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The Pharmacist’s News Source
Volume 36 • Number 9 • September 2009 ❃
Printer-friendly versions available online
McMahon Publishing
In Cancer-Related Anemia, in this issue Up Front Pharmacists Get the Nod In Brief For Best Patient Outcomes Physician-managed patients fared worse in new study Miami—A retrospective analysis of 100 patients receiving darbepoetin alfa at an anemia clinic found that those who were managed by pharmacists were more likely to achieve target hemoglobin levels and had more frequent laboratory monitoring of their iron levels than patients who were seen by physicians. In addition, treatment guidelines were more closely adhered to in patients receiving pharmacist care than in the physician-managed patients, according to a study presented in a poster at the 5th Annual Conference of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association. The results indicate that pharmacists have an important role to play in managing patients in supportive care clinics, said Jamie Poust, PharmD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, who led the study. “These data show that having a pharmacist be
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FDA issues alert on potentially deadly blood glucose test errors.
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Your Letters Kudos for columnist extolling life balance.
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Clinical
Clotting Disorders New options for treating fibrinogen deficiency.
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Operations & Mgmt
Going Green Tips for making hospitals more environmentally friendly.
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Leadership in Action Ernie Anderson Jr., MS, RPh, continues to explore his life portfolio.
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see ANEMIA CLINIC, page 18
Policy
Raising the Quality Bar: A Primer on Safe Practices From Nat’l Quality Forum
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t least one message in the National Quality Forum’s new Safe Practices for Better Health Care—2009 Update seems clear: Pharmacists and pharmacy leaders have a key role to play in helping to improve health-system safety. Many of the 34 safe practices detailed in the NQF update directly depend on pharmacists’ evidencebased interventions as “medication safety officers”— the term Michael R. Cohen, MS, ScD, RPh, FASHP, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and member of the NQF consensus committee that devised the update, used to describe their role. Most of the practices rely on pharmacists acting as interdisciplinary team members. “I’ve even counted it up,” said Hayley Burgess, PharmD, BCPP, director of performance improvement measures, standards and practices at the Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT), in
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see NQF REPORT, page 16
Infectious Disease Experts debate best strategies for antibiotic stewardship programs.
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Educational Review Compatibility of Commonly Used IV Drugs Insert after page
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The Book Page Compliance for Coding, Billing & Reimbursement, 2nd Edition See page
Improving the Safety of IV Drug Delivery
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Heart Failure Outreach Yields Benefits, But Challenges Cited
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n Australian study has shown that when pharmacists collaborate with primary care physicians and make house calls to help heart-failure (HF) patients manage their disease, the rate of rehospitalizations is nearly halved. The study, by researchers at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) in Canberra, follows earlier trials down under that document the value of HF home visits by pharmacists. But do the results have any relevance to how the profession can help manage the disease in the United States? Sean Jeffery, PharmD, CGP, a geriatric specialist working with the VA Connecticut Healthcare System Department of Pharmacy, in West Haven, works closely with physicians and other caregivers and does make house calls when HF patients show signs of disease exacerbation. His efforts are part of the VA’s home-based primary care program. “But most hospitals can’t send pharmacists into the field—there just isn’t an economic model that makes it feasible outside of the VA,” he said. There is, however, a rich body of evidence showing that a related approach— inpatient counseling by pharmacists, coupled with outpatient follow-up via e-mails, telephone calls and other forms of electronic monitoring—can achieve similar results. Still, cost and staffing pressures hinder widespread adoption.
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see HF PROGRAMS, page 22
Global initiative debuts in U.S. on Nov. 5
Awareness Effort Seeks Better Nutrition in Hospitalized Patients
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o address the inertia that often characterizes how U.S. hospitals deal with malnutrition in their patients, organizers are bringing the successful European and Asian nutritionDay program to American hospitals. The goal: to document and improve patient nourishment and related outcomes and reduce costs. For 30 years, it has been well docu-
mented that 55% to 65% of hospitalized patients are malnourished or at risk for malnourishment, according to Gail Gewirtz, MS, RD, national project coordinator/president of nutritionDay in the United States. This malnutrition contributes to poor healing, increased morbidity and mortality and increased costs.
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see OUTREACH, page 5
New Products Helixate FS approved for hemophilia A in children.
S&S Technology announces the launch of their Pharmacy Carousels System (PCS). See page
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CareFusion Corp.— a new name for an established medical technology company. See page
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