Recent years have seen the beginning of an industrial revolution in healthcare delivery. Healthcare is being transformed from a cottage industry, in which each provider sets individual standards, to a quality-controlled enterprise with common, evidence-based standards of care. Disease management...

Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) can provide improved postoperative pain control compared with traditional methods, while maintaining safety. However, poorly managed PCA cannot be expected to provide good analgesia and may increase the risk of adverse events. Effective use of PCA...

Health promotion programs that are offered in the general community often present physical, attitudinal and knowledge barriers that limit participation by those with disabilities. These environmental barriers and the lack of information on how to overcome them make it difficult for individuals...

Asthma is a chronic condition with characteristics that make it an ideal target for interventions used within disease state management in managed care settings. It affects a substantial population of patients and imposes an increasingly significant global societal burden. Despite the...

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways, affecting about 10% of children and 5 to 7% of the adult population. Improved asthma control will not only benefit the patient but will also result in reduced financial expenditure in asthma healthcare. This article summarises the tools...

Objective: To present the pattern of self-report and diagnosis of erectile dysfunction in the US over the time period 1990 through 1998 and examine whether the introduction of sildenafil in March 1998 influenced these findings. Study design and methods: Retrospective database analysis. Data from...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) emerged in North America and Europe as a leading cause of disease and death in the mid 20th century, and is now rapidly increasing in developing nations. By the mid 1980s, American and European academic institutions had issued several sets of guidelines indicating...

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between adherence to antidepressant therapy and economic outcomes. Design: Retrospective database analysis using pharmacy and medical claims from a pharmacy benefit and medical management company serving a large managed care organization (MCO) that...