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Misuse and Abuse of Prescription Drugs: A Growing and Concerning Trend
Presented by Alan P. Agins, BS, MS, PhD
President - PRN Associates, Ltd. - Continuing Medical Education
Alan P. Agins earned his BS in biopsychology from State University of New York (Brockport). He also received a Masters in Pharmacology & Toxicology and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Rhode Island.
He has held faculty appointments at Brown University Medical School, Northeastern University School of Pharmacy and University of Virginia School of Nursing. He is currently an adjunct associate professor at Brown University where he has been the recipient of the Dean's Teaching Excellence Award for each of the past five years. Additionally, he has taught undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate pharmacology courses at a number of nursing schools around the country including Penn State, Idaho State, Radford University, University of West Virginia and University of Arizona.
Over the past ten years, Dr. Agins has lectured nationally to over 45,000 advanced practice clinicians (nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, dentists and other allied healthcare professionals).
He has authored, co-authored and served as primary reviewer for various journals, CE monographs, textbooks, newsletters and has presented and moderated a number of continuing education webcasts. He has written and performed in a series of short video clips used for on-line support of a number of Elsevier's nursing pharmacology textbooks and is currently in the final stages of producing an educational DVD for them as well.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the terms prescription drug misuse, drug abuse and drug addiction.
- List the three classes of prescription drugs and one OTC medications that are most widely misused and/or abused.
- State neurobiological and neurochemical factors that lead to drug abuse and addiction.
- Recognize the potential for accidental overdoses or deadly interactions between prescription drugs of abuse and other medications.
- Discuss several ways the pharmacist can help increase awareness of and reduce the potential for prescription drug misuse or abuse.
Faculty Disclosure:
RxSchool has a Full and Fair Disclosure Policy that requires course faculty to communicate any real or apparent commercial affiliations related to the content of their presentations/materials. Alan P. Agins has nothing to disclose.
Commercial Support:
This program is supported by Rx Pro Health, Inc.
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