USP and Doctors/Nurses

Doctors and nurses are on the front lines of the healthcare system, interacting every day with patients to provide them with the best possible care. As a scientific, nonprofit organization that sets standards for the identity, quality, purity, strength, and consistency of medicines, USP partners with doctors and nurses in helping to ensure the benefit of medicines prescribed and administered to patients. USP relies on the expertise of doctors and nurses as members of its governing and scientific decision–making bodies, both through participation on its Board of Trustees and Council of Experts, and through physician and nurse professional member organizations of the USP Convention. USP has a nearly 200–year old tradition of electing a physician president to head the USP Convention, which helps guide and facilitate the organization's work.

Beyond medicines, USP works in other areas to support the work of and provide resources for doctors and nurses, including dietary supplements and Medicare Model Guidelines for the Part D Drug Benefit.

Medicines

A key component of patient care is medication. Medicines play an important role in saving lives, restoring health, treating and preventing diseases, and even helping to control overall healthcare costs. For nearly 200 years, USP has set scientifically developed standards that help to ensure the medicines that doctors and nurses prescribe and administer to their patients are of high quality, are pure, are of the appropriate and expected strength, and are consistent from one pill, bottle, shelf, and pharmacy to the next. These standards are enforceable by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They are also relied upon in more than 130 countries.

USP Information on Medicines

• Guide to Help Consumers Manage the Benefits and Risks of Medicines  (241KB)
• Personal Medication Organizer  (122KB)
• Ten Ways Consumers Can Help Ensure That Medication Errors Are Avoided  (122KB)
• USP Pictograms: Standardized illustrations that communicate clear instructions on taking medications to patients and consumers.
• ...About Accidental Poisoning  (59KB)
• ...About Tips Against Tampering  (79KB)
• ...About Proper Medicine Use  (73KB)
• ...A Dozen Questions to Help You Understand  (66KB)
• Patient Safety Newsletters

Medication Error Prevention

USP works with leading medical and nursing groups in a collaborative effort to help prevent medication errors. The organization is a founding member and the current secretariat for the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP). NCC MERP is an independent body comprising 24 national healthcare organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Nursing Association, which are collaborating to address the interdisciplinary causes of errors and to promote the safe use of medications. For more information about this group and its work, visit www.nccmerp.org.

Dietary Supplements

Doctors and nurses may recommend that a patient take a dietary supplement for a variety of reasons. Because dietary supplements are regulated more like foods in the United States and not according to the same guidelines as medicines, identifying high–quality supplements to recommend to patients can be a challenge. Dietary supplements are only subject to USP standards when they are labeled as such. To help healthcare professionals and consumers identify quality supplements, USP operates a separate "verification" program for dietary supplements. Manufacturers can voluntarily submit their products to testing by USP, and dietary supplements that meet the program's strict criteria are awarded the USP Verified Mark (pictured above). This indicates that the product contains the ingredients listed on the label, in the declared potency and amounts; does not contain harmful levels of specified contaminants; will break down and release into the body in a specified amount of time; and has been made according to FDA Good Manufacturing Practices. It also helps doctors and nurses to confidently recommend supplements to consumers–important whether a patient relies on supplements to generally enhance health, or to meet a specific dietary need based on a vitamin deficiency or situation such as pregnancy. For more information on the program, click here.

USP Information on Dietary Supplements

• "Choosing a Dietary Supplement" video: High Bandwidth (6.0MB) or Low Bandwidth (3.0MB)
• What the USP Verified Mark means
• Tips for Choosing a Supplement—consumer information brochure  (319KB)
• Frequently asked questions
• Information on Dietary Supplement Regulation  (131KB)
• Dietary Supplement Lexicon  (112KB)