Cymbalta – the so-called "Swiss Army knife of drugs" – has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use by patients suffering from an abundance of conditions, including depression, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, anxiety and back pains, according to MSN Health.
For drugs like Cymbalta, prescribers may not be readily aware of all the side effects a drug may have. In these instances, e-prescribing software can be especially helpful in alerting doctors of potential unintended consequences that come with taking a particular drug.
Each time a new medication enters the marketplace, doctors and pharmacists need to be aware of the other maladies the drug may be able to treat in addition to its intended use. While most consumers are concerned with the negative side effects of drugs, they may not consider the extraneous benefits that can be provided by these versatile medications.
For example, Pfizer researchers accidentally developed Viagra – the well-known erectile dysfunction drug – during an attempt to create a drug to relieve chest pain. One decade later, the FDA approved the same drug – marketed under the name Revatio – as being effective for treating pulmonary hypertension.
From pharmaceutical companies to doctors to patients, anyone that is involved with the prescription drug process must be aware of the comprehensive effects of medications – how they affect patients differently, how they interact with other drugs and how different dosage amounts affect a patient.
But, these side effects can be numerous and volatile, depending on extremely specific factors, so electronic prescribing software can assist doctors as they determine which medications can best treat a patient. Unlike handwritten prescriptions, which force a prescriber to either memorize side effects or constantly consultant other materials, e-prescribing can efficiently make these determinations.
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