Journal of Pharmacy Practice

Smoking-related diseases are preventable. Along with behavioral counseling, nicotine replacement therapies improve the chance for a successful attempt at quitting. Many of these nicotine replacement products are available without a prescription. Pharmacists are in a unique position to help decrease the number of smokers by encouraging smokers to quit. Once a patient has made the decision to quit, the pharmacist should discuss the physical and psychological effects of nicotine addiction and withdrawal and provide counseling on behavioral modifications and nicotine replacement products. Pharmacists can offer smoking cessation programs in their practice and will be rewarded for cost-effective management of smoking cessation.

Alcohol abuse and dependence are problems that have no prejudice when it comes to age. These are problems that are often overlooked by health care providers even though they are major causes of many adverse health effects in the elderly. Pharmacists can play a major role in the detection and treatment of alcohol dependence. This can be done by knowing the signs and symptoms of dependence that are unique to the elderly, determining the stage of the disease the elderly patient is in, and making an appropriate intervention.

Metastatic carcinoma is the most common neoplasm involving the skeletal system. It is estimated that 30% to 70% of newly diagnosed cancer patients develop osseous metastases, causing intractable bone pain. A variety of treatments have been used to control bone pain associated with skeletal metastases, including analgesics, cytotoxic chemotherapy, external beam radiotherapy and systemic radio-nuclide therapy. Strontium 89 (89Sr) is a systemic radionuclide and calcium analog that has been extensively used for pain control in advanced skeletal metastatic disease. Strontium 89 offers advantages over other treatment modalities, including repeated treatments if necessary, less bone marrow suppression and toxicity and potential for cost effectiveness.

This article discusses Issues concerning levothyroxine bloequlvalence and Interchangeability and provides pharmacists and other health care professionals with some practical advice on the substitution of levothyroxine and other drug products.