Assessment of hydrocodone prescribing within a family medicine residency program.

Background And Objectives: Hydrocodone is one of the most frequently prescribed medications in the United States. Chronic users of hydrocodone are high-risk patients who consume valuable time and resources within a Family Medicine Residency Program. A narcotic agreement is a tool to help providers define patient expectations regarding chronic medication use.

Practical considerations of new drugs: new choices for old problems.

As drug therapy experts, pharmacists are often called upon for facts and opinions about recently introduced drugs. New drugs are introduced at a rate that exceeds the reading time of many busy practitioners. This article is intended to provide an objective information and broad-based discussion about new drug options that have particular relevance for the elderly.

Speech production in noise with and without hearing protection.

People working in noisy environments often complain of difficulty communicating when they wear hearing protection. It was hypothesized that part of the workers' communication difficulties stem from changes in speech production that occur when hearing protectors are worn. To address this possibility, overall and one-third-octave-band SPL measurements were obtained for 16 men and 16 women as they produced connected speech while wearing foam, flange, or no earplugs (open ears) in quiet and in pink noise at 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 dB SPL.