Community Practice

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices is warning pharmacists, physicians, and nurses against misadministration of insulin through inappropriate dosing and treatment of hyperkalemia.

Pharmacy benefit managers should be required to be more transparent in health insurance exchanges, the National Community Pharmacists Association asserted in comments recently submitted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general, recently recognized the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and other organizations for their participation in the annual National Influenza Vaccine Summit.

Gary Pelletier, director and team leader for Pfizer Helpful Answers, was recently appointed the Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Together Rx Access program. The Together Rx Access card was created by several leading pharmaceutical manufacturers to help hardworking Americans and their families gain access to savings on prescriptions at their community pharmacies.

Retail pharmacy groups criticized a new study suggesting that adherence to oral antidiabetic medications improves when patients use mail-order pharmacies.

FDA has announced changes to the boxed warnings, contraindications, and warnings sections of the labels for 32 products.

On June 15, FDA published an online safety communication informing prescribers and patients that pioglitazone use may be associated with a 20% to 40% increased hazard of new bladder cancer.

Rite Aid Corporation and the Skin Cancer Foundation have launched a new healthy skin-care campaign offering free information online and in all Rite Aid stores to consumers, and increased professional information to the chain's pharmacists.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a serious, potentially fatal autoimmune disease that affects between 300,000 to 1.5 million Americans of all races. Restless legs syndrome is a disruptive neurologic disorder that affects up to 10% of all Americans.

On May 11, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and National Consumers League launched "Script your Future," a 3-year national campaign to improve medication adherence. It is the responsibility of all pharmacists to support this campaign.

Readers speak out about "vocational schools" and certified techs.

Much ongoing research and discussion concerns the risks of using proton pump inhibitors with clopidogrel.

Pharmacy students who attend The Medco School of Pharmacy at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J., next year will be educated in several specialty pharmacy areas, including clinical trials management.

The National Consumer League has launched a nationwide campaign, Script Your Future, to improve medication adherence by stressing the importance of taking medications as directed.

The California Pharmacists Association is launching what may be the nation's first ombudsman program run through a professional association.

Walgreens' pharmacists will be better able to help patients manage chronic diseases and assist in new medical research as part of a unique training and research partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Pharmacy automation systems offer their users a way to improve and streamline their workflow.

Want to make sure you get medication therapy management when you need it? Be very good friends with a pharmacist.

Big Pharma is going on an involuntary diet this year.

Bioinformatics researchers at Stanford University have uncovered a never-before-reported drug-drug interaction between pravastatin and paroxetine.

Pharmacy owners, pharmacists, and technicians should spend some time understanding their insurance policies. It may be time well spent.

Across the country, pharmacists are helping prevent the spread of disease in their communities by advocating and administering vaccinations to keep people healthy.

A new flat, rectangular pill container may render obsolete the traditional round plastic vials and bottles used throughout the healthcare industry.

Continuing shortages of generic oncology chemotherapeutic agents dangerously limit patient-care choices, affect clinical outcomes, and stretch already tight pharmacy resources.

As healthcare moves swiftly toward a more comprehensive electronic platform, pharmacies will be required to upgrade their claim submission standard from NCPDP 5.1 to NCPDP D.0, an updated version of the HIPAA standard for pharmacy claims transactions.

It's complicated. Those words sum up the current status and apparent future of biosimilars.

Very soon the pharmacist will be the primary care provider for all colds, stuffy noses, sore throats, and coughs. This is your chance. Take it or leave it.

Whether the cause is a vacation sports accident or a summer home-repair job gone wrong, patients will be looking for first aid help, from antiseptics to bandages to pain relief.

As with many things in medicine, the use of pill-splitting can have both positive and negative consequences, depending on how it is applied.

What matters most in life is what you do next.