Topic of Choice 2022

This blog was inspired by “The future of drugs” in Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine by Thomas Hager. What is a polypill? UK physicians Nicholas Wald and Malcolm Law introduced the term in 2000. They proposed combining multiple medications that prevent cardiovascular disease into one single “polypill.” Within the next year, they obtained a patent for their idea in the EU and Canada. By 2003, The British Medical Journal reported that their idea was one of the most important scientific publications of the last 50 years. If this concept sounds familiar, it’s because combination medications such as lisinopril-HCTZ and alogliptin-metformin are available in the US. But why aren’t these considered a form of polypill? It seems that key differences are that these medications are used for disease treatment, not prevention, and are only available as tablets. The Polypill website specifically refers to a capsule formulation that is not a licensed medica

The University of Michigan College of Pharmacy boasts a high match rate for graduating students entering residency programs and fellowships. Unlike the majority of pharmacy schools across the country, it has, on average, a relatively low number of students entering the community pharmacy workforce upon graduation. I was curious as to why that is, as I think the community pharmacy profession provides a pharmacist with an interesting opportunity to positively make an impact in the healthcare field. I looked into current events and trends within the field, and the results surprised me. According to a survey conducted by the University of Connecticut, nearly 75% of community pharmacists reported burnout. These pharmacists were either working for a grocery store or chain pharmacy. This response reflected a number of problems that many pharmacists encounter, such as being overworked and not getting paid for it, being understaffed with technicians, and not getting breaks during their shifts.

                 I've truly enjoyed the discussions in this class and am interested in exploring material further. One thing I've been thinking about is how early behaviors can impact US healthcare outcomes.   This has led me to research how trends have shifted over the years regarding children's health.   Children are less active these days than they were ‘back then’ with one study reporting that on average children become less active by the age of eight. When I was younger, I got exercise in gym and recess at school, and I remember how I looked forward to field day. Afterschool my siblings and I played with neighborhood kids, and we’d ride our bikes, jump rope, race, and play tag. I can’t help but realize that children in my family don’t get as much physical activity as I did as a child and it’s pretty sad. Researchers propose that the introduction of high-speed internet and electronics have a lot to do with this and I suspect that this trend will continue.            

              In our class discussion regarding ethical issues related to healthcare, we briefly touched upon the topic of physician-related suicide. We didn’t have our most substantial discussion on this topic, which is understandable; it is an extremely sensitive topic, and suicide in general is in many ways a taboo subject in our society. I do believe it is an important topic though, as it drives at the question of what the fundamental role of a healthcare provider actually is. Is the primary ethical responsibility of the medical professional to preserve life, or is it to alleviate patients’ suffering? I don’t think that the question has an easy answer, and I won’t attempt to provide one here. I will, however, posit that for many centuries of human existence the medical profession focused primarily on the latter. Before the advent of vaccines, antibiotics, antivirals, and chemotherapy agents, how was infectious disease or cancer treated? Amputation or surgery may have been an opti

F or my topic of choice, I would like to highlight the healthcare system in the United States and around the world. Prior to starting this course, I knew that healthcare was a human right and my opinion on this did not change. While my mindset regarding this issue did not change, I am able to confidently say that I learned new and valuable information regarding the system. One piece of information that I would like to talk about regarding the healthcare system in the United States, is the price it costs. While I knew healthcare was notoriously expensive in the United States, I did not know that if it was possible to provide free healthcare to Americans, without raising taxes, which something many Americans dislike with free and universal healthcare. I think that this can very well be done by having congress allocate some of the tax-payer’s money. During one class period, I was surprised to learn how congress utilizes our money. One thing that shocked me the most, was how we spend billi