Redevelopment of a journal club assignment at a distance-education college of pharmacy.

Background And Purpose: Given the proliferation of distance learning in pharmacy education, the ability to conduct journal club in this setting warrants examination. This paper will describe the development of a journal club assignment at a distance-education (DE) college of pharmacy.

Educational Activity And Setting: A group journal club (JC) assignment at a DE college of pharmacy was modified to require recorded presentations in order to decrease the number of evaluators and recover lost classroom teaching time.

Development and impact of a simplified approach to didactic powerpoint presentations performed in a drug information course.

Introduction: To describe multimedia presentation development and assess impact of use on student and educator performance in a drug information course.

Methods: Slides were modified from bullet-point format to simplified pictorial format and three-slide handouts became outlined Word documents. Student performance, via exam scores and class average, and educator evaluation scores were compared between 2013 and 2014.

Implementation of a Medication Reconciliation Process in an Internal Medicine Clinic at an Academic Medical Center.

Discrepancies in medication orders at transitions of care have been shown to affect patient outcomes in a negative way. The Joint Commission recognizes the importance of medication reconciliation through their National Patient Safety Goals, with an emphasis placed on maintaining accurate medication information for each patient. The primary objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of implementing a medication reconciliation process in an internal medicine clinic at an academic medical center.

Psychopharmacology in Primary Care Settings.

Psychopharmacology requires clinicians to stay current on the latest guidelines and to use dynamic treatment strategies. Psychiatric conditions are prevalent in the primary care population. Choice of treatment with psychopharmacology should be based on controlling the patient's predominant symptoms while taking into consideration patient age, treatment compliance, patient past response to treatments, dosing frequency, patient preference, medication side effects, potential medication interactions, drug precautions/warnings, and cost.

Vorapaxar in atherosclerotic disease management.

Objective: To review the pharmacology, efficacy, and safety of vorapaxar, a protease activator receptor-1 (PAR-1) antagonist, in the management of atherosclerotic diseases.

Data Sources: Peer-reviewed clinical trials and review articles were identified from MEDLINE and Current Content database (both 1966 to December 31, 2014) using the search terms vorapaxar and protease activator receptor antagonist.

Study Selection And Data Extraction: A total of 30 clinical studies were identified (16 clinical trials, including subanalyses, 14 related to pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics and drug interactions).

Cardiovascular Drug Shortages: Predominant Etiologies, Clinical Implications, and Management Strategies.

Objective: To review the literature surrounding the incidence, significance, and management of cardiovascular (CV) drug shortages.

Data Sources: A literature search was conducted using all available indexing databases from January 1996 to August 2013, coupled with assessments of the ASHP (American Society of Health System Pharmacists) and Food and Drug Administration Web sites designated to drug shortages. Data were also gathered through a review of listservs discussing this topic.

A simulated interprofessional rounding experience in a clinical assessment course.

Objective: To implement a simulated interprofessional rounding experience using human patient simulators as a required activity for third-year pharmacy students in a clinical assessment course.

Design: Interprofessional student teams consisting of pharmacy, medical, and physician assistant students participated in a simulated interprofessional rounding experience in which they provided comprehensive medical care for a simulated patient in an inpatient setting.

Assessment: Students completed a survey instrument to assess interprofessional attitudes and satisfaction before and after participation in the simulated interprofessional rounding experience.

Bar Code Medication Administration Technology: Characterization of High-Alert Medication Triggers and Clinician Workarounds.

Background: Bar code medication administration (BCMA) technology is gaining acceptance for its ability to prevent medication administration errors. However, studies suggest that improper use of BCMA technology can yield unsatisfactory error prevention and introduction of new potential medication errors.

Objective: To evaluate the incidence of high-alert medication BCMA triggers and alert types and discuss the type of nursing and pharmacy workarounds occurring with the use of BCMA technology and the electronic medication administration record (eMAR).

The association between antibiotic use and resistance: the role of secondary antibiotics.

Using susceptibility rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter cloacae over time as markers, we assessed the significance of the change of susceptibility rates to imipenem, ceftriaxone, cefepime, piperacillin/tazobactam, and ciprofloxacin over time and the relationship to antibiotic use for the period 2000-2006. Antibiotic use-susceptibility relationships were assessed using longitudinal regression analysis. The variables "time" and define daily doses (DDD)/1,000 patient days for the specific drug related to the susceptibility rates of that particular model's dependent variable were considered as the main effects, with significance determined at the 0.

Comparison of chronic systolic heart failure guideline adherence for two ambulatory clinics.

Unlabelled: Guidelines have been published for management of chronic systolic heart failure to reduce patient morbidity and mortality.

Objective: A quality review of the heart failure medical therapy for a community family medicine residency program clinic and a multidisciplinary heart failure specialty clinic was performed to compare adherence to ACC/AHA heart failure guidelines, with regard to medications and in titrating to recommended target doses.

Methods: The study was a retrospective chart review and data collected included name and dose of any ACEI, beta-blocker, ARB, or other medication addressed in the guidelines.

Impact of a hospital-acquired/ventilator-associated/healthcare-associated pneumonia practice guideline on outcomes in surgical trauma patients.

Background: Evidence-based guidelines for managing nosocomial pneumonia were published in 2005. Subsequently, our surgical critical care service developed and implemented an adaptation of this guideline for use in our surgical trauma intensive care unit (STICU). This study examined outcomes for two STICU cohorts treated for pneumonia before and after guideline implementation.