October 24th 2024
Nina Vadiei, PharmD, BCPP, a clinical associate professor at UT Austin and a clinical pharmacy specialist in psychiatry at San Antonio State Hospital, discusses her career as a psychiatric pharmacist.
Infant death leads to changes at Las Vegas hospital
September 3rd 2007A miscalculation in a prescription for Zinc slipped through the hands of three pharmacists and several nurses at a Las Vegas hospital and led to the death of a premature baby girl last fall. The error prompted the hospital to implement several changes to its policy and procedures for filling TPNs.
Duane Reade, CHS sign agreement with health system
August 22nd 2007Duane Reade Holdings and Consumer Health Services (CHS), a manager of on-site physician-centric consumer healthcare, have announced a formal affiliation agreement with Continuum Health Partners, one of the major hospital and healthcare providers in the New York City area.
Union levels charges at nursing home provider
August 20th 2007The Teamsters Union has sent a letter to the investors of PharMerica, warning them that the long-term care provider's close ties with AmerisourceBergen might not be in the best interest of shareholders. According to the union, AmerisourceBergen has been linked to problems with drug counterfeiting, an alleged illegal rebate scheme, and loss of controlled substances in several of its warehouses.
Pilot program in drug reconciliation aims to avoid errors
August 20th 2007Many hospitals have instituted paper-based systems to capture inpatient prescription information to avoid adverse drug events, but one community-based hospital has gone a step further to adopt an automated medication reconciliation program. Fauquier Health System in northern Virginia is currently testing a pilot system that electronically provides the hospital staff with a patient's medication history.
Little encouragement for hospitals from 340B changes
August 20th 2007Proposed rules from the Health Resources and Services Administration to make children's hospitals eligible for 340B are moving slowly. And final rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will boost costs while cutting reimbursement.
Good idea or overkill? Mandatory residency requirement sparks controversy
August 20th 2007A recent resolution by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists to require postgraduate one-year residencies for all pharmacists involved in direct patient care, has long-term consequences-and brings long-term controversy.
Medicare eases restrictions on anemia drugs
August 20th 2007The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has come out with new, less stringent rules on the coverage of two popular anemia drugs. The new rules apply mostly to cancer patients who receive chemotherapy that causes anemia and people with the bone marrow disorder myelodysplasia.