the pharmacy and brown bag data, a participant was assigned a 0 or 1 for each drug class to indicate that the participant had at least one medication in that class (i. e., score of 1) or that the participant had no medications in that class (i. e., score of 0).

The values used to estimate participants’. health were provided to the seattle longitudinal study by the health maintenance organization (i. e., GHC). The chronic disease status of each participant in this study was indicated by the total health costs predicted by GHC for the next year for that individual. Scores were calculated by GHC using a set of empirically derived weights based on age, gender, and pharmacy utilization for chronic conditions (Clark, Von Korff, Saunders, Baluch, &. Simon, 1995). These scores were rescaled for this analysis in terms of $1000 units.

Several measures of the congruence between the pharmacy data and the brown bag data were calculated. agreement score, omission score, commission score, percent agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and the kappa coefficient. The

Specifically, for the first method of calculation of the agreement score (Caskie &. Willis, 2004), two types of congruent pairs were included. (1) the presence of a drug class for an individual in both databases (i. e., “.Yes”. in the pharmacy data and “.Yes”. in the brown bag data) and (2) the absence of a drug class for an individual in both databases (i. e., “.No”. in the pharmacy data and “.No”. in the brown bag data). The number of potential pairs (i. e., the denominator of the agreement score) was the same for all individuals, based on the predefined set of 16 drug classes examined for each person. A score was calculated for each individual, regardless of medication status.

For the second method of calculation of the agreement score (Opdycke et al., 1994), a congruent pair was defined only in terms of the presence of a particular drug class in both databases (i. e., “.Yes”. in the pharmacy data and “.Yes”. in the brown bag data) for an individual. The number of potential pairs (i. e., the denominator of the agreement score) varied between individuals, because it is calculated as the total number of drug classes reported in either data source for an individual. Thus, by definition, this score can only be calculated for the subsample of participants with at least one medication in either the pharmacy data or the brown bag data.

Omission scores and commission scores focus on the proportion of drug classes omitted by one data source but present in another data source. Omission scores are defined as the proportion of discrepancies attributed to the brown bag data, calculated as the ratio of the number of drug classes present in the pharmacy data that were not included in the brown bag data to the total number of drug classes present for that participant in the pharmacy data. Commission scores describe the proportion of discrepancies attributed to the pharmacy data, specifically calculated as the ratio of the number of drug classes present in the brown bag data that were not included in the pharmacy data to the total number of drug classes present in the brown bag data.

Percent agreement values were calculated for each drug class as the percentage of the sample with congruent pharmacy data (GHC) and brown bag data (BB) for a given drug class. Congruence was defined in terms of both the presence of the drug class (i. e., “.Yes”. in the pharmacy data and “.Yes”. in the brown bag data) and the absence of the drug class (i. e., “.No”. in the pharmacy data and “.No”. in the brown bag data).

Sensitivity and specificity are most commonly used to indicate the accuracy of a diagnostic test in relation to a gold standard (e. g., Fletcher, Fletcher, &. Wagner, 1996). In this paper, we used sensitivity and specificity to indicate the accuracy of one source of medication information in relation to another source with regard to information about a particular drug class. Because we did not consider either source of medication information to be a true “.gold standard,”. sensitivity and specificity were calculated twice—.once with the pharmacy data considered the “.gold standard”. and then with the brown bag data considered the “.gold standard.”. This practice allowed us to determine whether the accuracy of information varied for particular drug classes. Specifically, sensitivity can be interpreted here as the accuracy of the report (i. e., presence) of a drug class, and specificity can be interpreted as the accuracy of the non-report (i. e., absence) of a drug class.

We first present descriptive information about the medication patterns of our sample, including the prevalence of the 16 selected drug classes and the percentage of participants without any medications. Then, the results for the three research questions are presented. First, the degree of agreement between the brown bag report and the pharmacy records and the source of any discrepancies between them were examined. Second, regression analyses identified individual characteristics that predicted the degree of agreement and discrepancies between the brown bag data and the pharmacy prescription records. Third, congruence was examined within each of the 16 selected drug classes.

As shown in Table 2, the prevalence of the 16 drug classes ranged from 4.3% to 17.4% in the total sample. In the brown bag data, diuretics were the most prevalent category (17.4%), followed by estrogens (15.2%) and thyroid replacement agents (11.8%). In the pharmacy data, diuretics were also the most prevalent category (15.1%), followed by gastrointestinal agents (11.4%) and estrogens (10.7%). As shown in Table 3, the number of drug classes present for each individual (of the 16 classes selected for the analysis) ranged from 0 to 8 in the brown bag data and from 0 to 9 in the pharmacy data. On average, individuals reported 1.50 classes (

Table 2 also presents the prevalence of the 16 drug classes in the four age groups. Chi-square analyses, 4 (age group) ×. 2 (presence/absence of drug class), for each of the 16 selected drug classes indicated that age group was significantly related to presence of a drug class for 14 drug classes. Age group was not significantly related to whether glucocorticoids and anti-depressants were reported in either the pharmacy data or the self-report data. Additionally, having a prescription for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) was not related to age group in the pharmacy data although age group was significantly related to brown bag reports of NSAIDs (

<. .01). For most drug classes, the proportion of each age group prescribed or who reported a drug class was greater for older age groups. However, for estrogens, usage was much higher in the group aged 50 to 65 years in both the pharmacy data and the brown bag data.

<. .001 for pharmacy data). On average, older individuals had a greater number of drug classes than younger individuals, except that individuals aged 66 to 75 years and individuals over 75 did not differ significantly in the number of classes reported in the brown bag data.

Using the agreement score that included all participants, average agreement between the pharmacy records and brown bag data was high (96%), and more than half of the sample (58%) had agreement on all 16 of the drug classes. Average agreement using the score calculated only for participants with medications was lower (60%), with 41% of the sample having perfect agreement on the drug classes that were present for them. The average rate of discrepancies was lower in the brown bag data (12%) than in the pharmacy records (21%). Further, 80% of the sample had brown bag data that omitted none of the drug classes reported in the pharmacy records while only 68% of the sample’.s pharmacy records omitted none of the drug classes reported in the brown bag data. A similar pattern was observed for the subsample of participants with at least one medication.

For all age groups, the average rate of commissions made by the pharmacy records was higher than the average rate of omissions made by the brown bag data, using both methods of calculation. Using the age group samples that included all individuals, significant age group differences were found for omissions (

Chronic disease status was a significant predictor of agreement between the brown bag and pharmacy data for all age groups, even after controlling for cognitive and demographic variables. Lower levels of chronic disease status (i. e., lower estimated health expenditures) were related to higher levels of agreement. This finding had a higher level of significance in the two younger age groups (

As shown in Table 5, few of the predictors examined were significantly related to the proportion of pharmacy drugs omitted in the brown bag data. For individuals less than 50 years old, chronic disease status significantly predicted omissions (

<. .05) of the proportion of brown bag drug classes omitted in the pharmacy data, even after controlling for gender, education, and marital status. Interestingly, higher levels of chronic disease (i. e., higher health care costs) were related to fewer drug classes being omitted by the pharmacy records of those that had been reported in the brown bag data. Finally, gender was a significant predictor of commissions for all age groups except those under age 50. Men had fewer self-reported drug classes omitted in their pharmacy record than women did.

Finally, we examined congruence separately within each of the 16 selected drug classes. Within each of these drug classes, congruence was investigated with the following statistics. (1) kappa coefficient, (2) percent agreement (i. e., both the brown bag data and the pharmacy data were coded 0 or both were coded 1), and (3) sensitivity and specificity of the pharmacy records, and (4) sensitivity and specificity of the brown bag data. These statistics were examined for both the total sample and each of the four age groups.

For the total sample and the four age groups, all but two kappa coefficients (range = .34–..92) were significant at a 95% level of confidence, indicating significantly more agreement between the two databases than would be expected by chance. Non-significant kappa coefficients were found for salicylates (κ. = .00) and cardiac drugs (κ. = .00) for individuals less than 50 years of age. The prevalence for both salicylates and cardiac drugs in this age group was very small, with only three participants recorded as taking a drug in the class and none of these three participants had congruent information between the brown bag data and the pharmacy prescription data. Percent agreement was high for all drug classes in both the total sample and the four age groups (85–.100%).

Specificity of the brown bag data and the pharmacy records was high for all drug classes for both the total sample and the four age groups (range = 89–.100%). In contrast, sensitivity was much more variable and tended to be lower. these values are presented in Table 6. For both the total sample and the four age groups, the sensitivity of the brown bag data tended to be higher than the sensitivity of the pharmacy data. Thus, a trend was observed for the brown bag data to be more likely to include a drug class, given that the pharmacy data included that class, than for the pharmacy data to include a drug class, given that the brown bag data included the class. Sensitivity of both data sources for reports of the salicylate drug class was especially poor and typically had the lowest values. As noted previously, the lack of sensitivity (0%) in the youngest group for salicylates was due to only three individuals reporting a salicylate in this group and none having congruent information. the same situation was observed for cardiac drugs in this age group. In contrast to salicylates, a few classes had sensitivity values that were quite high (e. g., ACE inhibitors. 73–.97%. diuretics. 69–.96%), with some reaching 100% agreement within particular age groups (e. g., brown bag reports of diabetic agents for individuals less than 50 years old and 66 to 75 years old).

This study examined the congruence of two methodologies for obtaining medication information about study participants, specifically, a brown bag data collection and pharmacy records. The sample was diverse in age (23 to 97 years) and in the type and number of medications being taken. In contrast, previous studies of the congruence of medication information have examined only older adults or individuals prescribed medications for specific medical conditions. This study also examined the influence on congruence of including the portion of many samples who do not take medications and of defining agreement in terms of both the presence and absence of a class of medications.

Overall, medication reports obtained with the brown bag method appeared to provide a more complete picture of individuals’. current medication profiles than did pharmacy records. These results supported the findings obtained by Caskie and Willis (2004) with a sample of older adults. Thus, when the purpose of collecting medication information is to ascertain the medications that individuals are actually taking at a particular time (e. g., to identify possible influences on cognitive assessments), brown bag data collections may serve this purpose better than pharmacy records.

The reasons for the trend of the brown bag data to include drug classes that were not included in the pharmacy data need further exploration. One explanation may be that medication samples dispensed by physicians would not be recorded in a pharmacy database. Another alternative is that individuals may have reported taking medications that had been obtained from friends or family members (Johnson &. Moore, 1988). A final possibility is nonadherence to prescription dosing instructions. Cooper, Love, and Raffoul (1982) found that most nonadherence in their sample of elderly persons was intentional and extended the length of a prescription. Under-dosing has also been found in other studies of compliance or adherence (e. g., Isaac, Tamblyn, &. the McGill-Calgary Drug Research Team, 1993). Nonadherence to prescription dosing instructions may have resulted in less accurate estimated end-dates for pharmacy-filled prescriptions. Collecting information as part of the brown bag procedure about the prescription fill-date (as well as when the participant began using a refill), dosing instructions, to whom it was prescribed, and whether the medication is a sample could be helpful in determining the impact of noncompliance on estimates of health status or comorbidities based on self-reported medications. Alternatively, researchers who have access only to pharmacy records need to be aware that using automated information such as pharmacy records may underestimate the number and types of medications being used by participants on a particular day.

It is also important to note that some pharmacy prescriptions were excluded from individuals’. brown bag data. Previous research has found that participants may be more likely to omit medications that are prescribed for less serious conditions, that are not taken regularly, or that are taken for a short period of time (Caskie &. Willis, 2004. Kelly et al., 1990). The current study also found that these types of medication classes (e. g., NSAIDs and salicylates) were less likely to be reported by both databases than medication classes prescribed for more serious conditions (e. g., diabetic agents and ACE inhibitors). Alternatively, the omissions in the brown bag data of medications in the pharmacy records may have represented situations that can be difficult to detect when using pharmacy records (Choo et al., 1999. Christensen et al., 1997). For example, a prescribed medication may have been discontinued prior to the expected end-date due to the participant experiencing adverse side effects. This medication would likely have been omitted correctly by the individual from the brown bag data despite its status in the pharmacy records as an active prescription. Medications prescribed on an “.as needed”. basis that are not being taken currently could also result in omissions of pharmacy record medications. At the same time, medications taken “.as needed”. may also result in the brown bag data including a medication whose supply was expected to be depleted by that date.

Variations in congruence by age group, health status, and gender must also be considered. Agreement between individuals’. pharmacy records and brown bag data tended to be poorer in older age groups, most likely occurring as a function of the greater number of medications typically taken by older adults and, thus, the greater possibility for discrepancies. Similarly, better health was related to greater agreement for all age groups, although the relationship was less strong for older age groups. Of the demographic variables considered, gender was a consistently significant predictor of agreement, omissions, and commissions in individuals over age 50. Because no men were taking estrogens or progesterones, the method of score calculation used to include these cases may have contributed to the trend for men to show greater agreement and fewer discrepancies between the brown bag data and the pharmacy records. Future analyses of medication data that include hormones may need to consider agreement separately for males and females.

In summary, information about current medications was generally congruent when brown bag reports were compared to pharmacy prescription records. Use of the brown bag method to determine current medication usage is at least equivalent to the use of pharmacy records and may even provide more information due to issues of non-compliance, use of medication samples, and other issues. Because younger and healthier individuals tended to have more congruent medication information, health status and age group need to be considered when determining the validity of medication information for a particular sample. In addition, the specific medication classes examined may also influence congruence.

Opdycke, RAC. Ascione, FJ. Shimp, LA. Boyd, EL. Malloch, CK. Comparison of pharmacist-obtained comprehensive medication histories and medical records in geriatric patients.

January 27 - Meditations on mustard January 14 - Provence wears it well.snow, that is. November 20 - Our part-time dog November 11 - A new university for the 21st century October 14 - Mushroom madness September 04 - Road trip with Paula Wolfert June 18 - The Pottery of Sampigny June 02 - Le Temps des Cerises May 20 - It's that intoxicating time again. April 23 - Where la vigne is queen March 27 - The joys of la cueillette February 14 - Bringing in the blue January 16 - Bonne année 2008! November 07 - Fire at the heart of the home October 19 - Manna from heaven. September 19 - My neighbor's lamb July 26 - The way to a woman's heart. June 18 - Guinée rocks the rue de Logelbach May 15 - A passion for farigoule April 16 - Sowing the seeds of content April 04 - Bruno's world March 14 - Putting down roots February 14 - La Fête de la Truffe December 20 - An olive branch November 30 - Happiness is a hot chestnut. 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March 29 - My life as an enzyme March 18 - Life in a food-crazed nation March 05 - Marabout February 26 - Tale of two towers February 23 - La Fête des Violettes February 05 - My precious levain January 28 - Surviving the salon January 13 - La Poste and I December 01 - Home alone November 19 - Those dirty French! November 03 - Three years at 10 rue de Logelbach October 20 - A Paris weekend September 16 - Paris on wheels September 03 - The sleepy magic of the marais Poitevin July 29 - Dejeuner sur la (mauvaise) herbe July 23 - Blue is the color. July 10 - My famous hat June 10 - 06/10/2003. Dr. Death and the Giant Lobster June 04 - 6/4/2003. Summer in a skillet May 13 - 5/12/2003. Oysters for Breakfast. April 29 - 4/29/2003 Dateline Dakar March 27 - 3/27/2003. Le Moulin d'Arbalète March 17 - 3/17/2003. A spring day in the Pays de Caux February 26 - 2/26/2003. Residents of Nice take to the streets. 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Stand on any Parisian streetcorner, and youre just a few steps away from a pharmacy. Stand in front of any Parisian pharmacy, and you can probably see another one less than a block away. Theyre easy to spot, because they all sport regulation lit-up signs. a green and blue cross, often flashing. If the green cross is lit, the pharmacy is open. Look closely in the background of the photo above, and youll see a second sign about a block behind the one in the foreground. Why so many pharmacies? According to the World Health Organization, France has the best healthcare system in the world. Its comprehensive socialized healthcare means that more people visit the doctor in France (per capita) than in any other country. And those doctors write prescriptions. If you want a shock treatment that will give you a new perspective on the French versus American healthcare systems, get one of your American prescriptions filled in a French pharmacy. A medication that costs--say--$75 in the U. S. will usually not cost more than 10 euros in France. Thats because the government controls pharmaceutical prices (and lo and behold, the big pharmas are apparently still able to make a profit).

Frances national health insurance system. Walk in the door of a French pharmacy, and take a leisurely look around. You will probably be approached by a pharmacist asking if you need help. As is often announced on the plate-glass window of any pharmacy,

-pharmaceutical advice--is available. Not only available, but an essential part of the French pharmacy experience. The pharmacist who spends 15 minutes with an elderly customer, patiently explaining and reassuring, over and over if necessary, is doing exactly what is expected of the French pharmacist. In the larger perspective, this sort of personalized and detailed service is a major thread in the fabric of French social life. Youll likely be glad for the offer of help, even if youre just looking for a bottle of shampoo. The French believe for every human need or quotidien problem theres a special product.

On the pharmacy window above?) That is, the pharmacist will concoct a formulation tailored to your needs. Another thing that is striking to the American eye is the prevalence of plant-based health and beauty products in French pharmacies. Many stock not only plant-derived beauty products and health tonics, but will fill herbal prescriptions from stocks of dried plant material, tinctures, and essential oils. These pharmacies will identify themselves as

Homeopathic remedies are wholeheartedly embraced by the French, to the point that pharmacists often recommend them and the national health system even reimburses some of them. Now, for instance, as flu season looms, a popular homeopathic product called Ocillococcinum is advertised among the ever-changing array of promotional posters in French pharmacy windows.\With so many pharmacies, competition for customers is fierce. Profit margins on prescription medications are extremely thin, which is another reason why the pharmacist never hesitates to come out from behind her counter to help you choose a shampoo or face cream. Thats where she makes her money. And it must be said that the beauty products offered in French pharmacies are awfully good. I remember my amazement to find the

Brand of shampoos--which I had only been able to buy in a very expensive salon in the States--were standard fare in every French pharmacy. Last week, I had a very sore throat--so bad that when I swallowed while asleep, the pain would wake me up. I had been dutifully using the

(throat spray with a special long-necked nozzle for directly targeting your sore tonsils) in the medicine cabinet. But the brand we had on hand seemed not as strong, horrible-tasting, or effective as another one I remembered using--without being able to recall its name. The stuff we had on hand wasnt helping me at all. I walked into a local pharmacy and stood in line for the attentions of one the panel of pharmacists busy dispensing personalized advice. I have learned to wait patiently, in typical French style. (Its not for nothing that the French language has a special verb for this ubiquitous French activity.

She added brightly. A suppository.for a sore throat? I quavered. I have lived in France long enough to know that the French believe passionately that medications that are in either effervescent or suppository form are more effective than a simple, easy-to-swallow pill or capsule. (Warning. If you buy something as innocuous as aspirin in a French pharmacy, be sure to specify that you want

-code word meaning that the medication will be absorbed more quickly from the mucosa of the nether regions. And, she pointed out reasonably, I had already said that the throat spray Id used hadnt worked. But.dont you have a different, stronger throat spray? The canny pharmacist could tell my resistance was faltering before the force of her Pure Reason.

Resisting what every French citizen knows is the best way to take a medication, I gave a small, defeated nod. I was only a few moments out of the pharmacy when I started chuckling to myself about the absurdity of a suppository for a sore throat. Only in France!, I thought. Wait until I tell Denis. The French predilection for effervescence and suppositories forms the substance of one of our continual cultural mock-battles. In the last installment of this war, Denis had--tongue in cheek--brought home a pharmacy bag bearing an advertisement for a medication. In the illustration, bubbles were rising from a medicine package. Blazoned below it were the words

Medibag has been delivering professional advertising since 1988. We have advertising partnerships with many national pharmacies. monthly we design and produce over 6 million prescription bags worldwide. Medibag, together with your local pharmacists, gives you an opportunity to be seen by thousands, in a way that is both professional and cost-effective.

The validity of health information obtained through participants’. reports of current medications (e. g., the brown bag method) is an important, but under-studied, area. In the current study, we examined the congruence of medication reports from a brown bag data collection with the pharmacy prescription records for 1430 participants (ages 23 to 97 years) of the seventh wave of the Seattle Longitudinal Study. Overall, the congruence of the brown bag data and pharmacy records was high. Congruence was better for younger participants, healthier participants, and for medications taken for serious conditions or on a regular basis. When the focus is on assessing participants’. medications at a specific point in time (e. g., on the day of testing), brown bag data may provide more complete information than pharmacy records. Age and health status of the participants as well as the type of medications of interest should be considered when determining the validity of medication information reported by participants.

Congruence typically has not been examined in samples that include these individuals because previous studies (e. g., Ascione, Kirscht, &. Shimp, 1986. Gerbert et al., 1988. Hulka et al., 1975. Opdycke et al., 1994) have defined agreement as the presence of the same drug in two sources for an individual. Specifically, the agreement score represented a ratio of the number of drugs reported in both data sources being compared (e. g., brown bag data and pharmacy data) to the total number of drugs for an individual, counting all that were reported by either source. By definition, this operationalization required that at least one drug be present for each individual in the analysis, either in the brown bag data or in the pharmacy data. The analysis of discrepancies (i. e., errors of omission and commission) conducted in these studies was also dependent on individuals having at least one drug present in one of the data sources being compared. Necessarily, individuals who were not taking medications were excluded from the congruence analysis. In many of these studies, including only individuals who were taking medications was appropriate, due to their focus on medication misuse or other medical purposes. However, for researchers whose focus is on reports of specific categories of drugs, such as those with cognitive side effects or those used to treat cardiovascular disease, it may be just as important to know the validity of reports that participants are not taking a particular type of drug as it is to know the validity of reports that participants are taking a particular type of drug. To address this issue, in a previous paper (i. e., Caskie &. Willis, 2004), we adapted the traditional methods for assessing the congruence of self-reported medications and pharmacy records to include participants without any medications and to measure agreement in terms of both the absence and presence of a drug class for a pre-defined set of drug classes for all individuals.

= 1430) that covers a wider age range (range = 23–.97 years). The current study also includes an explicit comparison of congruence analyses performed with the “.traditional”. method (i. e., excluding anyone with 0 medications, examining only drug classes present for an individual, and defining agreement only in terms of the presence of a drug class) and congruence analyses calculated with the method used in Caskie and Willis (i. e., including all participants, examining all selected drug classes for an individual, and defining agreement as congruent information regarding the absence or the presence of a drug class). The self-report medication data in this study were collected using the brown bag method as part of the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS), an ongoing longitudinal study of adult cognitive development (Schaie, 1996). Because the majority of the SLS sample was recruited through their membership in a health maintenance organization (HMO), pharmacy prescription data were available for all SLS participants currently enrolled in the HMO at the time of the brown bag data collection.

Thus, this study had three main research questions. First, how congruent are brown bag medications and pharmacy prescription records, and are discrepancies attributed to the brown bag data or the pharmacy records? Our analysis compared results obtained including all participants with results obtained for the subsample who had one or more medications to demonstrate differences between the two methods. Second, what individual characteristics in each age group predict the degree of agreement and discrepancy between the brown bag data and the pharmacy prescription records? Third, does congruence vary by drug class? Sixteen drug classes were compared for the total sample and within age group.

= 1430) were a subset of the 1846 individuals tested during the seventh wave (1997–.1999) of the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS). Inclusion of a participant into the analysis sample was dependent on meeting two criteria. (1) brown bag medication data were collected on the participant during the seventh wave of SLS testing and (2) pharmacy records were available from Group Health Cooperative (GHC) of Puget Sound for the time that the participant’.s brown bag data were collected. Approximately 89% (

= 1636) of the individuals tested during the seventh wave of the SLS participated in the brown bag data collection. Of the 1636 brown bag participants, GHC pharmacy data were available for 1430 participants (77% of seventh wave participants).

Computerized pharmacy prescription records from GHC were obtained for participants for the four months prior to the participant’.s date of testing. Almost all (>.93%) of the medications were dispensed in amounts prescribed for 90 days or fewer. 44.9% had a 30-day supply, 9.4% had a 60-day supply, and 18.3% had a 90-day supply. Using the days supply information and the date that the prescription was dispensed, we were able to estimate the end-date for all prescriptions. Prescriptions estimated to be current on the date of the brown bag assessment (i. e., the estimated end-date was on or after the date of the brown bag assessment) and those with supplies that were estimated to have been depleted less than a week prior to the brown bag assessment were included in the analysis. Medications in the anti-infective class were included if they were current or estimated to be depleted within 2 days prior to the brown bag assessment. The shorter window for anti-infective medications was used because this class had a much shorter modal prescription length (i. e., 10 days) than the other drug classes.

The therapeutic purpose for each prescription medication in the GHC pharmacy data was assigned a code in the system developed by GHC (Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, 2002). Each brown bag medication was also coded using the same GHC coding system. For both the pharmacy and brown bag data, a participant was assigned a 0 or 1 for each drug class to indicate that the participant had at least one medication in that class (i. e., score of 1) or that the participant had no medications in that class (i. e., score of 0).

The values used to estimate participants’. health were provided to the seattle longitudinal study by the health maintenance organization (i. e., GHC). The chronic disease status of each participant in this study was indicated by the total health costs predicted by GHC for the next year for that individual. Scores were calculated by GHC using a set of empirically derived weights based on age, gender, and pharmacy utilization for chronic conditions (Clark, Von Korff, Saunders, Baluch, &. Simon, 1995). These scores were rescaled for this analysis in terms of $1000 units.

Several measures of the congruence between the pharmacy data and the brown bag data were calculated. agreement score, omission score, commission score, percent agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and the kappa coefficient. The

Specifically, for the first method of calculation of the agreement score (Caskie &. Willis, 2004), two types of congruent pairs were included. (1) the presence of a drug class for an individual in both databases (i. e., “.Yes”. in the pharmacy data and “.Yes”. in the brown bag data) and (2) the absence of a drug class for an individual in both databases (i. e., “.No”. in the pharmacy data and “.No”. in the brown bag data). The number of potential pairs (i. e., the denominator of the agreement score) was the same for all individuals, based on the predefined set of 16 drug classes examined for each person. A score was calculated for each individual, regardless of medication status.

For the second method of calculation of the agreement score (Opdycke et al., 1994), a congruent pair was defined only in terms of the presence of a particular drug class in both databases (i. e., “.Yes”. in the pharmacy data and “.Yes”. in the brown bag data) for an individual. The number of potential pairs (i. e., the denominator of the agreement score) varied between individuals, because it is calculated as the total number of drug classes reported in either data source for an individual. Thus, by definition, this score can only be calculated for the subsample of participants with at least one medication in either the pharmacy data or the brown bag data.

Omission scores and commission scores focus on the proportion of drug classes omitted by one data source but present in another data source. Omission scores are defined as the proportion of discrepancies attributed to the brown bag data, calculated as the ratio of the number of drug classes present in the pharmacy data that were not included in the brown bag data to the total number of drug classes present for that participant in the pharmacy data. Commission scores describe the proportion of discrepancies attributed to the pharmacy data, specifically calculated as the ratio of the number of drug classes present in the brown bag data that were not included in the pharmacy data to the total number of drug classes present in the brown bag data.

Percent agreement values were calculated for each drug class as the percentage of the sample with congruent pharmacy data (GHC) and brown bag data (BB) for a given drug class. Congruence was defined in terms of both the presence of the drug class (i. e., “.Yes”. in the pharmacy data and “.Yes”. in the brown bag data) and the absence of the drug class (i. e., “.No”. in the pharmacy data and “.No”. in the brown bag data).

Sensitivity and specificity are most commonly used to indicate the accuracy of a diagnostic test in relation to a gold standard (e. g., Fletcher, Fletcher, &. Wagner, 1996). In this paper, we used sensitivity and specificity to indicate the accuracy of one source of medication information in relation to another source with regard to information about a particular drug class. Because we did not consider either source of medication information to be a true “.gold standard,”. sensitivity and specificity were calculated twice—.once with the pharmacy data considered the “.gold standard”. and then with the brown bag data considered the “.gold standard.”. This practice allowed us to determine whether the accuracy of information varied for particular drug classes. Specifically, sensitivity can be interpreted here as the accuracy of the report (i. e., presence) of a drug class, and specificity can be interpreted as the accuracy of the non-report (i. e., absence) of a drug class.

We first present descriptive information about the medication patterns of our sample, including the prevalence of the 16 selected drug classes and the percentage of participants without any medications. Then, the results for the three research questions are presented. First, the degree of agreement between the brown bag report and the pharmacy records and the source of any discrepancies between them were examined. Second, regression analyses identified individual characteristics that predicted the degree of agreement and discrepancies between the brown bag data and the pharmacy prescription records. Third, congruence was examined within each of the 16 selected drug classes.

As shown in Table 2, the prevalence of the 16 drug classes ranged from 4.3% to 17.4% in the total sample. In the brown bag data, diuretics were the most prevalent category (17.4%), followed by estrogens (15.2%) and thyroid replacement agents (11.8%). In the pharmacy data, diuretics were also the most prevalent category (15.1%), followed by gastrointestinal agents (11.4%) and estrogens (10.7%). As shown in Table 3, the number of drug classes present for each individual (of the 16 classes selected for the analysis) ranged from 0 to 8 in the brown bag data and from 0 to 9 in the pharmacy data. On average, individuals reported 1.50 classes (

Table 2 also presents the prevalence of the 16 drug classes in the four age groups. Chi-square analyses, 4 (age group) ×. 2 (presence/absence of drug class), for each of the 16 selected drug classes indicated that age group was significantly related to presence of a drug class for 14 drug classes. Age group was not significantly related to whether glucocorticoids and anti-depressants were reported in either the pharmacy data or the self-report data. Additionally, having a prescription for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) was not related to age group in the pharmacy data although age group was significantly related to brown bag reports of NSAIDs (

<. .01). For most drug classes, the proportion of each age group prescribed or who reported a drug class was greater for older age groups. However, for estrogens, usage was much higher in the group aged 50 to 65 years in both the pharmacy data and the brown bag data.

<. .001 for pharmacy data). On average, older individuals had a greater number of drug classes than younger individuals, except that individuals aged 66 to 75 years and individuals over 75 did not differ significantly in the number of classes reported in the brown bag data.

Using the agreement score that included all participants, average agreement between the pharmacy records and brown bag data was high (96%), and more than half of the sample (58%) had agreement on all 16 of the drug classes. Average agreement using the score calculated only for participants with medications was lower (60%), with 41% of the sample having perfect agreement on the drug classes that were present for them. The average rate of discrepancies was lower in the brown bag data (12%) than in the pharmacy records (21%). Further, 80% of the sample had brown bag data that omitted none of the drug classes reported in the pharmacy records while only 68% of the sample’.s pharmacy records omitted none of the drug classes reported in the brown bag data. A similar pattern was observed for the subsample of participants with at least one medication.

For all age groups, the average rate of commissions made by the pharmacy records was higher than the average rate of omissions made by the brown bag data, using both methods of calculation. Using the age group samples that included all individuals, significant age group differences were found for omissions (

Chronic disease status was a significant predictor of agreement between the brown bag and pharmacy data for all age groups, even after controlling for cognitive and demographic variables. Lower levels of chronic disease status (i. e., lower estimated health expenditures) were related to higher levels of agreement. This finding had a higher level of significance in the two younger age groups (

As shown in Table 5, few of the predictors examined were significantly related to the proportion of pharmacy drugs omitted in the brown bag data. For individuals less than 50 years old, chronic disease status significantly predicted omissions (

<. .05) of the proportion of brown bag drug classes omitted in the pharmacy data, even after controlling for gender, education, and marital status. Interestingly, higher levels of chronic disease (i. e., higher health care costs) were related to fewer drug classes being omitted by the pharmacy records of those that had been reported in the brown bag data. Finally, gender was a significant predictor of commissions for all age groups except those under age 50. Men had fewer self-reported drug classes omitted in their pharmacy record than women did.

Finally, we examined congruence separately within each of the 16 selected drug classes. Within each of these drug classes, congruence was investigated with the following statistics. (1) kappa coefficient, (2) percent agreement (i. e., both the brown bag data and the pharmacy data were coded 0 or both were coded 1), and (3) sensitivity and specificity of the pharmacy records, and (4) sensitivity and specificity of the brown bag data. These statistics were examined for both the total sample and each of the four age groups.

For the total sample and the four age groups, all but two kappa coefficients (range = .34–..92) were significant at a 95% level of confidence, indicating significantly more agreement between the two databases than would be expected by chance. Non-significant kappa coefficients were found for salicylates (κ. = .00) and cardiac drugs (κ. = .00) for individuals less than 50 years of age. The prevalence for both salicylates and cardiac drugs in this age group was very small, with only three participants recorded as taking a drug in the class and none of these three participants had congruent information between the brown bag data and the pharmacy prescription data. Percent agreement was high for all drug classes in both the total sample and the four age groups (85–.100%).

Specificity of the brown bag data and the pharmacy records was high for all drug classes for both the total sample and the four age groups (range = 89–.100%). In contrast, sensitivity was much more variable and tended to be lower. these values are presented in Table 6. For both the total sample and the four age groups, the sensitivity of the brown bag data tended to be higher than the sensitivity of the pharmacy data. Thus, a trend was observed for the brown bag data to be more likely to include a drug class, given that the pharmacy data included that class, than for the pharmacy data to include a drug class, given that the brown bag data included the class. Sensitivity of both data sources for reports of the salicylate drug class was especially poor and typically had the lowest values. As noted previously, the lack of sensitivity (0%) in the youngest group for salicylates was due to only three individuals reporting a salicylate in this group and none having congruent information. the same situation was observed for cardiac drugs in this age group. In contrast to salicylates, a few classes had sensitivity values that were quite high (e. g., ACE inhibitors. 73–.97%. diuretics. 69–.96%), with some reaching 100% agreement within particular age groups (e. g., brown bag reports of diabetic agents for individuals less than 50 years old and 66 to 75 years old).

This study examined the congruence of two methodologies for obtaining medication information about study participants, specifically, a brown bag data collection and pharmacy records. The sample was diverse in age (23 to 97 years) and in the type and number of medications being taken. In contrast, previous studies of the congruence of medication information have examined only older adults or individuals prescribed medications for specific medical conditions. This study also examined the influence on congruence of including the portion of many samples who do not take medications and of defining agreement in terms of both the presence and absence of a class of medications.

Overall, medication reports obtained with the brown bag method appeared to provide a more complete picture of individuals’. current medication profiles than did pharmacy records. These results supported the findings obtained by Caskie and Willis (2004) with a sample of older adults. Thus, when the purpose of collecting medication information is to ascertain the medications that individuals are actually taking at a particular time (e. g., to identify possible influences on cognitive assessments), brown bag data collections may serve this purpose better than pharmacy records.

The reasons for the trend of the brown bag data to include drug classes that were not included in the pharmacy data need further exploration. One explanation may be that medication samples dispensed by physicians would not be recorded in a pharmacy database. Another alternative is that individuals may have reported taking medications that had been obtained from friends or family members (Johnson &. Moore, 1988). A final possibility is nonadherence to prescription dosing instructions. Cooper, Love, and Raffoul (1982) found that most nonadherence in their sample of elderly persons was intentional and extended the length of a prescription. Under-dosing has also been found in other studies of compliance or adherence (e. g., Isaac, Tamblyn, &. the McGill-Calgary Drug Research Team, 1993). Nonadherence to prescription dosing instructions may have resulted in less accurate estimated end-dates for pharmacy-filled prescriptions. Collecting information as part of the brown bag procedure about the prescription fill-date (as well as when the participant began using a refill), dosing instructions, to whom it was prescribed, and whether the medication is a sample could be helpful in determining the impact of noncompliance on estimates of health status or comorbidities based on self-reported medications. Alternatively, researchers who have access only to pharmacy records need to be aware that using automated information such as pharmacy records may underestimate the number and types of medications being used by participants on a particular day.

It is also important to note that some pharmacy prescriptions were excluded from individuals’. brown bag data. Previous research has found that participants may be more likely to omit medications that are prescribed for less serious conditions, that are not taken regularly, or that are taken for a short period of time (Caskie &. Willis, 2004. Kelly et al., 1990). The current study also found that these types of medication classes (e. g., NSAIDs and salicylates) were less likely to be reported by both databases than medication classes prescribed for more serious conditions (e. g., diabetic agents and ACE inhibitors). Alternatively, the omissions in the brown bag data of medications in the pharmacy records may have represented situations that can be difficult to detect when using pharmacy records (Choo et al., 1999. Christensen et al., 1997). For example, a prescribed medication may have been discontinued prior to the expected end-date due to the participant experiencing adverse side effects. This medication would likely have been omitted correctly by the individual from the brown bag data despite its status in the pharmacy records as an active prescription. Medications prescribed on an “.as needed”. basis that are not being taken currently could also result in omissions of pharmacy record medications. At the same time, medications taken “.as needed”. may also result in the brown bag data including a medication whose supply was expected to be depleted by that date.

Variations in congruence by age group, health status, and gender must also be considered. Agreement between individuals’. pharmacy records and brown bag data tended to be poorer in older age groups, most likely occurring as a function of the greater number of medications typically taken by older adults and, thus, the greater possibility for discrepancies. Similarly, better health was related to greater agreement for all age groups, although the relationship was less strong for older age groups. Of the demographic variables considered, gender was a consistently significant predictor of agreement, omissions, and commissions in individuals over age 50. Because no men were taking estrogens or progesterones, the method of score calculation used to include these cases may have contributed to the trend for men to show greater agreement and fewer discrepancies between the brown bag data and the pharmacy records. Future analyses of medication data that include hormones may need to consider agreement separately for males and females.

In summary, information about current medications was generally congruent when brown bag reports were compared to pharmacy prescription records. Use of the brown bag method to determine current medication usage is at least equivalent to the use of pharmacy records and may even provide more information due to issues of non-compliance, use of medication samples, and other issues. Because younger and healthier individuals tended to have more congruent medication information, health status and age group need to be considered when determining the validity of medication information for a particular sample. In addition, the specific medication classes examined may also influence congruence.

Opdycke, RAC. Ascione, FJ. Shimp, LA. Boyd, EL. Malloch, CK. Comparison of pharmacist-obtained comprehensive medication histories and medical records in geriatric patients.

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January 27 - Meditations on mustard January 14 - Provence wears it well.snow, that is. November 20 - Our part-time dog November 11 - A new university for the 21st century October 14 - Mushroom madness September 04 - Road trip with Paula Wolfert June 18 - The Pottery of Sampigny June 02 - Le Temps des Cerises May 20 - It's that intoxicating time again. April 23 - Where la vigne is queen March 27 - The joys of la cueillette February 14 - Bringing in the blue January 16 - Bonne année 2008! November 07 - Fire at the heart of the home October 19 - Manna from heaven. September 19 - My neighbor's lamb July 26 - The way to a woman's heart. June 18 - Guinée rocks the rue de Logelbach May 15 - A passion for farigoule April 16 - Sowing the seeds of content April 04 - Bruno's world March 14 - Putting down roots February 14 - La Fête de la Truffe December 20 - An olive branch November 30 - Happiness is a hot chestnut. 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Stand on any Parisian streetcorner, and youre just a few steps away from a pharmacy. Stand in front of any Parisian pharmacy, and you can probably see another one less than a block away. Theyre easy to spot, because they all sport regulation lit-up signs. a green and blue cross, often flashing. If the green cross is lit, the pharmacy is open. Look closely in the background of the photo above, and youll see a second sign about a block behind the one in the foreground. Why so many pharmacies? According to the World Health Organization, France has the best healthcare system in the world. Its comprehensive socialized healthcare means that more people visit the doctor in France (per capita) than in any other country. And those doctors write prescriptions. If you want a shock treatment that will give you a new perspective on the French versus American healthcare systems, get one of your American prescriptions filled in a French pharmacy. A medication that costs--say--$75 in the U. S. will usually not cost more than 10 euros in France. Thats because the government controls pharmaceutical prices (and lo and behold, the big pharmas are apparently still able to make a profit).

Frances national health insurance system. Walk in the door of a French pharmacy, and take a leisurely look around. You will probably be approached by a pharmacist asking if you need help. As is often announced on the plate-glass window of any pharmacy,

-pharmaceutical advice--is available. Not only available, but an essential part of the French pharmacy experience. The pharmacist who spends 15 minutes with an elderly customer, patiently explaining and reassuring, over and over if necessary, is doing exactly what is expected of the French pharmacist. In the larger perspective, this sort of personalized and detailed service is a major thread in the fabric of French social life. Youll likely be glad for the offer of help, even if youre just looking for a bottle of shampoo. The French believe for every human need or quotidien problem theres a special product.

On the pharmacy window above?) That is, the pharmacist will concoct a formulation tailored to your needs. Another thing that is striking to the American eye is the prevalence of plant-based health and beauty products in French pharmacies. Many stock not only plant-derived beauty products and health tonics, but will fill herbal prescriptions from stocks of dried plant material, tinctures, and essential oils. These pharmacies will identify themselves as

Homeopathic remedies are wholeheartedly embraced by the French, to the point that pharmacists often recommend them and the national health system even reimburses some of them. Now, for instance, as flu season looms, a popular homeopathic product called Ocillococcinum is advertised among the ever-changing array of promotional posters in French pharmacy windows.\With so many pharmacies, competition for customers is fierce. Profit margins on prescription medications are extremely thin, which is another reason why the pharmacist never hesitates to come out from behind her counter to help you choose a shampoo or face cream. Thats where she makes her money. And it must be said that the beauty products offered in French pharmacies are awfully good. I remember my amazement to find the

Brand of shampoos--which I had only been able to buy in a very expensive salon in the States--were standard fare in every French pharmacy. Last week, I had a very sore throat--so bad that when I swallowed while asleep, the pain would wake me up. I had been dutifully using the

(throat spray with a special long-necked nozzle for directly targeting your sore tonsils) in the medicine cabinet. But the brand we had on hand seemed not as strong, horrible-tasting, or effective as another one I remembered using--without being able to recall its name. The stuff we had on hand wasnt helping me at all. I walked into a local pharmacy and stood in line for the attentions of one the panel of pharmacists busy dispensing personalized advice. I have learned to wait patiently, in typical French style. (Its not for nothing that the French language has a special verb for this ubiquitous French activity.

She added brightly. A suppository.for a sore throat? I quavered. I have lived in France long enough to know that the French believe passionately that medications that are in either effervescent or suppository form are more effective than a simple, easy-to-swallow pill or capsule. (Warning. If you buy something as innocuous as aspirin in a French pharmacy, be sure to specify that you want

-code word meaning that the medication will be absorbed more quickly from the mucosa of the nether regions. And, she pointed out reasonably, I had already said that the throat spray Id used hadnt worked. But.dont you have a different, stronger throat spray? The canny pharmacist could tell my resistance was faltering before the force of her Pure Reason.

Resisting what every French citizen knows is the best way to take a medication, I gave a small, defeated nod. I was only a few moments out of the pharmacy when I started chuckling to myself about the absurdity of a suppository for a sore throat. Only in France!, I thought. Wait until I tell Denis. The French predilection for effervescence and suppositories forms the substance of one of our continual cultural mock-battles. In the last installment of this war, Denis had--tongue in cheek--brought home a pharmacy bag bearing an advertisement for a medication. In the illustration, bubbles were rising from a medicine package. Blazoned below it were the words

Medibag works for you! We will design an ad that is sure to attract business. Our advertising is affordable and will be handed directly to thousands of pharmacy customers. What better way to get name recognition than to be promoted by the local trusted pharmacist. Medibag provides your company maximum exposure for pennies a day! Please select from the choices below.

Eight out of ten older Americans have at least one chronic health problem, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. With many of these older adults taking multiple medications, some could be at risk for drug interactions when certain medications are combined. To address this important issue, CVS/pharmacy and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) have launched a Pack Your Bag™ community outreach program as part of their ongoing partnership designed to improve the lives of older Americans. The program, administered at participating senior centers across the country, encourages seniors to pack a bag with prescription and over the counter medications and dietary supplements including vitamins for a comprehensive review in one-on-one consultations with a local CVS pharmacist. The program also includes a presentation by the pharmacist on improving health through medication compliance. To view Multimedia News Release, go to

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Veterinary Pharmacy Bag, 6lb Flat Bottom,4-Colors, 2-Side Print, 6"x3.625"x11", Box of 1,000 Rx Bags

Veterinary Pharmacy Bag, 12lb Flat Bottom,4-Colors, 2-Side Print, 7"x4.5"x13.75", Box of 1,000 Rx Bags

Eight out of ten older Americans have at least one chronic health problem, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. With many of these older adults taking multiple medications, some could be at risk for drug interactions when certain medications are combined. To address this important issue, CVS/pharmacy and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) have launched a Pack Your Bag community outreach program as part of their ongoing partnership designed to improve the lives of older Americans. The program, administered at participating senior centers across the country, encourages seniors to pack a bag with prescription and over the counter medications and dietary supplements including vitamins for a comprehensive review in one-on-one consultations with a local CVS pharmacist. The program also includes a presentation by the pharmacist on improving health through medication compliance. The 2009 program kicks off today with eight Pack Your Bag events taking place simultaneously at Horizon Bay Retirement Communities throughout Rhode Island. "Many seniors have problems with managing multiple medications, especially those with chronic conditions," said James Firman, President and CEO of NCOA. "We hope that many older Americans will take advantage of this important program this year." In over 4,000 Pack Your Bag consultations since the program's inception in 2008, CVS pharmacists have found.

The findings of our Pack Your Bag program underscore the importance of reviewing your medication regimen with your pharmacist on a regular basis, especially when filling a new prescription," said Papatya Tankut, R. Ph., Vice President of Pharmacy Professional Services at CVS/pharmacy. "For older people who often see multiple doctors, the pharmacy is a central point of care where potential drug interactions can be averted. What's more, pharmacists are aware of the latest generics available and can suggest ways to save money." The Pack Your Bag program is available nationwide to senior centers located within five miles of a CVS/pharmacy store location. Seniors can also visit their local CVS for a personal consultation with a pharmacist. To find the CVS/pharmacy nearest you, call 1-800-SHOP-CVS or visit CVS. com.

CVS/pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE. CVS), is America's largest retail pharmacy. The Company operates more than 6,900 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drugs stores. CVS/pharmacy is committed to improving the lives of those we serve by making innovative and high-quality health and pharmacy services safe, affordable and easy to access, both in its stores and online at CVS. com. General information about CVS/pharmacy and CVS Caremark is available at www. cvscaremark. com.