Anticoagulation stewardship in the ambulatory settings of long-term care and rehabilitation - A multi-centric descriptive pilot study.

Background: Anticoagulants have consistently emerged as the leading cause of adverse drug events in both inpatient and outpatient settings. While literature on anticoagulation stewardship programs (ACSP) exists for hospital settings, there is a paucity of data in long-term care and rehabilitation settings.

Objective: Assess the feasibility of a pharmacist led ACSP in the ambulatory healthcare settings of long-term care facilities (LTC) and rehabilitation centers (RC).

Anticoagulation stewardship: Descriptive analysis of a novel approach to appropriate anticoagulant prescription.

Background: Anticoagulants are a leading cause of morbidity among hospitalized patients, with prescription errors commonly reported. Literature surrounding anticoagulation stewardship is scarce despite its documented effectiveness in the antimicrobial realm.

Objective: To determine the proportion of accepted recommendations on inappropriate anticoagulant prescriptions suggested by a multidisciplinary anticoagulation stewardship program (ASP).

Interdisciplinary Systems-Based Intervention to Improve IV Hydration during Parenteral Administration of Acyclovir.

Background: Intravenous (IV) hydration is considered a protective factor in reducing the incidence of acyclovir-induced nephrotoxicity. A systems-based review of cases of acyclovir-associated acute kidney injury can be used to examine institution-, care provider-, and task-related factors involved in administering the drug and can serve as a basis for developing a quality improvement intervention to achieve safer administration of acyclovir.

Objectives: To explore the effectiveness of the study institution's inter-disciplinary quality improvement intervention in increasing the dilution of acyclovir before IV administration.

Significantly improved performance of a multitarget assay over a commercial SCCmec-based assay for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening: applicability for clinical laboratories.

Detection of the SCCmec gene is a common strategy for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening assays. However, if SCCmec is used alone, it may not be specific for detecting MRSA. Herein, we describe an in-house MSRA PCR-based screening assay involving detection of three targets (nuc, coa, and mecA).