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OPERATIONS & MGMT
Pharmacy technicians boost CVD outcomes ...
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CLINICAL
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TECHNOLOGY
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When Disaster Strikes, Hospitals Call in Residents isa Glance Mostafavifar, PharmD, the PGY1 residency program director at The Ohio State University, College of Pharmacy, in Columbus, always held her pharmacy residents in high regard. However, through their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized just how essential their contributions are to helping the pharmacy department provide patient care services. “The commitment our pharmacy residents have shown to providing excellent patient care has never been as evident as it has [been] during the pandemic,” Mostafavifar said. “Plain and simple, we would not have the reach we have without our residents.” The pharmacy residents have been stationed at the COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC),
Filgrastim use in oncology saves $500K
Biosimilar Switches Work At Large and Small Centers L
arge health systems as well as small community hospitals can successfully convert to oncology biosimilars and achieve substantial savings, according to presentations at the ASHP 2020 Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exposition. University Hospitals (UH) Health System, in northeastern Ohio, achieved approximately $500,000 in savings annually by switching to the biosimilar filgrastim-sndz (Zarxio, Sandoz). Kalispell Regional Medical Center, a 288-bed hospital in northwestern Montana, had similar success converting to Continued on page 8
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REVIEW ARTICLE
SCCM Survey: Front-Line Pharms Feeling Burnout
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Operationalizing NIOSH, USP <800>, and EPA Requirements See page 18.
NEW PRODUCT Ketorolac Tromethamine Injection USP, 60 mg/2 mL (30 mg/mL) in Single-Dose Vials. See page 3.
Volume 48 • Number 3 • March 2021
ith many ICUs reaching or exceeding maximum capacity in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may not be a surprise that about 60% of critical care pharmacists reported feeling burned out in a recent national survey. As cases persist in hot spots across the country, there is a need for the profession to highlight coping strategies for the nation’s frazzled front-line caregivers. In the survey, 128 of 221 respondents (58%) reported feelings of burnout such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, according to the
No Consensus on Alternative Therapies for Pediatric Sepsis
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linicians employ similar tools to treat the approximately 1.2 million cases of childhood sepsis per year, according to pediatric pharmacists: fluid boluses, antibiotics, vasoactive agents such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, and corticosteroids. Despite best efforts, sepsis still leads to significant mortality rates in these vulnerable patients. In the search for added ammunition, some have turned to methylene blue, vitamin C and thiamine in the management of septic shock in children, as well as adults. Panelists at the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) 2021 Critical Care Congress Virtual Event say the data, while limited, are intriguing. Methylene blue, which originated as a
dye in the textile industry, is “an old chemical with many uses,” said Thomas Moran, PharmD, MS, BCPS, the manager of clinical pharmacy services at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The compound has been used as an antimalarial agent, an antidote in cyanide poisoning and a possible treatment for depression, Moran noted. He explained that it works by blocking chemical pathways that regulate vascular smooth muscle and by decreasing the systemic vascular resistance (vasoplegia) that develops in septic shock. Studies of methylene blue in adults with septic shock have found it increases mean arterial pressure but led to no changes in
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