Top stories from Drug Topics: July 2014

Drug Topics contributor Kelly Howard hit big in July, with the first and fifth most-read articles: “10 reasons I’m still proud to be a pharmacist” and “10 pieces of unsolicited advice for new pharmacists.” Rounding out the top five were two news pieces - “Pharmacist pleads guilty in overdose death” and “Rite Aid settles patient consultation lawsuit” - and the July cover story, “Pathways to specialty pharmacy.”  

The runaway favorite by a long shot, Kelly Howard’s 10 reasons I’m still proud to be a pharmacist drew plenty of attention from readers who liked it, retweeted it, and apparently - judging by the number of page visits - sent it to an awful lot of their BFFs, nephews and nieces, and everyone else they could think of.

In the No. 2 spot, “Pharmacist pleads guilty in overdose death” brought home the life-changing consequences of dispensing without an Rx, regardless of circumstances.

Readers were very interested in the third most-read story,  “Rite Aid settles patient consultation lawsuit,” possibly because pharmacists are all too familiar with the challenges connected with providing counseling to patients under the working conditions faced by many.

The fourth most-read article of the month, the July cover story, “Pathways to specialty pharmacy,” examined a fast-growing market sector that could benefit both community and health-system pharmacies, albeit in somewhat different ways.

Posted late in the month, Kelly Howard’s 10 pieces of unsolicited advice for new pharmacists still made it into the top 5, thanks to tremendous reader interest and retweets from national pharmacy organizations.

Filling out the top 10 were these heavily visited stories at www.drugtopics.com:

  6. “Pharmacist allegedly stole nearly 200,000 pills”

  7. “Electronic prescriptions: Return to sender”

  8. “Tramadol moves to Schedule IV classification”

  9. “For a pharmacy consult try a pharmacy”

10. “FedEx indicted for assisting illegal pharmacies”

Are there subjects you'd like Drug Topics to cover? E-mail us at drugtopics@advanstar.com and let us know!