[WikiEN-l] Rx Dosage Instructions in Wikipedia

[Fred Bauder]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: George Chriss [mailto:GChriss at psu.edu]
>Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 12:00 PM
>To: 'English Wikipedia'
>Subject: [WikiEN-l] Rx Dosage Instructions in Wikipedia
>
>
>
>Hi all,
>
>Is there a substantive reason that we provide dosage information on prescription drugs?  I generally remove the following sections on sight:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam#Dosagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimipramine#Dosagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromazepam#Dosage 
>
>Even with a general site disclaimer, the above information may be non-encyclopedic.  Wikipedia is not a how-to guide, a doctor, a pharmacist, a drug buddy, the FDA, or an informational insert packaged with prescription drugs.  Wikipedia is simply a bad place to get medical advice.  A section done well, however:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD#Dosage
>Please let me know what you think, or any links to pre-existing discussion.
>Thanks, George
>en: [[User:GChriss]]

I think such information varies considerably in usefulness. In the case of Niacin, which is readily available, but quite dangerous in the quantities used in prescriptions, I think some information would be useful. This sort of information is inherently dangerous when we don't have rigorous fact checking and tight control over revisions. It seems that "The usual dose is..." would often be helpful, as would such drug interactions as Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) with alcohol.

Fred