Evaluation of a non-Food and Drug Administration-approved use of cimetidine: treatment of pruritus resulting from epidural morphine analgesia.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a frequently used treatment at our hospital, intravenous cimetidine hydrochloride for pruritus resulting from epidural morphine sulfate analgesia in cesarean-section patients. Fifty-two patients were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or cimetidine 300 mg i.v.

Comparison of consumer-oriented books on medications.

Consumers increasingly want to be informed about the processes involved in their own health care. Health professionals may be called upon to recommend appropriate consumer-oriented sources of information. To assist the health professional in making a rational recommendation, 15 currently available consumer-oriented books on prescription medications were compared with respect to readability, number of drugs covered, completeness of drug monograph information, price, and other factors.

Palatability comparison of oral potassium chloride solutions.

The palatability of various commercially available potassium chloride preparations was studies. Twenty potassium chloride samples were tested by 152 people from February 1975 to April 1975. Nine samples were placed into a "most preferred" group and divided into 36 possible pairs, each to be tested four times.