Assisted versus referred pharmacy smoking interventions for patients with thoracic malignancies or pulmonary nodules.

Background: Tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of death, disease, and disability in the United States. Continued tobacco use in malignant disease contributes to treatment failure and disease progression. Pharmacists are pivotal to tobacco cessation counseling, management, and follow up.

Practical utility of mixed methods research in pharmacy practice.

Purpose: Our aim was to review key methodological concepts and provide a practical guide to employing mixed methods research to enhance pharmacy practice research.

Summary: Mixed methods research provides multiple organized analytic perspectives to thoroughly investigate complex social and scientific problems in a methodologically rigorous manner. This research design incorporates collection and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data components to create a thorough understanding of a complex question.

Assessing the Impact of a Clinical Pharmacist in a Postsurgical Inpatient Population.

Objective: To quantify the number and type of clinical pharmacist interventions with an impact on patient care in a postsurgical nonintensive care patient population.

Background: Studies have shown that pharmacists are able to improve the quality of patient care; however, the pharmacist role in postsurgical nonintensive care areas is not well defined.

Methods: A clinical pharmacist provided care for 2 postsurgical floors for 2 weeks and collected information about the number and type of interventions made and adverse events avoided.

Defects in Processes of Care for Pharmacologic Prophylaxis Are Common Among Neurosurgery Patients Who Develop In-Hospital Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism.

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a cause of considerable morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. An evidence-based algorithm was developed and implemented at our institution to guide perioperative VTE prophylaxis management.

Objective: We evaluated compliance with prescription of risk-appropriate VTE prophylaxis and administration of prescribed VTE prophylaxis in neurosurgery patients.