Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Pharmacist-Led Transitions of Care Services on the 30-Day All-Cause Readmission Rate of Patients with Congestive Heart Failure.

Background And Objective: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to determine the cumulative effect of pharmacist-led transitions of care on the 30-day all-cause readmission rates of patients with congestive heart failure with the objective to isolate and assess the effect of pharmacy intervention to a condition-specific service. Previous studies that review pharmacist-led transitional care services involve multiple condition-specific services or a pharmacy service integrated into the healthcare team that presents complications in interpreting the independent effectiveness of component services by pharmacy professionals.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted using articles identified from MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and clinicaltrials.

Pain control using liposomal bupivacaine versus bupivacaine for robotic assisted thoracic surgery.

Background Despite a trend towards minimally invasive thoracic surgeries over thoracotomies, patients can still experience significant post-operative pain. Literature on the use of liposomal bupivacaine in patients undergoing robotic surgeries is lacking. Objective To compare pain control via intercostal nerve block with liposomal bupivacaine to bupivacaine for patients undergoing robotic assisted thoracic surgery.

Prospective trial of a novel nomogram to achieve updated vancomycin trough concentrations.

Purpose. To determine if the use of a novel vancomycin nomogram predicts dosing regimens that achieve target trough concentrations equal to or more accurate than dosing regimens calculated using traditional pharmacokinetic calculations, evaluate the incidence of subtherapeutic and supratherapeutic troughs, and assess pharmacist's impressions of the nomogram. Methods.

Adjunctive sitagliptin therapy in postoperative cardiac surgery patients: a pilot study.

Aim. We aimed to determine if sitagliptin added to standard postoperative standardized sliding-scale insulin regimens improved blood glucose. Methods.

Effect of preoperative N-acetylcysteine on postoperative blood loss parameters in cardiac surgery patients.

Purpose. To determine if recent preoperative exposure to n-acetylcysteine (NAC), Mucomyst, increases postoperative blood loss in cardiac surgery patients. Methods.