The Pharmacist’s News Source
pharmacypracticenews.com
Volume 41 • Number 3 • March 2014
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in this issue UP FRONT
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Student’s Corner: the ‘Five Ps’ of pharmacy assessment.
CLINICAL
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Benchmarking helps hospitals boost outcomes, save scarce health-care dollars.
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Hepatitis C rates slashed in liver transplant patients; results “practice-changing.”
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Hospitals at the tipping point for more widespread CSTD adoption.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Part 1 of a 2-Part Series
ASP Building Tips: Going Slow Yields Big Success Orlando, Fla.—“Learn to crawl before you walk and run,” was the first piece of advice Ed Eiland, PharmD, MBA, BCPS (AQ-ID), FASHP, dispensed to a room full of attendees at the American Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists 2013 Midyear Clinical Meeting eager to implement or strengthen their own antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP). Based on $1.34 million in savings, a 25% drop in 30-day hospital readmissions and a nearly 50% drop in Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) Dr. Eiland achieved with a revamped ASP at Huntsville Hospital, in Ala, the go-slow strategy can yield major dividends.
Phase 1 (2005-2007) His team’s first step in building the ASP was to assemble an antimicrobial management team (AMT), including pharmacists, infectious
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see ASP BUILDING TIPS, page 8
Nearly $1 M in cost avoidance Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) reduces errors, speeds process of refilling drug trays. See Technology section, pharmacypracticenews.com
EDUCATIONAL REVIEW
Administration of CV Drugs With Food and Grapefruit Juice See page 22.
Pharm Technicians Praised for Spot-on Med Reconciliation
New sterile compounding legislation:
Does Bill Have the Muscle To Stop Another NECC? B
y the end of 2013, a sigh of relief could be heard in some patient safety circles after newly passed legislation gave state and federal officials broadened oversight powers to regu ulate sterile compounders. With the new insp pection muscle bestowed on those officiaals, the chances of another New England Compounding Center (NECC)-type outbreeak killing or injuring hundreds of patien nts seemed significantly diminished. The latest details on the results off those inspections, however, suggest that safety gaps still remain. Of the 28 sterile compounding facilities that have registered with the FDA under the bill’s new “outsourcing facility” category, 13 had been inspected by the FDA ass of late February. That may not be surprisingg, given that it is still the early days of the leggislation’s rollout. The more striking findingg is that all but two of the inspected facilities w were issued Form 483s, which the agency send ds if its inspectors have observed “objectional conditions” at
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see ANOTH HER NECC?, page 26
A Push for Practice Change Yields Big Payoff at U Kansas
Orlando, Fla.—Emergency department (ED) pharmacy technicians from several hospitals received praise at the American Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists 2013 Midyear Clinical Meeting for conducting medication reconciliations with up to 96% accuracy. The studies found that pharmacy technicians were able to detect a substantial number of
Chicago—Millions of dollars in new revenue. A 30 percentage-point gain in patient satisfaction score. A fourfold increase in the capture rate for pharmacist-completed admission histories and discharges. Any of those achievements would be impressive on its own. But scoring all three in less than a year’s time is a testament to the power of taking an entrepreneurial approach to practice change, according to Rick Couldry, MS, FASHP, the director of pharmacy at the University of Kansas Hospital, in Kansas City, Kan. At the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ (ASHP) annual leadership conference, Mr. Couldry described some of the key components of his strategy for revamping pharmacy operations. One effective strategy, he noted, is to tell compelling patient stories that communicate viscerally why a proposed practice model change is needed, and be prepared to answer the question of “So what?” by delivering measurable evidence of a program’s effect.
see ED TECHNICIANS, page 10
see BIG PAYOFF, F page 30
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New Product Codonics, RIVA team up for safer labeling. See Technology section, pharmacypracticenews.com