Health System

As part of an overall federal strategy on the prescription drug epidemic, FDA announced in late April that it will require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for all long-acting and extended-release opioids.

A 2-year study found that a pharmacy-directed anticoagulation service boosted the quality and efficiency of care for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in patients using direct thrombin inhibitors.

As long as pharmacists work in such understaffed conditions, the repeated promise of more time spent with the patient will never be a reality.

Rite Aid's promise to fill prescriptions in 15 minutes or less is attracting consumer reaction. Professional reaction is less supportive.

Readers speak out about the 15-minute Rx, antibiotic stewardship, and MTM.

With the expansion of pharmacist roles come the burdens of managing the existing obligations embedded in professional pharmacy practice. Technicians, when appropriately trained and certified, can help fulfill many delegated functions in the pharmacy.

FDA recently called for the addition of new Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy requirements for medications. This article examines some resulting challenges and potential solutions.

Soon after taking the reins at NCPA, Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA, spoke with Drug Topics' Contributing Editor Christine Blank about his short-term and long-term objectives for NCPA.

Companies get their professional staff to do what they want by instilling fear. The result is thousands of pharmacists who are afraid, all of them, of one thing or another.

CMS has eased rules on short-cycle dispensing of Part D medications in long-term-care facilities and is now requiring not 7-day but 14-day fills. The workload, however, may still double or triple.

A survey of new Rx, new generic, and new OTC products

Depression is a disease like any other. The pharmacist's task is to keep depression patients educated about their disease and their medications, and to stress the importance of adherence to medication. But before that, depression screening may be Job 1.

The American Heart Association recently released its updated cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women. The guidelines emphasize practical medical advice that works in the ?real world? rather than on findings primarily observed in clinical research.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen said it was in discussions with regulatory authorities in Europe and Canada to address trace amounts of a fungicide found in certain lots of its HIV drug Prezista (darunavir).

The American Pain Foundation recently released a new medication safety module on acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as part of its PainSAFE initiative.

FDA approved the use of meningococcal (A, C, Y, W-135) polysaccharide diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (Menactra, Sanofi Pasteur) in children aged as young as 9 months for the prevention of invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, C, Y, and W-135.

A daily dose of opioids for nonmalignant pain is strongly associated with opioid-related mortality, and doses of 200 mg or more of morphine or equivalent are associated with a particularly high risk, according to a recent study published in the April issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Hemoglobin A1c levels below 6% are associated with a small but significant increased risk of mortality in elderly patients, according to a retrospective cohort study published online in Diabetes Care.

FDA has approved everolimus (Afinitor, Novartis) tablets to treat patients with progressive neuroendocrine tumors of pancreatic origin that cannot be removed by surgery or that have spread to other parts of the body (metastatic).

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists summer meeting will take place from June 12 to June 15 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The meeting will contain a strong medication-safety component.

The American College of Rheumatology has developed new guidelines for starting and monitoring treatments for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

FDA approved linagliptin (Tradjenta, Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly) tablets, used with diet and exercise, to improve blood glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes.

More than 6,000 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have created profiles as part of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education's new CPE Monitor program.

Script Your Future, a campaign to improve medication adherence, held its kickoff meeting on April 19, 2011, in Sacramento, Calif.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and other organizations are partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on a program that seeks to improve patient health and lower healthcare costs.