Report of the 2023-2024 AACP Research and Graduate Affairs Committee.

The 2023-2024 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Research and Graduate Affairs Committee ("the Committee") was charged with developing programs focused on career and professional development for researchers, new faculty, and graduate students in colleges and schools of pharmacy. After reviewing exiting resources available to pharmacy faculty for grant writing, the Committee recognized a need for more comprehensive, diverse, and tailored resources for pharmacy faculty. The Committee, therefore, focused its effort on creating an intensive grant writing course intended for independent pharmacy researchers without previous major grant awards that would support writing for career development and research grant applications and cater to faculty in translational, clinical sciences, and pharmacy practice, along with fellows and residents.

Inpatient prescribing patterns of long-acting injectables and their oral or short-acting injectable equivalent formulations.

Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics (APs) each have an oral equivalent formulation, while aripiprazole, olanzapine, and ziprasidone each also have a short-acting injectable (SAI) equivalent formulation. Inpatient prescribing patterns of LAIs and their oral/SAI equivalents are less characterized in populations other than Medicaid, Medicare, and Veterans Affairs populations. Mapping out inpatient prescribing patterns remains an important first step to ensure appropriate use of antipsychotics during this critical juncture of patient care prior to discharge.

Risk of volume depletion events with concomitant use of sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and loop diuretics: A self-controlled case series study.

Background: Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are used to prevent cardiovascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and newly indicated to treat heart failure (HF). Loop diuretics are commonly prescribed to manage volume overload in HF and may increase the risk of volume depletion in real-world practice. This study evaluated the risk of volume depletion following concomitant use of SGLT2is and loop diuretics in veterans.

Medication discrepancy rates and sources upon nursing home intake: A prospective study.

Background: Medication discrepancies at nursing home intake increase the risk of drug-related adverse events. Measuring discrepancy incidence rates and locating the origins of discrepancies can assist in identifying information exchange deficits for high-risk medications.

Objective: To determine class-specific discrepancy rates, to determine discordance between medication lists, and to explore patient and system-level factors associated with medication discrepancies discovered between the first and second medication reconciliations conducted at nursing home intake.

Medication Discrepancy Risk Factors for Pediatric Patients With Epilepsy at Hospital Admission.

Background: Children with epilepsy are at increased risk of medication errors due to disease complexity and administration of time-sensitive medication. Errors frequently occur during transitions of care between home and hospital, a time when accuracy of medication history lists is difficult to ascertain. Adverse events likely from medication discrepancies underscore the importance of improving medication reconciliation upon inpatient intake.

Working smarter, not harder: evaluating a population health approach to anticoagulation therapy management.

Inappropriate direct acting oral anti-coagulants (DOAC) prescribing increases the risk of adverse events. Population health management tools (PMTs) could help reduce adverse events through the early, efficient identification of questionable prescribing practices, but the impact of such a tool remains unknown. We evaluated the effect of PMT use on questionable DOAC dosing rates within 40 VHA medical centers and whether this effect differed by DOAC indication or agent.

The Effect of Saccharomyces boulardii Primary Prevention on Risk of Hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile Infection in Hospitalized Patients Administered Antibiotics Frequently Associated With C. difficile Infection.

Background: Hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection (HO-CDI) is a costly problem leading to readmissions, morbidity, and mortality. We evaluated the effect of a single probiotic strain, Saccharomyces boulardii, at a standardized dose on the risk of HO-CDI within hospitalized patients administered antibiotics frequently associated with HO-CDI.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study merged hospital prescribing data with HO-CDI case data.

Inter-facility communication barriers delay resolving medication discrepancies during transitions of care.

Background: Medication discrepancies occurring during transitions of care between hospitals and nursing homes increase the risk of adverse events for patients. Resolving mismatched information between hospitals and nursing homes adds additional burden to nursing home staff.

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize challenges facing nursing home staff in receiving and resolving medication discrepancies during resident intake.

A Focus Group Exploration of Automated Case-Finders to Identify High-Risk Heart Failure Patients Within an Urban Safety Net Hospital.

Background: Leveraging "big data" as a means of informing cost-effective care holds potential in triaging high-risk heart failure (HF) patients for interventions within hospitals seeking to reduce 30-day readmissions.

Objective: Explore provider's beliefs and perceptions about using an electronic health record (EHR)-based tool that uses unstructured clinical notes to risk-stratify high-risk heart failure patients.

Methods: Six providers from an inpatient HF clinic within an urban safety net hospital were recruited to participate in a semistructured focus group.

Estimated GFR Decline Following Sodium Phosphate Enemas Versus Polyethylene Glycol for Screening Colonoscopy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Associations between sodium phosphate enemas and nephropathy have raised concerns about the safety of use as part of a bowel-cleansing regimen administered prior to colonoscopies. The objectives of this analysis are to evaluate the impact of sodium phosphate enema versus polyethylene glycol powder for oral solution (PEG) use prior to colonoscopy screening on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline in Veterans Affairs (VA) patients and identify other risk factors contributing to eGFR decline.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Associations between perceived crisis mode work climate and poor information exchange within hospitals.

Background: Because hospital units operating in crisis mode could create unsafe transitions of care due to miscommunication, our objective was to estimate associations between perceived crisis mode work climate and patient information exchange problems within hospitals.

Methods: Self-reported data from 247,140 hospital staff members across 884 hospitals were obtained from the 2010 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Presence of a crisis mode work climate was defined as respondents agreeing that the hospital unit in which they work tries to do too much too quickly.

A Cross-sectional Analysis Investigating Organizational Factors That Influence Near-Miss Error Reporting Among Hospital Pharmacists.

Objective: Underreporting near-miss errors undermines hospitals' ability to improve patient safety. The objective of this analysis was to determine the extent to which punitive work climate, inadequate error feedback to staff, or insufficient preventative procedures are associated with decreased frequency of near-miss error reporting among hospital pharmacists.

Methods: Survey data were obtained from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality 2010 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture.

Associations between communication climate and the frequency of medical error reporting among pharmacists within an inpatient setting.

Objective: Although error-reporting systems enable hospitals to accurately track safety climate through the identification of adverse events, these systems may be underused within a work climate of poor communication. The objective of this analysis is to identify the extent to which perceived communication climate among hospital pharmacists impacts medical error reporting rates.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used survey responses from more than 5000 pharmacists responding to the 2010 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC).

Associations between prescription copayment levels and β-blocker medication adherence in commercially insured heart failure patients 50 years and older.

Background: High prescription copayments may create barriers to care, resulting in medication nonadherence. Although many studies have examined these associations in commercially insured patients with chronic disease, few have examined β-blocker effects in heart failure patients.

Objective: Associations between β-blocker prescription copayment levels and medication nonadherence were examined within commercially insured beneficiaries with a diagnosis of heart failure.

Process of care performance measures and long-term outcomes in patients hospitalized with heart failure.

Background: Recent efforts to improve care for patients hospitalized with heart failure have focused on process-based performance measures. Data supporting the link between current process measures and patient outcomes are sparse.

Objective: To examine the relationship between adherence to hospital-level process measures and long-term patient-level mortality and readmission.

Resource use and costs of treatment with anticoagulation and antiplatelet agents: results of the WATCH trial economic evaluation.

Background: The Warfarin and Antiplatelet Therapy in Chronic Heart Failure (WATCH) trial revealed no significant differences among 1587 symptomatic heart failure patients randomized to warfarin, clopidogrel, or aspirin in time to all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. We compared within-trial medical resource use and costs between treatments.

Methods And Results: We assigned country-specific costs to medical resources incurred during follow-up.

Psychological distress as a barrier to preventive care in community-dwelling elderly in the United States.

Objective: The presence of psychologic distress in older adults may be associated with decreased adherence to recommended preventive-care services. This analysis aimed to measure the association between psychologic distress and adherence to United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)-recommended preventive-care services among older adults in the United States.

Design: We undertook a cross-sectional analysis of 3655 U.