Medication
Medication is another name for licensed drug that is used to treat a medical
condition or illness. There are mainly two types of medications in the United
States, which are over-the-counter medications (OTC) and prescription only medications
(POM).
OTC medications are available in any drugstore and supermarket without restrictions
as they are deemed safe for anyone to use without the risk of hurting themselves,
while POM medications must be prescribed only by doctors, nurses or dentists.
In the United Kingdom, there is also another type of medication which is called
Pharmacy Medicines, and can only be sold in registered pharmacies which are
usually under the supervision of certified pharmacists.
Most medications are produced by pharmaceutical companies and are usually patented.
Any other drugs that do not fall in this category are called generic drugs.
Every medication is also accompanied by a medication guide, which is given
to the patients by the pharmacists. The medication guide contains much needed
information on the specific drug such as description, clinical pharmacology,
clinical trials, indications and usage, contraindications, warnings, precautions,
adverse reactions, dosage and administration, over dosage, origin, storage,
revision date, manufacturer and distributor.
The drugs are also classified in various ways, usually under the organ, chemical
characteristics, therapeutic and system on which they act on. The system is
called Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System, and is controlled
by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Collaborating Center for Drugs Statistics
Methodology.
riginal Authors: Stephen Palmer
Edit Update Authors: None
Updated On: 10/12/2006
