Each Friday the CompoundingToday Newsletter faithfully appears in my inbox. The newsletter features commentary by Lloyd V. Allen, Jr., Ph.D., RPh, Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding. Dr. Allen is a legend in the pharmacy compounding world for both sterile and non-sterile products. He was someone that I looked up to during my… Read More »
Look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medications – also referred to as sound-alike, look-alike drugs (SALAD) (1) — have been a thorn in the side of healthcare professionals for as long as I’ve been a pharmacist. Many solutions to the LASA problem have been proposed, including Tall Man Lettering (2), physical separation of look-alike drugs, printing of both… Read More »
We’re all familiar with the promise of “big data” in healthcare. Crud, I’m a huge fan of using data. I think the amount of information inside an EHR has the potential to do a lot of wonderful things, not only for healthcare in general but specifically for a pharmacist. How many kinetic consults have been… Read More »
A couple of days ago I read an interesting piece by John Halamka over at healthsystemCIO.com. In it, Halamka shares two stories about purchasing parts for some projects. One part required a lot of legwork and took a month to secure. The other required a quick Amazon search and less that 24 hours to obtain.… Read More »
Yesterday, I had a great opportunity to spend the day using DoseEdge in its native environment. That is to say, I staffed at a facility that was using DoseEdge in its cleanroom to prepare CSPs, including patient-specific products as well as stock bags, TPNs, etc. I’ve used DoseEdge for brief periods in the past. I’ve… Read More »
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!