In the US, over three billion prescriptions are written every year and billions more over the counter medicines will be purchased by consumers. However, too many of these people will suffer health problems and even death as a result of preventable medical errors. To reduce the risk of medical misuse, the FDA has established a Safe Use Initiative so that companies and organisations can collaborate in order to identify specific medical risks and come up with solutions to combat these risks on a cross-sector basis.

FDA Compliance is a massive part of safer medications. It is during the medication production stage that manufacturers can limit their impact on accidental medication misuse by following FDA compliance regulations and producing only safe drugs. Then it is down to the medical practitioners, pharmacists, patients and retailers among other organisations to reduce the risk of improper medication use and preventable adverse drug events.

Although sometimes there is nothing that can be done to prevent adverse drug reactions, in the majority of instances the medication misuse could have been prevented with the knowledge that we have available to us. Below is a fact sheet of information about the Safe Use initiative and the misuse of medication.

? The healthcare system is responsible for at least 1.5 million adverse drug events costing $4 billion annually.

? In a high number of cases, children suffer medical problems when they gain access to prescription drugs and digest them. Every year there are 600,000 visits to emergency wards where children aged 12 and under have ingested medication not meant for them.

? Drug abuse is one of the most prominent causes of drug misuse in America with 165,000 emergency department visits in 2006 for the non-medical use of hydrocodone, oxycodone, and methadone-containing products.

These are just some of the cases in which medical misuse occurs. Although FDA compliance helps to make sure that the medicines themselves are safe when taken properly, drug abuse, accidents in the healthcare system and children taking medicines when they are not supposed to all result in medical problems that could have been prevented by the correct parties. These include parents and guardians, medical practitioners who prescribe drugs and of course, patients themselves.

Acupuncture SF

In the minds of most that don’t know anything about acupuncture they conjure up this horrid scene of having needles inserted in multiple places over the body. Although there is, a little truth to this it is not near as horrific as what is imagined. Many people are starting to enjoy acupuncture sf in not only the Mission district but also other areas of San Francisco itself.

Very fine needles made of steel are inserted into the skin but there is very little discomfort associated with this. It really didn’t become something that was of any interest in the states until around the 1970s. Then there was a flurry of interest and activity in regards to acupuncture when there was an article that appeared about an individual that had his appendix removed while visiting in China. Although during the operation the patient was treated with the same anesthetic that would normally be used in any type of surgery, acupuncture was used to relieve the pain and discomfort after the surgery. As this individual was so impressed with the relief that he experienced that, he spoke about this when returning home and an article was released about this in the New York Times. Acupuncture sf is becoming more popular because it is an alternative to pain medication.

As time progressed there was the first national Association formed in the United States concerning acupuncture. This brought more popularity and knowledge to the states itself through their seminars and their presentations on research.

Finally, the first acupuncture pain clinic came to be in 1972 and this was known as the first legal clinic and as such was formed in a medical school setting. At this time, though it was not classed as a medical expense but in 1973 that changed. From there the interest in acupuncture continued to grow. Now one can find acupuncture in SF across the state.

Like anything there have been scams concerning acupuncture, which gives a bad taste to many individuals that perhaps were beginning to warm to the concept. For example in 2006, there was a big flurry of news about a heart patient that has undergone open-heart surgery only with the use of acupuncture as an anesthetic. After an investigation into this claim, it was learned that the patient had been given some weak mixtures of anesthetics when mixed together had a much more powerful effect .This unfortunately put a bad stigma on acupuncture for a period of time

One of the interesting things to note about acupuncture now is that there is actually treatments coming out for cosmetic acupuncture this is being used in order to help reduce wrinkles and age lines and may be a very popular replacement for Botox injections for example.

There is no doubt that as one sees the use of acupuncture growing for cosmetic purposes that there will be more and more locations opening up such acupuncture in SF that offer this type of treatment. The cosmetic industry is one of a huge magnitude and how they will receive the theory of cosmetic acupuncture should be quite interesting.

The human knee is a very complicated joint. Two major bones come together at the knee — the femur (thigh bone) and the tibia — (shin bone). There is a third bone located at the knee — the patella (knee cap), but it does not participate in the joint between the femur and the tibia. The lower end of the femur has two side-by-side convex curved surfaces, while the upper end of the tibia has two side-by-side concave curved surfaces. The convex surfaces on the femur are obviously designed to fit into the concave surfaces on the tibia. But there are several things located in between.

First of all, both the lower end of the femur and the upper end of the tibia are covered with a layer of cartilage, called articular cartilage. Secondly, there are two ring-like pads of cartilage inserted between the articular cartilage of the femur and the articular cartilage of the tibia. One of these is located between the curved surfaces on the medial side (closer to the midline of the body) of the knee and is called the medial meniscus. The other one is located between the curved surfaces on the lateral side (farther from the midline of the body) of the knee and is called the lateral meniscus. Thirdly, there is synovial fluid lubricating all of these cartilage surfaces.

There are also many ligaments associated with the knee. Ligaments are cords of connective tissue which pass from one bone to another across a joint. Their function is to make the joint stronger. Two of these knee ligaments form an X in the area between the medial meniscus and the lateral meniscus. They are called cruciate ligaments, from the latin word for an X. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) begins on the middle of the front of the tibia and attaches near the back of the femur. The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) begins near the middle of the back of the tibia and attaches near the front of the femur.

Two other ligaments of the knee are called collateral ligaments. The medial collateral ligament (MCL) begins on the medial side of the femur and attaches on the medial side of the tibia. The lateral collateral ligament (LCL) begins on the lateral side of the femur and attaches on the lateral side of the tibia. Two more knee ligaments are called popliteal ligaments. They both begin on the back of the femur and provide strength to the back of the knee. The patellar ligament begins at the patella (knee cap) and attaches to the front of the tibia. It adds strength to the front of the knee. There are also other ligaments associated with the knee.

One type of knee injury is called a torn cartilage. This refers to a tear in either the medial meniscus or the lateral meniscus. The medial meniscus is much more likely to be torn than the lateral meniscus. The reason for this is that the medial collateral ligament (MCL) is actually attached to the medial meniscus. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is also attached to the medial meniscus. If the knee is hit from the side or twisted, the force pulls on the medial collateral ligament (MCL), which in turn pulls on the medial meniscus, which in turn pulls on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). As a result, the 2 ligaments may stretch or tear. Since the meniscus is composed of cartilage, it cannot stretch; so it tears.

A torn lateral meniscus is much less likely to occur, but it is not impossible. The lateral meniscus is not attached to the lateral collateral ligament (LCL), but it is attached to the posterior cruciate ligament.

Another type of knee injury is a dislocation. This refers to a situation in which the upper end of the tibia is pushed out of its normal position, directly under the lower end of the femur. The tibia could be displaced in any direction — forward, backward, to the medial side, or the the lateral side, or it could be twisted in place. With a dislocation, there is the possibility of damage to any of the structures associated with the knee or to any of the blood vessels in the knee area.