Impact of Prematriculation Course Withdrawals on First Year Pharmacy School Success.

Objective: Determine the impact of prematriculation course withdrawals on first year pharmacy school (P1) success, defined as on-time progression to the second (P2) year without remediation.

Methods: A retrospective review of students matriculating to a four-year private institution from 2018 to 2021 was conducted. Potential predictors of P1 year success including age, sex, highest degree achieved, prematriculation grade point average (GPA), and course withdrawals were collected.

Corticosteroids for Blastomycosis-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Case Report and Literature Review.

We describe a case report of a patient with Blastomycosis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe hypoxemia requiring mechanical ventilation, prone positioning, and neuromuscular blockade whose clinical condition rapidly improved with the use of corticosteroids resulting in the patient being discharged home without the need for supplemental oxygen.

Hypertension Statistics for US Adults: An Open-Source Web Application for Analysis and Visualization of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data.

Background: Data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey are freely available and can be analyzed to produce hypertension statistics for the noninstitutionalized US population. The analysis of these data requires statistical programming expertise and knowledge of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey methodology.

Methods: We developed a web-based application that provides hypertension statistics for US adults using 10 cycles of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 1999 to 2000 through 2017 to 2020.

Chronic Heart Failure: A Pharmacologic Review.

Chronic heart failure affects over 6 million Americans and is the main reason that people older than 65 years get admitted to the hospital (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Management of heart failure requires interdisciplinary efforts involving primary care physicians, cardiologists, nurses, and pharmacists among other providers. Nurses can play a key role in identifying patients at risk for heart failure exacerbation and are often at the front lines providing education regarding medication adherence.

Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: A Pharmacologic Review.

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a growing disease in the United States. Exacerbations of CHF can lead to acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and hospitalizations. Nurses play a key role in the treatment of ADHF as they administer medications, monitor patients' response to therapy, and can prompt providers to alter therapy if therapeutic outcomes are not being achieved.

Frequency of Course Remediation and the Effect on North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination Pass Rates.

Remediation is a tool that allows students to correct an academic deficiency after earning an unsatisfactory grade. There is a lack of data on remediation processes and their impact on future academic performance. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of remediation frequency on North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) performance.

Impact of faculty interviewers on student matriculation following pharmacy school offer of admission.

Introduction: Acceptance to pharmacy school relies on data such as grade point average (GPA) and Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) scores in addition to holistic review. The interview is the final step in finding successful applicants. This study sought to identify if faculty interviewers had an impact on prospective students' decisions to accept an offer of admission to our college of pharmacy.

Outpatient Parotidectomy: A Retrospective Series.

Objectives: Recent literature suggests that outpatient head and neck surgery is safe and may decrease costs. This study assesses whether outpatient parotidectomy differs in complication type and rate from inpatient surgery.

Methods: Patients who underwent parotidectomy at our institution from 2011 to 2019 were retrospectively reviewed and divided by inpatient or outpatient status.

Live-feed use in the classroom as an engagement tool.

Background And Purpose: Recent studies suggest that social media use in the classroom leads to improved engagement and participation. However, student attitudes regarding classroom engagement, academic performance, and overall teaching effectiveness toward this tool have been mixed. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of live-feed on students' classroom engagement.

Characteristics of Drug-Related Podcasts and This Medium's Potential as a Pharmacy Education Tool.

To analyze the publication frequency and characteristics of drug-related podcasts and describe the role of pharmacists in creating content for this audio-based educational medium. Podcasts that potentially included drug-related educational information were identified based on four podcast categories that were publicly available as of June 2016. Podcasts were screened by two reviewers to determine whether they contained at least five episodes with drug-related content and a minimum of 10 audio episodes.

Nonlinear protein binding of phenytoin in clinical practice: Development and validation of a mechanistic prediction model.

Aims: To individualize treatment, phenytoin doses are adjusted based on free concentrations, either measured or calculated from total concentrations. As a mechanistic protein binding model may more accurately reflect the protein binding of phenytoin than the empirical Winter-Tozer equation that is routinely used for calculation of free concentrations, we aimed to develop and validate a mechanistic phenytoin protein binding model.

Methods: Data were extracted from routine clinical practice.

Novel Vasopressors in the Treatment of Vasodilatory Shock: A Systematic Review of Angiotensin II, Selepressin, and Terlipressin.

Study Objective: Vasodilatory shock is the most common type of shock. Catecholamine vasopressors are the cornerstone of hemodynamic therapy but carry risks. Angiotensin II (AT) was recently approved, and other novel agents (selepressin and terlipressin) are under investigation and used outside the United States (terlipressin).

Life-threatening idiopathic reaction to hydrochlorothiazide treated with veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Hydrochlorothiazide has been shown to cause rare, but serious non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema. We present a case report of a patient with apparent septic shock and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring life-sustaining veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO). Upon further review of the literature and the chronology of the patient's presentation, her condition was most likely due to an immune-mediated reaction to hydrochlorothiazide.

Characterization of Free Phenytoin Concentrations in End-Stage Renal Disease Using the Winter-Tozer Equation.

Background: The Winter-Tozer (WT) equation has been shown to reliably predict free phenytoin levels in healthy patients. In patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), phenytoin-albumin binding is altered and, thus, affects interpretation of total serum levels. Although an ESRD WT equation was historically proposed for this population, there is a lack of data evaluating its accuracy.

Unexplained increases in serum vancomycin concentration in a morbidly obese patient.

Introduction: To report a case of increases in vancomycin concentrations without additional vancomycin doses being given.

Case Study: A 64 year-old morbidly obese female received three total doses of vancomycin for surgical prophylaxis and for ventilator-associated pneumonia. Subsequent vancomycin concentrations from the patient's central venous catheter (CVC) demonstrated increasing drug levels from 27.

Characterization of unbound phenytoin concentrations in neurointensive care unit patients using a revised Winter-Tozer equation.

Background: Prior studies examining the accuracy of the Winter-Tozer (WT) equation for correcting total phenytoin concentrations in critically ill patients have yielded conflicting results and are limited by small sample sizes and stringent exclusion criteria, which lessen external validity.

Objective: To determine whether the traditional WT equation is appropriate in correcting total phenytoin concentrations in a large sample of patients in a neurointensive care unit (NICU) and whether a new equation may be more predictive.

Methods: In a retrospective study, NICU patients with reports of a concurrent total and unbound phenytoin concentration and albumin level were analyzed.