As a result of research efforts led by Barry D. Weiss, MD, University of Arizona 
College of Medicine, health-care providers soon will have access to a new tool 
designed to assess a patient's health literacy skills quickly and simply.  Knowing if 
a patient can understand and act on health information enables the healthcare 
provider to tailor their communication and enhance patient understanding. Dr. 
Weiss and his team of researchers, working in collaboration with colleagues at the 
Univ. of North Carolina, have developed the Newest Vital Sign (NVS),
 a simple, six-question assessment based on an ice cream nutrition label, 
which can be administered in only three minutes.  The NVS, available in both 
English and Spanish languages, enables healthcare providers to assess an 
individual's health literacy skills - the ability to read, understand and act upon 
health information - quickly and accurately.  For details, visit the Annals of 
Family Medicine Web site, (www.annfammed.org/) and view the 
November-December 2005 issue.

The FDA announced that Trileptal, a drug to treat seizures, has become the 100th 
medicine to have new information for children and teenagers included in its 
labeling.  Under eight years of legislation to enhance pediatric drug information, 
100 pediatric drugs now include additional labeling information on safety, efficacy, 
dosing and unique risks for children.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as amended by the Food and Drug 
Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA) and the 2002 Best 
Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA), provides incentives to companies who 
perform research to determine the safety, efficacy, dosing and unique risks 
associated with medications for children, based on the same level of scientific 
evidence required for adults. Under the law, FDA works with the larger pediatric 
community to determine which products should be studied in the pediatric 
population based on the public health needs of children. The American Academy of 
Pediatrics (AAP), representing the nation's pediatricians, and the Elizabeth Glaser 
Pediatric AIDS Foundation have partnered with FDA to disseminate the new drug 
information to doctors and consumers across the country. See 
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2005/NEW01280.html for a list of the 100 
drugs with pediatric labeling. 

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a non-voting member of 
the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) board of 
directors, has released a five-minute Web video called "Tips for Taking 
Medicines Safely," which features information to help consumers take their 
medicines safely and appropriately. Tips covered in the video include asking 
questions if you have doubts or concerns about your medicine; bringing a bag with 
all the medicines you take to your medical appointments; and asking about side 
effects and what to avoid while taking the medicine. The video is being distributed 
to over 4,500 Web sites in the Healthology network, including those for ABC 
News, Chicago Sun-Times, iVillage , the American Diabetes Association, and 
many others. The NCPIE web site (www.talkaboutrx.org) is listed as a resource 
link during the closing credits on the video. 

An FDA operation found that nearly half of the imported drugs it intercepted from 
four selected countries were shipped to fill orders that consumers believed they 
were placing with "Canadian" pharmacies.  Of the drugs being promoted 
as "Canadian," based on accompanying documentation, 85 percent actually came 
from 27 countries around the globe. A number of these products also were found 
to be counterfeit. "This operation suggests that drugs ordered from so-
called 'Canadian' Internet sites are not drugs of known safety and efficacy," said 
Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Acting FDA Commissioner. "These results make clear 
there are Internet sites that claim to be "Canadian" that, in fact, are peddling 
drugs of dubious origin, safety, and efficacy. We believe that these 'bait and 
switch' tactics-offering patients one thing and then giving them something else - 
are misleading to patients and potentially harmful to the public health."  

FDA is working closely with the Canadian drug regulatory and law enforcement 
authorities on this matter. FDA will take appropriate action to keep these 
counterfeit products out of the U.S. drug supply and pursue actions against those 
responsible for attempting to defraud the American public.

An AHRQ-funded study found that more than 50 percent of children who see the 
doctor for a sore throat are prescribed antibiotics; however, not all of these 
children needed an antibiotic. Only sore throats caused by Group A beta-hemolytic 
strep can be treated effectively with an antibiotic. But the research found that 
although the simple test for strep bacteria is performed on only 15 to 36 percent 
of children who have sore throats, 53 percent of them are prescribed antibiotics. 
Dr. Jeffrey Linder, principal investigator for the study at Brigham and Women's 
Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, also found 27 percent of antibiotics 
being prescribed were much stronger and not recommended for strep in children. 
The antibiotics that are recommended are penicillin or amoxicillin, or erythromycin 
for children who are allergic to the others. The study was published in the 
November 9 issue of JAMA.