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Study questions what we consider an ‘adherent’ patient

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MedicalXpress: “A study at Universidad Miguel Hernández (UMH) in Elche shows that patients defined automatically as “adherent” by dint of collecting their prescriptions each month are not necessarily any better than their “non-adherent” peers at actually taking their medication…. The main finding, then, was that lack of adherence even among those patients who regularly collected their … Read more

NFC packaging for medications

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NFC is good for more than figuring out how much liquor you have. NFC World: “The two companies [Thinfilm and Jones Packaging] are collaborating to integrate Thinfilm’s NFC OpenSense technology into paperboard pharma packaging and establish key manufacturing processes for production on Jones’ high speed lines.” In addition “the work…will also include the integration of ferrite shield … Read more

Saturday morning coffee [August 22 2015]

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“Don’t accept that others know you better than yourself. Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.” – James Allen

The mug below comes from the University of Arizona in Tucson. I was there earlier in the week doing some research on a project. In fact, I’m sitting in a hotel in downtown Phoenix this morning as I write this. I’ll be heading home later today. I saw this mug in a display case in the U of A bookstore. It’s an awesome looking mug. I wanted one, but couldn’t bring myself to purchase it because, well, you know, my daughter is a UCLA cheerleader. Having a U of A mug in the house would be akin to blasphemy. It really is a beautiful mug though.

MUG_UofA

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Saturday morning coffee [March 14 2015]

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“There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.” – Goethe

So much happens each and every week, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The mug below comes straight from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, OR. My wife and youngest daughter were up North last week visiting colleges. They surprised me upon their return with a box of Voodoo Doughnuts and this mug. The doughnuts were delicious.

MUG_VoodooDoughnuts

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Inhaled Corticosteroid Adherence and Emergency Department Utilization Among Medicaid-enrolled Children with Asthma [article]

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J Asthma. 2013 Jun 5. [Epub ahead of print], Rust G, Zhang S, Reynolds J.

Abstract
Objectives: Asthma is the most prevalent chronic disease among children enrolled in Medicaid. This study measured real-world adherence and outcomes after an initial prescription for inhaled corticosteroid therapy in a multi-state Medicaid population.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study among Medicaid-enrolled children aged 5-12 with asthma in 14 southern states using 2007 Medicaid Analytic Extract (MAX) file claims data to assess adherence and outcomes over the three months following an initial prescription drug claim for inhaled corticosteroids (ICS-Rx). Adherence was measured by the long-term controller to total asthma drug claims ratio.

Results: Only one-third of children (33.4%) with an initial ICS-Rx achieved a controller to total drug ratio greater than 0.5 over the next 90-days. Children for whom long-term control drugs represented less than half of their total asthma drug claims had a 21% higher risk of emergency department visit (AOR 1.21 [95% CI 1.14, 1.27]), and a 70% higher risk of hospital admission (AOR 1.70 [95% CI 1.45, 1.98]) than those with a controller to total asthma drug ratio greater than 0.5.

Conclusion: Real-world adherence to long-term controller medications is quite low in this racially-diverse, low-income segment of the population, despite Medicaid coverage of medications. Adherence to long-term controller therapy had a measurable impact on real-world outcomes. Medicaid programs are a potential surveillance system for both medication adherence and emergency department utilization.

Posted online on June 5, 2013. (doi:10.3109/02770903.2013.799687)

Two things to consider:

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Ideas, Vision, Innovation: Fantasy vs. Reality

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Simply put, I think you need an idea and a vision to be innovative. Sounds simple enough.

I’ve read that good ideas are hard to come by, vision even harder and innovation rare. I don’t buy it. I believe innovation is difficult, but probably not for the reasons you might expect. On the other hand I don’t believe that ideas are hard to come by or that vision is rare.

I think ideas are like change in your pocket and you tend to collect more than you think. If you’re like me, and I believe most people are, you probably have several ideas every day about changing how something is done, how to make something better or what the next big thing should be. You know what I mean. All those moments throughout the day when you say something like “what if they…” or “why didn’t they…” or even “wouldn’t it be cool if …”. You know what I’m talking about, like “wouldn’t it be cool if they filled marshmallows with hot fudge”. Yes, yes it would.

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Great response to “Why pharmacy continues to fail”

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The Cynical Pharmacist (TCP) dropped by my site and left a great comment in response to my  Why pharmacy continues to fail. I don’t know who TCP is, but I hope to meet him in person some day. I get the impression that we would have some great dinner conversation; some pharmacy related, some not.

You can see more of his musings on Twitter – @TheCynicalRPH

TCP makes some great points in his comment, and in my opinion his thoughts reflects the sentiment of many pharmacists practicing in the real world. I was going to refer you to the comment, but felt it would be better to post the meat of it below:

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