Historically, hospital pharmacies have used a charge-on-dispense (COD) model for medications. The model charges the patient for a medication when it is dispensed from the pharmacy and credits the medication if it’s returned to the pharmacy unused. Simple, but labor-intensive. The model itself has been around for a long time. The introduction of electronic health… Read More »
ACP Hospitalist: “About 10% of patients in the United States report a penicillin allergy, but most of these patients are not currently allergic, meaning that they could safely take drugs in the beta-lactam class. “The vast majority of patients who think they have penicillin allergies actually don’t when they undergo penicillin allergy skin testing,” said… Read More »
I’ve been thinking about writing this post for quite some time. The concepts and thoughts presented here have been on my mind since I re-entered the workforce in a traditional sense over a year ago. I’ve alluded to some of my thoughts on Twitter, but decided it was time to put something in long form. The… Read More »
The differences between stability, beyond-use date (BUD), and expiration for compounded sterile preparations (CSPs) causes a lot of confusion. I’m not even certain that I fully understand their roles in day to day pharmacy operations. With that said, I think the key is for everyone to at least understand and agree that the BUD of… Read More »
I received an email yesterday from the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding. The email contains a link to the IJPC’s Compounders’ Resource Directory. There’s a lot of good information on the list. It’s worth a look. Both the IJPC and CompoundingToday.com are great resources for anyone doing extemporaneous (non-sterile) or sterile compounding. Enjoy!
Here’s an interesting article from the January 13 issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR): Digital Pills To Measure Opioid Ingestion Patterns In Emergency Department Patients With Acute Fracture Pain: A Pilot Study (1) A group of researchers out of Boston utilized digital pills (eTectRx, Newbury, FL, USA) to observe the ingestion patterns… Read More »
Pharmacy Practice News: “The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) held a meeting today in Cincinnati to discuss a universal closed-system drug-transfer device (CSTD) testing protocol, which is being developed… The new protocol will test both physical barrier systems, which block the intake of environmental contaminants or the unintended release of hazardous drugs… Read More »
Management of controlled substances(1) inside acute care pharmacies is a mess. It’s difficult for me to stress how utterly disappointed I am by this area of pharmacy technology. The technology has been around for a long time. The controlled substance area of the pharmacy was one of the first areas to start using technology as part… Read More »
Two things happened to me recently that have pushed this question to the front of my mind. The first is by way of some comments that were left in response to something I wrote in June about Google’s new symptom search. The comment is as follows: “…I have to question your closing statement: The idea… Read More »
USP <800> has an entire section dedicated to deactivation, decontamination, cleaning, and disinfecting areas that are used for compounding sterile hazardous drugs (HDs). The chapter calls for: Establishing written procedures Training personnel Using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) resistant to cleaning agents. This includes the use of two pairs of chemo gloves and impermeable disposable gowns… Read More »