Anthony Vecchione

When three infants died in September after receiving an adult dose of heparin at an Indianapolis hospital, patient safety experts pointed to the absence of bedside bar-coding-a technology they claim could have prevented the tragedy.

Disposing of hazardous pharmaceutical waste is nothing new for hospitals. However, the task has become more challenging in recent years due in part to a greater variety of toxic drugs that are being discarded.

Pharmacists hope a new Congress will roll back reimbursement cutbacks that were originally slated

Suppose you were able to evaluate a hospital based on how well it has implemented quality and safety initiatives. The Leapfrog Group set out to do just that when it commissioned a survey to establish a national rating system that offers a broad assessment of a hospital's quality and safety. Fifty-nine hospitals have been named to Leapfrog's top hospitals list based on data from its survey.

Drug-eluting stents (DESs) greatly reduce the chances of restenosis, a gradual growth of abnormal cells within the stent. However, the results of a new study reveal that DESs may also put patients at a higher risk for a sudden and potentially fatal thrombosis.

At most large tertiary care hospitals and academic medical centers, around-the-clock pharmacy service is relatively common. But in some small and rural hospitals, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week pharmacy coverage is not economically feasible or practical. How are pharmacy services provided in those facilities? And how do health-system pharmacists feel about a Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations proposal that would require all hospital pharmacies to provide 24/7 service?

Data from a new study funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) revealed a robust reduction in patients' blood sugar levels when pharmacists or nurses were utilized as case managers who made independent decisions regarding medication use instead of waiting for physician approval.

For Randy Carver, R.Ph., it was baptism by fire. Carver, the pharmacy automation coordinator at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Ga., learned his technology skills on the job, beginning back in 1995 when the hospital installed its first unit-based cabinet in the emergency department. "When I came on board, I didn't know anything about automation. I had no formal computer training, I had to learn everything," he said.

Hospitals and health systems are under increasing pressure to reengineer their medication use systems and to make the process safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective. In most instances, these types of reengineering initiatives are proprietary. Hospitals aren't in the habit of sharing the details about such projects with their competitors. But what if the data from such a reengineering project were made public for all to see and to learn from?