Navigating the journey as a peer reviewer: A roadmap to success.

Peer review is an essential step in scientific progress and clinical improvement, providing opportunity for research to be critically evaluated and improved by one's colleagues. Pharmacists from all job settings are called to serve as peer reviewers in the ever-growing publication landscape of the profession. Despite challenges to engagement such as time and compensation, peer review provides considerable professional development for both authors and reviewers alike.

Direct Oral Anticoagulants: Probability of Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism and Bleeding Risk in an Obese Population.

Background: Direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have become the preferred drugs for managing venous thromboembolism (VTE). Despite their advantages over vitamin K antagonists such as warfarin, their use in obese patients remains controversial with many providers reluctant to switch patients managed on warfarin. Outcome research that opts to increase provider confidence when prescribing DOACs for patients with obesity will be invaluable.

Levonorgestrel Emergency Contraception Information Accuracy From West Virginia Community Pharmacies: A Mystery Caller Approach.

Background: To ensure access to effective levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraception (EC), pharmacies must keep medication in stock or available for quick delivery, and pharmacists must be knowledgeable about sales restrictions and the therapeutic window for EC. We conducted a mystery caller study to assess LNG EC availability and information accuracy provided by staff in West Virginia community pharmacies.

Methods: A female research team member posed as a 16-year-old caller to ask pharmacy staff questions about whether LNG EC was in stock, the requirements for purchase, and when it should be taken for effectiveness.

The impact of caller characteristics on levonorgestrel emergency contraception access in West Virginia community pharmacies.

Objective: Access to levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraception (EC) has increased since the FDA removed age restrictions on over-the-counter (OTC) LNG EC in 2013, but availability is highly variable and numerous barriers to access remain. The purpose of this study was to assess availability and accessibility of LNG EC at community pharmacies in West Virginia (WV).

Methods: A mystery caller cross-sectional study was conducted to assess availability and accessibility of LNG EC.

A Possible Case of COVID-19 Booster Vaccine-Associated Rhabdomyolysis and Acute Kidney Injury.

Nearly 10 billion doses of the various messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and viral vector vaccines against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been administered worldwide. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have been overwhelmingly mild to moderate in nature. Rare side effects have included myocarditis/pericarditis, , Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), and death.

The [underutilized] power of independent pharmacies to promote public health in rural communities: A call to action.

Independent community pharmacies are in a unique and powerful position to promote public and individual health in their communities. Independent pharmacies are particularly important in rural communities where there are few chain pharmacies and accessible health clinics. West Virginia received national attention recently when they opted out of the Federal Pharmacy Program collaborating with CVS and Walgreens and developed their own plan for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration, heavily relying on independent pharmacies and the infrastructure they already have in local communities.

Harder to get than you think: Levonorgestrel emergency contraception access in West Virginia community pharmacies.

Objectives: Emergency contraception (EC) is the only noninvasive form of contraception available after risk exposure and is an important tool for preventing unintended pregnancy resulting from unprotected sex, sexual assault, or contraceptive failure. The U.S.

Increased Healthcare Utilization and Expenditures Associated With Chronic Opioid Therapy.

Objectives: To assess the association of the transition from incident opioid use to incident chronic opioid therapy (COT) with the trajectories of healthcare utilization and expenditures.

Study Design: We used a longitudinal, retrospective cohort design, including seven 120-day time periods covering preindex (t, t, and t), index (t), and postindex (t, t, and t) periods with data from adults aged 28 to 63 years at the index date, without cancer, and continuously enrolled in a primary commercial insurance plan (N = 20,201).

Methods: Multivariable analyses were performed on utilization (population-averaged [PA] logistic regression), expenditures (PA generalized estimating equations), and expenditure estimates (counterfactual prediction).

Predictors of Transitioning to Incident Chronic Opioid Therapy Among Working-Age Adults in the United States.

Background: Opioids have been prescribed and used for chronic noncancer pain at prolific rates in the United States during the past 2 decades. Patients who transition to incident chronic opioid therapy are at increased risk for significant negative health consequences, including cardiovascular risk, endocrine disorders, opioid use disorder, and death.

Objective: To identify the leading predictors associated with transitioning to incident chronic opioid therapy among working-age adults without cancer.

Cardiovascular Mortality of Oral Antidiabetic Drugs Approved Before and After the 2008 US FDA Guidance for Industry: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Both diabetes and antidiabetic drugs (ADDs) increase the risk for cardiovascular (CV) diseases. Due to the increasing concern about CV safety associated with ADDs, the US FDA revised regulatory guidelines in 2008 to include CV safety as an endpoint.

Objective: The objective of the current study was to conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis to compare CV mortality of oral ADDs approved before and after the FDA's 2008 guidance.

Laboratory and Clinical Monitoring of Direct Acting Oral Anticoagulants: What Clinicians Need to Know.

The direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), including dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban, have favorable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties and equal or superior efficacy and an improved safety profile compared with warfarin. Noted shortcomings with DOACs are shorter half-lives requiring stricter adherence, lack of standardized laboratory monitoring, lack of anticoagulation reversal agents, and loss of routine coagulation monitoring leading to fewer patient-clinician interactions. This review addresses many of these limitations including monitoring of DOACs for efficacy and toxicity, an assessment of selected qualitative and quantitative tests, and development of monitoring strategies for special populations.

The perceived value of clinical pharmacy service provision by pharmacists and physicians: an initial assessment of family medicine and internal medicine providers.

Background: Few publications have addressed the perceptions of pharmacists and physicians regarding the value of clinical pharmacist services. A survey-based study was conducted to determine whether Internal Medicine (IM) and Family Medicine (FM) pharmacists and physicians differed in their attitudes regarding the benefits of collaboration in an acute care setting.

Objectives: The primary objective was to evaluate perceived differences regarding self-assessment of value between IM and FM pharmacists.

Attitudes and knowledge about pain: an assessment of West Virginia family physicians.

Background And Objectives: This study's objective was to determine the attitudes/beliefs and knowledge of West Virginia's family physicians regarding evaluation and treatment of patients with pain.

Methods: A 20-item instrument (10 attitudinal/behavioral and 10 knowledge items) was mailed to 537 members of the West Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians in October 2002. Five percent of the surveys were mailed to out-of-state members.