WEB SITE TO HEIGHTEN OTC AWARENESS

As more individuals turn tothe Internet for health information,health care professionalswant to make surethat they have the correctinformation regarding OTCmedications. McNeil ConsumerHealthcare recentlylaunched "Answers in theAisles: Increasing Understanding About OTC Medications."

The Web-based educational program will help clarify OTCoptions and provide the public with reliable online information.Answers in the Aisles (www.AnswersintheAisles.com) provides information specific to OTC-medicine usefrom the American Pharmacists Association, theAmerican Academy of Family Physicians, and theNational Council on Patient Information and Education.

"As pharmacists, we continue to serve as front-line,one-on-one resources to consumers with questionsabout OTC medicines," said Janet P. Engle, PharmD, associatedean for academic affairs and clinical professor ofpharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago Collegeof Pharmacy and former president of APhA. "But asmore consumers rely on the Web for health-relatedguidance, it is important that easy-to-use and relevanteducational resources?are available so consumers canmake informed decisions, achieve the maximum healthbenefits from their OTC medications, and avoid misuse."