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Every now and then when I'm listening to the radio in the car and I hear a female singer lamenting something or other, I think to myself, “That girl is singing my song.” When I read your blog post titled “A dose of pharmacy truth: Report from the front lines,” I almost fell out of my chair, because you were singing my song. I have been that marked pharmacist, except I call it PTFD ([pharmacist targeted for destruction). I didn't coin that term until after I'd already been fired.

The following comes to you courtesy of someone who wishes she’d had this list three months ago …One day you wake up and go to your job, and the next day you don’t have a job to go to. It can be that simple and that complicated, but the real question is, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

In a new FDA study of more than 134,000 Medicare patients, new users of dabigatran (Pradaxa) had a lower risk of clot-related strokes, bleeding in the brain, and death than those taking warfarin. However, dabigatran was associated with a higher risk of major gastrointestinal bleeding than warfarin, according to the FDA’s drug safety communication.

A care transition program for hospital patients with bedside delivery of postdischarge medications and follow-up calls by pharmacists shortly after discharge had the greatest impact on elderly patients, resulting in a lower likelihood of 30-day readmission, according to a report published May 1 in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.

A pharmacist’s participation on medical teams treating HIV-positive hospital patients reduces medication errors as well as spots and corrects them sooner, according to a report published in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy.

Advocacy issues discussed at the conference included two pieces of proposed legislation that would affect compensation for pharmacists and collaborative practice agreements between pharmacists and physicians.

A brief video, accessed by prescription label QR code scanned with a smartphone, instructs patients in proper drug use and much more.

Now more than ever, action by Congress and CMS is needed to alleviate beneficiaries' concerns about access to pharmacies of their choice.

A subanalysis of the Phase 3 ARISTOTLE trial indicates that apixaban reduces the risk of stroke regardless of whether a patient’s blood pressure is controlled.

Medication adherence suffers when patients do not understand dose or use instructions. Pharmacists can use multisensory tools to help patients learn and remember.

New Rx, new generics, and new OTC

Fifty years ago, advertisers said cigarettes were good for you. Nobody believes that anymore. Maybe 50 years from now, no one will think it's okay for cigarettes to be sold in pharmacies.

Five simple words. Here they are.

This pharmacist's decision to follow her bliss has made countless patients a whole lot happier.

Using verbal, written, and visual communication strategies, pharmacists can empower patients with limited health literacy to manage complex medication regimens.

FDA approves a powder delivery system combining a corticosteroid and a LABA.

Extra points if you can use the word "bone-headed" in your answer.

Since pharmacists dispense potentially harmful medications, it is critical that we also impart information about poison control.

Pharmacies often overlook their licensing requirements or fail to discover the extent to which a license is required for a particular activity. Not good.

Letters, e-mails, comments, and posts from Drug Topics readers

As many as 138 pharmacists in Tampa, Fla. may lose their jobs as part of announced job cuts by Express Scripts, according to a published report.

Pharmacists who work at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California recently picketed outside the company’s offices to protest a lack of progress in contract negotiations. And the union that represents the pharmacists is threatening a strike.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation has provided $1.8 million to researchers to study the impact of pharmacist-collaboration in medication management for patients who have been discharged from the hospital.

B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said the organization supports new legislation introduced May 6 that would give patients greater access to Medicare Part D plan networks.

Hours after we posted Kim Ankenbruck's “A dose of pharmacy truth: Report from the front lines,” the responses started showing up. Here's a collection of the early returns.

The National Lipid Association just released a report addressing six safety issues related to statin therapy, including the effects of statins on cognition, diabetes risk, liver function, muscle symptoms, interactions with other drugs, and statin intolerance. The report, published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, is an update to a consensus report published by the organization in 2006.

An FDA advisory panel recommended against Merck’s attempt to sell its prescription drug, montelukast sodium (Singulair), as an over-the-counter product for allergy relief in adults only.

Higher dietary fiber intake among myocardial infarction (MI) survivors lowers the risk of subsequent all cause and cardiovascular mortality, according to a prospective study published April 29 in BMJ.

Ranbaxy Laboratories began recalling 29,790 blister packs of an over-the-counter allergy-relief medicine in February after the FDA identified unacceptable packaging defects and the recall is ongoing, according to the FDA.

A Louisiana pharmacy owner recently pled guilty to charges she bribed nursing home workers to return unused drugs, then repackaged and resold them as new.