Assessing Preceptor and Student Perceptions of Remote Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic created a major shift in learning modalities in the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience program. This descriptive study aimed to evaluate preceptor and student perceptions of remote learning experiences and student practice readiness upon completion of remote rotations. Preceptors and students who participated in partial to full remote experiential rotations between 17 August 2020 and 26 March 2021 were invited to complete an on-line survey.

Adapting pharmacy experiential education during COVID-19: Innovating remote preceptor resources, tools, and patient care delivery beyond virtual meetings.

Purpose: To describe the innovative teaching practices, tools, and resources for remote learning developed by a school of pharmacy with a decentralized experiential program to empower and support preceptors in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Summary: As the pandemic has continued, there have been significant shifts in pharmacy workflow, staffing, and patient care delivery. Pharmacy students are slowly being reintegrated into these learning environments.

Ezetimibe and fenofibrate combination therapy for mixed hyperlipidemia.

The ezetimibe and fenofibrate combination regimen was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mixed hyperlipidemia.

Type of preexisting lipid therapy predicts LDL-C response to ezetimibe.

Background: Ezetimibe as monotherapy or in combination with statins effectively lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). However, there are few reports of ezetimibe's effect when added to ongoing non-statin lipid-lowering drugs or combination lipid-lowering therapy.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of preexisting lipid therapy on LDL-C response to ezetimibe.

Pharmacologic treatment of type 2 diabetic dyslipidemia.

Patients with diabetes mellitus have a higher risk for cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) than does the general population, and once they develop CHD, mortality is higher. Good glycemic control will reduce CHD only modestly in patients with diabetes. Therefore, reduction in all cardiovascular risks such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, and smoking is warranted.

New perspectives on the pharmacotherapy of ischemic stroke.

Objective: To provide an overview of the impact of ischemic stroke and the steps that can be taken to reduce its burden through greater awareness of the disease, improved diagnosis and better treatment, with emphasis on the use of antiplatelet agents.

Data Sources: Recent (1995-2003) published scientific literature, as identified by the authors through Medline searches, using the terms stroke, transient ischemic attack, cerebrovascular disease, atherothrombosis, risk factors, pharmacotherapy, prevention, and reviews on treatment.

Study Selection: Recent systematic English-language review articles and reports of controlled randomized clinical trials were screened for inclusion.

Niacin extended-release/lovastatin: combination therapy for lipid disorders.

The new combination of niacin extended-release (ER) and lovastatin (Advicor, Kos pharmaceuticals), is a powerful lipid modifying agent and takes advantage of the different mechanisms of action of its two components. Niacin decreases hepatic atherogenic apolipoprotein (apo) B production whereas lovastatin increases apoB removal. Whereas niacin potently increases high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels by decreasing hepatic removal of antiatherogenic apoA-I particles, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMGCoA) reductase inhibitors ('statins') appear to increase production of apoA-I.