adverse effects

It is officially July! In the medical world that means fresh graduates become interns or fellows or attendings. Along with such promotions comes high turnover departures and the refrain "don’t get sick in July." But, does this annual transition actually make patients more vulnerable to adverse events?
With medication errors outside of health facilities on the rise, learn more here about the unique challenges to proper medication use and where prevention strategies need to be directed.
Medicine bottle with warning label
Many people think they have a drug allergy, when in fact what they have is drug intolerance. According to the CDC, approximately 10% of all U.S. patients report having an allergic reaction to penicillin, but fewer than 1% of the population is truly allergic to penicillins. 
A recent JAMA paper examines whether there are more side effects when prescription drugs are used off-label, as compared to what they were approved for. Not only does this make no sense, but the authors state there's no difference. This is like studying whether obese people weigh more than non-obese people.
A recent study from JAMA Internal Medicine found that 1 in 10 serious and unexpected drug side effects are not reported by pharmaceutical companies to the FDA within the 15-day
This report examines the "low-dose hypothesis" the idea that in some instances, low doses of a substance may have adverse effects that do not occur at higher doses.