June 2012 Final

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| About GSHP | ASHP | How You Can Join | Contact Us |

June 2012
Announcements
GSHP Membership Dues
GSHP Newsletter
Click here to pay your
Welcome to the GSHP Newsletter. We hope you will enjoy the new revised GSHP membership dues
newsletter filled with Georgia and National news and information.
web link
In this issue are:

GSHP 2012 Call for Award Nominations About GSHP

No More Blue Wall Licenses and Pocket Cards-From Secretary of State

GSHP 2012 Summer meeting, July 20-22

2012 Summer Meeting Poster Session Information

Get more out of your GSHP membership
Georgia Society of Health-
web link System Pharmacists (GSHP)
is a professional society of
pharmacists and related
personnel practicing in
Headlines organized healthcare
settings.
GSHP News
Mission Statement
GSHP 2012 Summer meeting, July 20-22
Helping our members
GSHP 2012 Summer Meeting, July 20-22 Poster Session
become better practitioners.
Call for Award Nominations
No More Blue Wall Licenses and Pocket Cards-From Secretary of State Motto
Get the Most Out of Your GSHP Membership Bringing pharmacy practice
into focus.
ASHP News
Clark to Receive ASHP John W. Webb Lecture Award
Erin Fox to Receive ASHP Award of Excellence Georgia Society of Health-
FDA Approves Pertuzumab for Breast Cancer System Pharmacists
Sandoz Recalls Introvale Oral Contraceptive 3015 Shannon Lakes North
Suite 303
Pharmacy News Tallahassee, FL 32309
Hospitals Fight Drug Scarcity, Fear Patients Harmed (800) 913-4747
Senate passes FDA Bill That Could Alleviate Drug Shortages
• e-mail link
College of Pharmacy Reaches out to City Middle-Schoolers
• web link
Anticoagulants the Leading Reported Drug Risk in 2011
FDA Warns Consumers About Counterfeit Version of Teva's Adderall
Pharmacists Help Teams Improve BP Control
Association of Aspirin Use With Major Bleeding in Patients With and

http://www.infoinc.com/cms/preview_send.cfm?pos=4[6/29/2012 10:18:30 AM]

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Without Diabetes
State Allows Pharmacies to Offer More Vaccines
NY Pharmacist Backs Online Prescription Program
Hospital-Acquired Infections Linked to Higher Readmission Rates

About ASHP
GSHP News ASHP is a 35,000-member
national professional
GSHP 2012 Summer meeting, July 20-22 association that represents
pharmacists who practice in
hospitals, health
maintenance organizations,
long-term care facilities,
home care, and other

components of health care
systems. ASHP is the only
Amelia Island Plantation national organization of
hospital and health-system
pharmacists and has a long
Amelia Island Plantation Video history of improving
medication use and
enhancing patient safety.
Take a tour of Fernandina Beach (video)

American Society of
Health-System
Summer meeting online registration Pharmacists
7272 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
Comments from last year's meeting 301-657-3000

• e-mail link
GSHP has a superior program! Well worth traveling to attend. Have • web link
attended state meetings elsewhere, and Georgia rocks! Very relevant
& applicable information, excellent speakers & fun, too.
Calendar
I thought the meeting was fantastic...the right mix of learning and
fun! GSHP Summer Meeting
7/20/12 - 7/22/12
Great facility, friendly GSHP facilitators, wonderful learning and Amelia Island Plantation, FL
collaborative environment
web link

Beautiful location, very good content, will attend again next year
2012 National
Residency Preceptors
AGENDA as of 6/18/2012, subject to revisions Conference [ASHP]
8/16/12 - 8/18/12
FRIDAY (6.5 hours) The National Residency
Preceptors Conference
(NRPC) is the only meeting
10:00am – 11:00am Parenteral Nutrition purely dedicated to
pharmacy residency
11:00am – 11:15am BREAK training. The NRPC covers
timely topics important to
all program directors and
11:15am – 12:45pm Multiple Myeloma (Lunch provided) preceptors of ASHP-
accredited, ASHP-
application submitted, and
12:45pm – 1:00pm BREAK newly emerging residency
training programs. This is a
1:00pm – 2:00pm TRACK A: Stroke prevention for afib must-attend event for
residency preceptors and
TRACK B: Neonatology directors who seek quality
programming and
2:00 – 2:15 pm BREAK networking opportunities
with other preceptors across
the country.
2:15 – 3:15pm TRACK A: Managing Diabetics During
Washington D.C.
Transitions of Care TRACK B: Georgia Law and Board of web link
Pharmacy Update


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GSHP Annual Meeting
3:15 – 4:15 pm Poster session 10/19/12 - 10/21/12
Brasstown Valley Resort

4:15pm – 5:15pm Key Note Address- PPMI Young Harris, GA

web link
5:15pm – 6:15pm Open Forum: PPMI
2012 Midyear Meeting
6:30pm – 8:30pm Reception/Exhibits in Exhibit Hall [ASHP]
12/02/12 - 12/06/12

SATURDAY (3.5 hours) The 47th ASHP Midyear
Clinical Meeting & Exhibition
will be held in the exciting
8:00am – 9:30am TRACK A: Managing vascular Las Vegas, this year.
ASHP's Midyear Clinical
complications of new targeted chemotherapeutic agents Meeting is the largest
TRACK B: Informatics gathering of pharmacists in
the world. With its focus on
improving patient care, the
9:30am – 11:00am Exhibits/Breakfast in Exhibit Area meeting is attended by
more than 20,000
11:00am – 12:00pm TRACK A: Berkley testing / Am care pharmacy professionals
from 86 countries. For
clinic expansion TRACK B: Medication Errors-part 1 decades, the ASHP Midyear
Clinical Meeting has
provided health-system
12:00pm – 1:00pm TRACK A: New drug update: pharmacy practitioners with
antibiotics TRACK B: Medication Errors-part 2 a venue for updating their
knowledge, networking with
colleagues, enhancing their
12:00pm – 2:00pm Resident and Student Forum (box skills, and learning about
lunch provided) the latest products and
technologies.

SUNDAY (3 hours) Las Vegas, NV
web link
8:00am – 9:00am Breakfast / Officer Installation

9:00am – 10:30am New Anticoagulant reversal

10:30am – 12noon TRACK A: Sun, Sand, and Simplifying
Preceptor Development: A Winning Combination for
Advancing Residency Training. TRACK B: HIV Overview

Room Reservations
The 2012 Summer Meeting will be held at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation,
Amelia Island, FL. GSHP has very attractive room rates that start at $173
single/double per night for an ocean view hotel room at the Omni Amelia
Island Inn and Beach Club. To make your reservation, click here:

http://www.omnihotels.com/FindAHotel/AmeliaIsland/MeetingFacilities/GSHSP

The GSHP room rate will be honored for three days prior to group arrival and
three days after group departure.

The Plantation has a wide variety of rooms and villas and the link above can
help you with any of them.

Click here for villa information, rates, etc.

There is NO daily resort service fee this year. The room rate includes:

Self Parking ($10 daily value)
Unlimited high speed internet access in all accommodations ($9.95
daily value)


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On-property Transportation ($4.00 daily value)
Unlimited use of health & fitness center ($20 daily value)
In Room Coffee Service ($5.00 daily service)
Meeting Concierge & 24 Public Safety Team
Local & Toll Free Phone Access

Summer meeting cancellation policy

A full refund will be granted for refund requests received by July 1; from July
2 through July 10, a $25 administrative fee will be deducted from the
registration fee; after July 10, there will be NO refunds for cancellations.


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web link | return to headlines

GSHP 2012 Summer Meeting, July 20-22 Poster Session

Call for Student, Resident and Practitioner Posters — GSHP Summer
Meeting-Sign up NOW !

Did you present a poster at the ASHP Midyear Meeting? Complete an
interesting project on a rotation? This is your opportunity to share your
results with pharmacy colleagues from around Georgia at the GSHP Summer
Meeting Poster Session at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation on Friday, July
20, 2012.

Poster presenters must be registered for the Summer meeting. Space is
limited and the deadline for submission of abstracts is July 1st.

To register for the Summer meeting, click here

Abstracts should be no more than 400 words and include a brief title, authors
and the following headings: Purpose, Methods, Results and Conclusions. To
submit your poster, or for questions, contact Marjorie Phillips, GSHP Poster
Session Coordinator at: mphillip@georgiahealth.edu .

Please include your full name and contact information with the submission
(as well as full listings for any co-authors)

Poster presenters must be GSHP members. Looking forward to seeing you
there.




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Call for Award Nominations

2012 GSHP AWARDS

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The Georgia Society of Health-System Pharmacists annually recognizes members for
outstanding service and achievements in pharmacy. Very likely, you know someone in
GSHP who is deserving of recognition. Every member of GSHP is eligible to nominate
or be nominated for one or more awards. Please fill out the nominations form on the next
page to nominate yourself or someone you know for the awards listed below. Awards will
be presented during the GSHP Annual Meeting to be held at Brasstown Valley Resort in
Young Harris, Georgia on October 20, 2012.


Pharmacists of the
Year Award

     GSHP Pharmacist of the Year Award is the highest honor GSHP can
bestow on any member and is presented to a Georgia health-system
pharmacist to honor outstanding service and accomplishments in health-
system pharmacy practice as well as participation in GSHP. All GSHP
members are eligible for nomination. Nominations should include detailed
information concerning the nominee's professional, civic, and other
activities. Recipients of the GSHP Pharmacist of the Year Award serve on the
Awards Committee for five years following receipt of the award.

25-Year Practitioner Awards

     25-Year Practitioner Awards are presented to GSHP members who
have actively practiced hospital or health-system pharmacy for 25 years or
more. Members are encouraged to nominate peers. Also, they may also
nominate themselves for this award unless they are a previous recipient.

Outstanding Pharmacy Practitioner Award

     The Outstanding Pharmacy Practitioner Award is presented to a
health-system pharmacist employed in a staff position. The award recognizes
outstanding service to the profession in a non-administrative, non-


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managerial position.

Outstanding Pharmacy Professional Representative Award

     The Outstanding Pharmacy Professional Representative Award is
presented to a representative of a pharmaceutical manufacturer or
wholesaler who has made outstanding contributions to health-system
pharmacy through service to, participation in, and involvement with GSHP
and those practicing as health-system pharmacists.

Outstanding Health-System Pharmacy Technician Award

     The Outstanding Health-System Pharmacy Technician
Award recognizes a health-system pharmacy technician who has
demonstrated practice excellence and leadership in the support of
implementing pharmaceutical care.

Community Service Award

     The Community Service Award is presented to a GSHP member for
Outstanding service to his/her community. Services rendered are not limited
to those as a pharmacist, but include any activities which enhance or
improve the quality of life of the community.

Outstanding Pharmacy Intern/Extern Award

     The Outstanding Pharmacy Intern/Extern Award recognizes
excellence in our future pharmacists. Nominations may be presented by
preceptors, educators, or any other GSHP member who has had direct
contact with an intern or extern who has shown exemplary service in this
role.

Outstanding Young Health-System Pharmacist Award

     Nominees for the Outstanding Young Health-System Pharmacist
Award are not limited by age, but by the length of time in the
profession. Nominees should have graduated from a pharmacy school within
the past five years. The recipient is chosen based on exemplary service and
dedication to the field of health-system pharmacy in this time period.

Outstanding Hospital or Health-System Pharmacy Newsletter
Award

     Recipients are selected for the Outstanding Hospital or Health-System
Pharmacy Newsletter Award based on submission and review of the three
most recent editions of their newsletter. To be eligible for consideration, the
newsletter must be hospital generated and not a purchased newsletter.

Best Paper Describing a New Pharmaceutical Care Service

     The award for Best Paper Describing a New Pharmaceutical Care
Service will be presented based on publications by GSHP members in the
pharmaceutical literature. Selection of the recipient is made by the Awards
Committee and is based on a review of pharmacy journals and other
publications for the 12-month period beginning September, 2011 through
August, 2012.

GSHP Pharmaco-economics Research Award

     The GSHP Pharmaco-economics Research Award is designed to
recognize a GSHP member who has performed a pharmacoeconomic analysis
in a particular area of pharmacy practice and to encourage pharmacists to
investigate and report the cost benefits of pharmaceutical care through the
provision of cost effective pharmacy services. Members performing an
analysis or investigation in an area related to the cost effectiveness, cost
benefit, or cost utility of a particular medication therapy, type of patient care
delivered by pharmacists or some aspect of pharmacy services are eligible.


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To nominate someone, click here


No More Blue Wall Licenses and Pocket Cards-From Secretary of State

Effective July 1, 2012, the Professional Licensing Boards
Division will no longer print and/or mail courtesy hard
copies of blue wall licenses and pocket cards to licensees
free of charge. This is a difficult yet necessary decision
in these tough economic times. Since fiscal year 2008,
the Professional Licensing Boards Division has tackled a
15% budget reduction and a 32% personnel reduction.
For fiscal year 2013, the Division is forced again to tackle
cuts totaling 2% of its budget. In addition to budget and
personnel reductions, the Division has faced an additional
workload created by the requirements of secure and
verifiable documentation for licensure and the growth of
professional licensing applications. The Division has done
an exemplary job of implementing efficient practices and
leveraging technology when possible while trying to
minimize the impact to the licensees.

Statutes and board rules require a licensee to post a
copy of their license at their place of business for
inspection. To meet this requirement, we will provide an
electronic version of the professional license for the
individual or business to obtain from our website free of
charge. This change will apply to all license types and to
the issuance of new and renewed licenses. As always, if
someone is seeking to verify the status of a professional
licensee, they should use our real-time verification portal
located at https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/myverification.
This portal contains the most accurate and up-to-date
information on a licensee’s status.

To access the electronic version of the professional
license, the licensee will login to their online licensing
record at https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/printlicense.
After accessing their online licensing record, the licensee
will be able to select the electronic version of their
professional license. In addition to obtaining the
electronic version of their license from their online
licensing file, the licensee will be able to select enhanced
services such as requesting a decorative wall certificate
for an additional charge.

I appreciate your understanding and patience as we seek


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solutions to get through these challenging economic
times.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do
not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Brian P. Kemp
Secretary of State

Blue Wall License and Pocket Card FAQs

1.       How can I get a duplicate pocket card or a blue
wall license sent to me?

·          Effective July 1, 2012, the Professional Licensing Boards
Division will no longer print and/or mail hard copies of
blue wall licenses and pocket cards to licensees as a
courtesy. For a fee of $25, licensees can purchase a hard
copy of a blue wall license and a pocket card.

2.       How can I get a pocket card or a blue wall
license for free?

·          Licensees can log in to their online licensing record at
https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/printlicense and can print
the electronic version of their professional license for
free.

3.       Since law requires a licensee to post a copy of
their license at their place of business for
inspection, how do I remain in compliance under
this new system?

·          Licensees will post their printed electronic licenses which
can be found at
https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/printlicense.

4.       Will this apply to all licenses issued by the
Professional Licensing Boards Division?

·          This change will apply to all license types and to the


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issuance of new and renewed licenses.
Get the Most Out of Your GSHP Membership

Our goal at GSHP is to provide you with current and timely information that will
help you with your practice. In addition to the GSHP website and our email blast
system, we utilize three other methods for reaching out to members.

Facebook

GSHP has a page on Facebook. Follow us on Facebook, by clicking on the link
below: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Georgia-Society-of-Health-System-
Pharmacists/3262
61148598

LinkedIn

We also have a group on LinkedIn. To join the group,
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?trk=hb_side_g&gid=3699702

Text messaging service

We now have the ability to send you a text message to your cellphone and would
like to ask you to join in our txt messaging service. Based on current cellphone
regulations, you have to opt in to this service which you can do by sending a txt
from your cellphone. You will need to txt gshp to 33938 from your cellphone. Your
cellphone number will not be shared with anyone and you will receive no more than
3 txt messages per month from GSHP. Remember this is an opt in service that
requires you to txt GSHP to 33938.

ASHP News

Clark to Receive ASHP John W. Webb Lecture Award
Long-time Leader in Health-System Pharmacy Honored 6/13/2012 BETHESDA, Md. -
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has named Toby Clark,
M.S., FASHP, a leader in health-system pharmacy, the recipient of the 2012 John
W. Webb Lecture Award.

Clark serves as a lead surveyor for the ASHP Accreditation Services Division. He is
also a medication systems consultant and an adjunct associate professor of
pharmacy practice at South Carolina College of Pharmacy and consultant to the
director of pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina. Previously, he
served as professor of pharmacy practice and director of hospital pharmacy services
at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center and College of Pharmacy
before his retirement.

Read More

Erin Fox to Receive ASHP Award of Excellence
Lauded for Her Efforts to Combat Drug Shortages 6/12/2012 BETHESDA, Md. - Erin
R. Fox, Pharm.D., is the 2012 recipient of the American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists’ (ASHP) Board of Directors Award of Excellence in recognition of her
tireless efforts to help the health care community manage the issues related to
drug shortages. The award was presented today during the Society’s Summer
Meeting in Baltimore.


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Fox directs the Drug Information Service at the University of Utah Hospitals &
Clinics in Salt Lake City and is associate professor (adjunct), in the Department of
Pharmacotherapy, University of Utah College of Pharmacy.

Fox’s work is the corner stone for the ASHP Drug Shortages Resource Center. Her
timely work has helped practitioners and health systems keep up with the long list
of agents in short supply, the alternatives available, and the estimated resupply
date.

Read More

FDA Approves Pertuzumab for Breast Cancer
Kate Traynor BETHESDA, MD 11 June 2012 - FDA and Genentech on June 8
announced the approval of pertuzumab injection as part of a treatment regimen for
patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic
breast cancer.

Pertuzumab, which will be sold as Perjeta, should be used in combination with
trastuzumab and docetaxel for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Genentech expects the new product to be available to U.S. patients within two
weeks. But the company stated that it is working to resolve a production problem
that could affect the future availability of pertuzumab.

Read More

Sandoz Recalls Introvale Oral Contraceptive
Cheryl A.Thompson BETHESDA, MD 07 June 2012 - The generics drug company
Sandoz Inc. on Wednesday announced the recall of 10 lots of the oral contraceptive
Introvale because of a packaging error reported by a consumer.

Sandoz said the consumer found the product's white placebo tablets in the 9th row
of the 13-row blister card rather than in the 13th row. The 9th row is supposed to
have peach-colored tablets, each containing 0.15 mg of levonorgestrel and 0.03 mg
of ethinyl estradiol.

The company advises patients who find a white placebo tablet in any position on
the blister card other than the 13th row to immediately start using a form of
contraception that does not involve hormones.

Read More

Pharmacy News

Hospitals Fight Drug Scarcity, Fear Patients Harmed
Reuters (06/01/12) Yukhananov, Anna
According to the FDA, the number of drug shortages in the U.S. has increased from
56 in 2006 to 250 in 2011, putting increased pressure on hospital pharmacists to
ensure patient safety. Pharmacists at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit report that
they have had to start tracking drugs in short supply using paper spreadsheets to
compensate for an automated inventory system not designed to cope with
prolonged shortages, while pharmacists and administrators at D.C.'s Children's
National Medical Center have begun meeting weekly to discuss and keep on top of
major shortages. The need for up-to-date information on shortages led pharmacy
resident Mick Schroeder to create the RxShortages ap,which is now used by
thousands of pharmacists around the country to track drug shortages moment to
moment, helping them avoid the temptation to hoard frequently unavailable drugs,
which ultimately makes shortages worse by distorting demand. While shortages are
down slightly this year, pharmacists are likely to remain on the front line of this
issue until new FDA reporting policies and increased production by drug makers
brings the rate of drug shortages back down to manageable levels.

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Senate passes FDA Bill That Could Alleviate Drug Shortages


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Drug Topics (05/25/12)
The U.S. Senate has passed FDA’s Safety and Innovation Act, which requires drug
manufacturers to notify the FDA as soon as possible when they experience a
product interruption and 6 months in advance if a product will be discontinued. The
early notification requirement is expected to alleviate more drug shortages, since
the FDA was able to avoid 195 shortages in 2011 because of early notification. The
House is expected to pass a similar bill, and leaders anticipate presenting a bill to
President Barack Obama by early July.

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College of Pharmacy Reaches out to City Middle-Schoolers
St. Louis Today (06/13/2012) McGhee, Alexia
The St. Louis College of Pharmacy will be welcoming St. Louis middle-schoolers to
its campus this summer as part of a program designed to educate kids about the
pharmacy profession. The five day program, which expands a similar program for
high school students begun in 2008, gives kids real hands-on lab experiences and
teaches them about some of the science behind being a pharmacist. College
President John A. Pieper hopes that the program will inspire students to pursue a
career in what he sees as the growth industry of pharmacy. But the program, a
collaboration between the college and the St. Louis school system, won't stop with
giving students a taste of what it's like to be a pharmacist. According to Tim
Murrell, executive director of the school district's Division of Career and Technical
Education, students who participate in the program will have opportunities to follow
up on their experience in the classroom, setting up a path for those students who
decided that they want, some day, to be a pharmacist.

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Anticoagulants the Leading Reported Drug Risk in 2011
Institute for Safe Medication Practices (06/06/12)
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has released its latest
QuarterWatch report, indicating that dabigatran (Pradaxa) was associated with
more patient fatalities reported to the FDA than any other medication on the U.S.
market in 2011. In addition to being associated with 542 deaths, dabigatran was
also associated with 3,781 total adverse event reports, 2,367 hemorrhage reports,
291 reports of acute renal failure, and 644 reports of stroke. All of these figures
were also higher than other medications on the list. The ISMP also identified nine
other drugs associated most frequently with five clinically relevant, drug-related
injuries, and show the drugs most frequently the target of lawsuits.

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FDA Warns Consumers About Counterfeit Version of Teva's Adderall
FDA.gov (05/29/12)
The FDA has issued warnings regarding a counterfeit version of Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries' Adderall 30 milligram tablets. Preliminary testing by the
agency showed that the counterfeit tablets contain tramadol and acetaminophen,
instead of dextroamphetamine saccharate, amphetamine aspartate,
dextroamphetamine sulfate, and amphetamine sulfate, which are the correct active
ingredients for the drug. For this reason, the FDA has warned that the counterfeit
products should be considered unsafe, ineffective, and potentially harmful.
Identifying characteristics of the counterfeit Adderall include blister packaging,
misspellings on the packaging, and tablets that are white and round with no
markings on them.

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Pharmacists Help Teams Improve BP Control
Drug Topics (05/22/12)
Patients gain greater blood-pressure control when pharmacists are included in their
team-based care, according to new recommendations from the Community
Preventive Services Task Force. The task force recommends that nurses,
pharmacists, dietitians, and social workers complement the work of primary-care
providers. "When pharmacists were added to the teams, the median improvement in
the proportion of patients with controlled blood pressure was considerably higher
than the overall median increase for this outcome," the task force's report said.
Other healthcare team members provide medication management, patient follow-


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ups, and help patients stick to blood-pressure control plans. The task force based
their recommendations on an evaluation of 77 studies of team-based care.

return to headlines

Association of Aspirin Use With Major Bleeding in Patients With and
Without Diabetes
Journal of the American Medical Association (06/06/12) Vol. 307, No. 21, P.
2,286; De Berardis, Giorgia; Lucisano, Giuseppe; D'Ettorre, Antonio
A new study has found that aspirin use for cardiovascular health is associated with
an increased risk of major gastrointestinal bleeding and cerebral bleeding episodes
that was higher than expected based on the results of randomized, prospective
clinical trials. Specifically, the study found that aspirin was associated with a 55
percent relative increase in the risk of major bleeding. These results were derived
from an analysis of administrative data from 186,425 individuals taking low-dose
aspirin who were matched with an equal number of controls. Median follow-up for
the study was 5.7 years. During this time, there were 6,907 first episodes of major
bleeding requiring hospitalization, including 4,487 gastrointestinal bleeds and 2,464
intracranial hemorrhages. The rate of hemorrhagic events per 1,000 person-years
was then found to be 5.58 for individuals taking aspirin, compared to 3.60 per
1,000 person-years for those not taking aspirin. The study's authors say their
findings indicate that the risks of aspirin use outweigh the benefits for patients with
a baseline cardiovascular risk below 10 percent at 10 years as well as in patients
with a baseline risk between 10 percent and 20 percent who are at a higher risk of
bleeding.

return to headlines

State Allows Pharmacies to Offer More Vaccines
Boston Globe (05/21/12) Lazar, Kay
Massachusetts pharmacists currently are allowed to administer the annual flu shot,
and a new policy issued by the state Department of Public Health will allow them to
offer the MMR, Tdap, shingles, pneumonia, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, polio, human
papillomavirus, chickenpox, and meningitis vaccines as well, in response to lagging
vaccination rates among adults. Under the new rules, pharmacists must be trained
to administer vaccines in accordance with state standards, and prescriptions will not
be needed for consumers to obtain the vaccines. However, there are concerns that
allowing people to be vaccinated by pharmacists will make it more difficult for
physicians to monitor patient immunizations, especially as a centralized system to
track immunizations has yet to be rolled out statewide. Lawmakers are considering
a budget proposal that would fund the registry.

return to headlines

NY Pharmacist Backs Online Prescription Program
Associated Press (06/04/12)
New York State is considering implementing a system aimed at curbing prescription
drug abuse. The system would help prevent people from going from doctor to
doctor in order to obtain prescription drugs, and would help identify physicians who
prescribe large amounts of addictive painkillers like hydrocodone. Finally, the
system would also red flag patients who obtain addictive pain medications without
having a valid medical reason for doing so. Long Island, N.Y., pharmacist Jordan
Fogel said that such a system would be helpful because it would allow pharmacists
and doctors to immediately review and report prescriptions online. Fogel noted that
he currently spends 30 percent of his time trying to determine if prescriptions are
written for legitimate reasons or not. But some doctors are concerned that requiring
the use of the system will force them and other prescribers to change their
prescribing practices, which they say could make it more difficult for patients to
access the drugs that they need. Negotiations are currently underway between
state lawmakers and the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and final legislation
establishing the system could be introduced by the end of the month.

return to headlines

Hospital-Acquired Infections Linked to Higher Readmission Rates
American Medical News (05/28/12) O'Reilly, Kevin B.
A study published in the June issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology,
based on an analysis of 136,513 adult patients at the University of Maryland


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Medical Center in Baltimore from 2001 to 2009, indicates that patients testing
positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant
enterococci, or Clostridium difficile have a 40 percent increased chance of
readmission within a year. Researchers say that the patients studied likely were
infected in the hospital given that the cultures were ordered more than 48 hours
after they were admitted. Jon Furuno, PhD, epidemiologist and associate professor
at the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy and the study's senior author,
says that patients with hospital-acquired infections should receive additional
discharge planning, patient education and follow-up services to prevent
readmissions.

return to headlines

© 2012 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
News summaries © 2012 Information, Inc. [subscribe/unsubscribe]


June 2012 Final

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June 2012 Final