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The Pharmacist’s News Source
pharmacypracticenews.com
Volume 377 • Number 9 • September 2010
Printer-friendly versions available online
$17 billion cost to Medicare eyed
Project BOOST Cuts Hospital Readmissions Tampa, Fla.—In a year of sustained predischarge patient education and postdischarge telephone follow-up calls, a multidisciplinary team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania reduced the 30-day readmission rate on a high-turnover, 30-bed general medicine unit by almost three points, from an average of 13.6% to 10.8% (Figure 1, page 8). The achievement occurred as part of Project BOOST (Better Outcomes for Older Adults through Safe Transitions), a multihospital initiative launched by the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) in October 2008 with the goal of “improving the care of patients as they transition from hospital to home.” “There is a significant amount of national data to show that unplanned readmissions within 30 days of discharge [are] a significant issue at many hospitals,” said Richard F. Demers, RPh, MS, FASHP, director of pharmacy services at the Hospital of the University of
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see READMISSIONS, page 8
Simple Device Tames Surgical Site Infections Las Vegas—The simple act of probing a surgical wound with a sterile cotton tip soaked in a disinfectant can significantly reduce the rate of surgical site infections, according to a new study. The results, presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the Surgical Infection Society (SIS), impressed at least one veteran infectious disease pharmacist, who called for more study to confirm the potentially practice-changing results. “Having spent a great deal of my pharmacy career with the Department of Surgery at the University of Kentucky Medical Center [in Lexington] and observing many patients following clean-contaminated abdominal surgical procedures, the described technique of probing the wound to remove potential pockets of fluid—which I assume would also allow room air into the incision area—is fascinating,” said Robert P. Rapp, PharmD, professor emeritus of pharmacy and surgery at the university. “While this is a small study, the results are encouraging enough to pursue larger controlled clinical trials.”
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see SURGICAL SITE, page 34
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McMahon Publishing
in this issue Up Front
In Brief Fatal nimodipine reactions, fracture risk from PPIs, liver injuries from RA drug, and more.
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Innovative Programs Bring Pharmacy to the Workplace Cost-effective care coordination enhances outcomes and productivityy
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Policy
Going Green Should your hospital be recycling anesthetic gases?
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Finance Maximizing savings from 340B Prime Vendor Program.
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Operations & Mgmt
Leadership in Action Teamwork, collaboration and trust: marks of an effective leader.
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Clinical
Hem/Onc Pharmacy Controlling the skyrocketing cost of oncology care: U.S. versus England
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Osteoporosis Online tool helps guide drug therapy.
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Practice Pearl Low-dose escitalopram helps hospital with ventilator weaning.
s pharmacy services evolve and employers grapple with the cost of maintaining a healthy althy workforce, innovative prorograms that partner pharmaacists with patients through h the patients’ employers are proving to be costeffective ways of improving outcomes and managing chronic diseases such as diabetes. The result of these efforts is a beneficial tri-fecta: workers are healthier er and more productive, employloyers save money and pharmacists acists are reimbursed for providing ding services directly to patients in line with their clinical training. Two programs highlight the advantages of offering pharmacy services through the workplace, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s Patients Pharmacists Partnerships (P3) Program, recipient of the 2010 American Pharmacists Association Foundation’s Pinnacle Award for Group Practices, Health-Systems, and Health Care Corporations, and the Blanchard Valley Health System Center for Medication Management’s (CMM’s) program in
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Technology
Practice Pearl High-tech tools aid antibiotic stewardship efforts.
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Educational Review
Compatibility of Commonly Used Intravenous Drugs Insert after page
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see WORKER HEALTH, page 13
Drug Combination Improves Survival in Pancreatic Cancer Chicago— The first pancreatic cancer drug regimen in many years to significantly improve overall survival (OS) is already having an impact on hematology/oncology pharmacy practice. The regimen, first-line therapy with FOLFIRINOX, a combination of older chemotherapeutic agents, improved OS by four months (11.1 vs. 6.8 months) in patients with metastatic disease, according to data presented at the
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. Dina Patel, PharmD, BCOP, a clinical pharmacy specialist at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, said she has written for the regimen “about five times since our physicians came back from ASCO asking that we help them translate this advance into clinical practice.”
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see PANCREATIC, page 20
New Product American Health Packaging adds three new products to its unit-dose line. See page
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