Student Pharmacist-Led Basic Life Support Training for High School Students Improves Knowledge and Skill Achievement.

The performance of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) improves survival among cardiac arrest victims. Near-peer teaching of Basic Life Support (BLS) may be an effective way to deliver resuscitation education. This article aims to assess the effectiveness of a student pharmacist-led American Heart Association (AHA) BLS course on high school students' knowledge and skill achievement.

Impact of a problem-based learning elective on performance in non-problem-based learning required courses.

Background And Purpose: Use of problem-based learning (PBL) in health professions education has limited data supporting improved exam performance and confidence in problem solving, primarily within courses converted to a PBL format. This study aimed to demonstrate a similar benefit in simultaneous and subsequent required, non-PBL courses that involved critical thinking.

Educational Activity And Setting: This retrospective cohort study included students who were enrolled in the pharmacotherapeutics and case studies/laboratory course sequences in the second and third professional (P3) years.

Revised Bloom's taxonomy as a mentoring framework for successful promotion.

Introduction: Promotion is both a rewarding and challenging milestone in an academic career, and the process is enriched by intentional mentorship. Junior faculty often seek a stepwise mentorship approach that allows them to accurately self-reflect on their progress toward promotion, while more seasoned faculty may benefit from guidance on how to effectively mentor their colleagues through the process.

Perspective: Fortunately, the revised Bloom's taxonomy, the same tool commonly utilized to guide curricular development and assessment, serves both of these purposes very effectively.

Innovative Approaches to Teaching Dyslipidemia Management in a Required Pharmacy Therapeutics Sequence.

To describe a novel design on teaching dyslipidemia management that would help students compare and apply past and current clinical recommendations using a variety of new mechanisms. Didactic time consisted of three sections: lecture; faculty-led panel discussion; and interactive, progressive, student-driven patient case. The accompanying case studies course involved varying interactive student activities, including literature review, adverse event reporting, and immediate feedback assessment tools.

Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Where Are We Now?

Objective: To synthesize the literature and provide guidance to practitioners regarding double therapy (DT) and triple therapy (TT) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) requiring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Data Sources: PubMed and MEDLINE (January 2000 to February 2018) were searched using the following terms: atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, percutaneous coronary intervention, anticoagulation, dual-antiplatelet therapy, clopidogrel, aspirin, ticagrelor, prasugrel, and triple therapy.

Study Selection And Data Extraction: The results included randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials and meta-analyses.

Utilization of a virtual patient for advanced assessment of student performance in pain management.

Background And Purpose: To assess student performance and achievement of course objectives following the integration of a virtual patient case designed to promote active, patient-centered learning in a required pharmacy course.

Educational Activity And Setting: DecisionSim™ (Kynectiv, Inc., Chadsford, PA), a dynamic virtual patient platform, was used to implement an interactive patient case to augment pain management material presented during a didactic session in a pharmacotherapy course.

Translating Guidelines Into Practice: Interpreting the 2016 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway on the Role of Non-Statin Therapies for LDL-Cholesterol Lowering in the Management of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk.

Objective: In 2016, the American College of Cardiology released a decision pathway, based on expert consensus, to guide use of non-statin agents in the management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk. The purpose of this article is to assist practitioners, health systems and managed care entities with interpreting this consensus statement in order to simplify implementation of the recommendations into patient care.

Methods: Major themes from the consensus statement are briefly summarized and explained.

What's next for dyslipidemia management? The 2013 ACC/AHA Guidelines, the NLA recommendations, and beyond.

Objectives: To compare and contrast the 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines and the 2014/2015 National Lipid Association (NLA) Recommendations for Management of Dyslipidemia in the context of evolving evidence.

Data Sources: Guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), ACC/AHA, and NLA; recent clinical trials involving non-statin therapies.

Study Selection: Not applicable.

Cangrelor: a novel intravenous antiplatelet agent with a questionable future.

Current percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) guidelines recommend the use of a P2Y12 inhibitor with aspirin and an injectable anticoagulant. However, available oral P2Y12 inhibitor therapy is limited by significant drug interactions, unclear oral absorption in selected clinical conditions, and delayed onset and offset of activity that may be cumbersome for patients requiring coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Cangrelor, a novel intravenous P2Y12 inhibitor, offers potential advantages compared with currently available oral agents, particularly in regard to rapid onset and offset of platelet inhibition.

Performance of a vancomycin dosage regimen developed for obese patients.

Purpose: An original and a revised vancomycin dosing protocol for obese patients were compared with respect to attainment of target serum trough vancomycin concentrations and the occurrence of nephrotoxicity.

Methods: The attainment of target vancomycin trough values (10-20 μg/mL) and nephrotoxicity were compared retrospectively between an original protocol (vancomycin 15 mg/kg i.v.