NEW JERSEY SOCIETY OF HEALTH-SYSTEM PHARMACISTS

2012

ANNUAL MEETING/EXHIBITION & INSTALLATION DINNER

FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2012

HILTON EAST BRUNSWICK 3 TOWER CENTER BLVD. EAST BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY (732) 828-2000

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

The deadline to submit an abstract for the poster session of the 2012 NJSHP Annual Meeting is February 1, 2012, 11:59 pm EST. Please review the abstract submission form carefully as some submission criteria have changed. The form will be available to download from www.njshp.org. The form must be completed and submitted with an abstract to swilliam@njha.com. Information about the acceptance or rejection of the abstracts will be available by March 1, 2012.

NJSHP is now accepting nominations for state-level officers. Are you interested in getting more involved with NJSHP? Do you know someone who would be great in the following positions? Now’s the time for you to get more involved or nominate a fellow peer. NJSHP can even help you prepare your nomination. Here are the available positions:

* President-Elect (1)
This leadership position offers an individual the opportunity to direct our organization. Term of president-elect is for one year, after which this position assumes the presidency.

* Secretary (1)
This position records the minutes of the Board’s monthly meetings. Additional functions are secondary to the secretary’s participation in other NJSHP related affairs.

* Director of the Council (2)
Two positions will be available. One involves the council on organizational affairs, and the other, council on public policy. Both positions allow an individual with the right motivation to have an impact on the course of the profession of pharmacy practice.

If you want more information about serving as a state-level officer, contact Stella Williams, Administrative Director, at (609) 936-2205 or swilliam@njha.com

North Chapter

December 13, 2011
Topic: Pharmacotherapy Management of Psychiatric Illness
Location: St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital
Meyer Conference Room
224 Hamburg Turnpike
Wayne, NJ 07470
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Speaker: Mei Liu, Pharm.D., BCPP
Clinical Assistant Professor
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Piscataway, NJ
Clinical Pharmacist
The University Medical Center at Princeton
Princeton, NJ

Southern Chapter

December 13, 2011
Topic: Update on Managing Clostridium Difficile Infections
Location: Kennedy Corporate Center
1099 White Horse Road
Voorhees, NJ 08043
Time: 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Speaker: Craig Whitman, PharmD, BCPS
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA

January 30, 2012
Topic: Medication Reconciliation (title not finalized)
Location: Our Lady of Lourdes Auditorium
1600 Haddon Avenue
Camden, NJ 08103
Time: 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Speaker: Sanchita Sen, PharmD, BCPS
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA

Going Green has too many advantages we just couldn't resist!

•You will receive information more timely without the hassles of snail mail.
•Look for our meeting notices and newsletters to arrive in your e-mail so you can print or view.
•With our savings, we'll have more funds to enhance our member programs.
•Plus, going electronic is a great boost for the environment!

Upcoming Events
Medication Safety Presentation, December 1st
Students will be going with faculty advisor, Dr. Mary Bridgeman, to the Piscataway Senior Center to give a medication safety presentation. There will also be a brown bag event to follow.

Recent Events
Internship Roundtable with APhA, November 2nd
Students who have completed summer internships in the pharmaceutical industry, advertising agencies, hospitals and other settings spoke about their experiences at these different places. We collaborated with APhA to host this event.
Hospital Field Trip, November 5th
St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center hosted a hospital field trip for the students.
Midyear Review, November 9th
A Rutgers Pharmacy alumnus came in to share tips on preparation for the midyear clinical meeting. She also went over the application and interview process for residencies and fellowships.
CV/Interview Workshop, November 17th
NJSHP co-hosted a CV/Interview workshop with ACCP. Students came in with their CV’s and had them reviewed by clinical pharmacists and faculty members. There were also mock interviews that students participated in.

Visit our website www.njshprutgers.weebly.com for information and pictures of our past events.

Please feel free to contact me via e-mail, jkostialik@gmail.com or cell: 973-454-3964 with any questions or comments. - Jennifer Kostialik, NJSHP Rutgers Chapter President

Kate Traynor BETHESDA, MD 10 November 2011
A November 9 Drug Safety Communication from FDA states that, on the basis of a major clinical trial involving fenofibrate, the agency has concluded that fenofibric acid may not lower patients' risk for major cardiovascular events.

The announcement follows FDA's analysis of data from the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) Lipid trial, which enrolled patients with type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia. A report of the trial's results was published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. In brief, the risk of major cardiovascular events did not differ between the participants who received simvastatin alone and those who received simvastatin plus fenofibrate 160 mg/day.

Read More

[Updated 3:40 p.m. EST] Cheryl A. Thompson BETHESDA, MD 07 November 2011
New labeling for dabigatran etexilate gives patients up to four months to take all 60 capsules in a manufacturer-supplied bottle of the anticoagulant.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. today confirmed that the Pradaxa labeling available from the federal government's DailyMed website is correct: "Once opened, the product must be used within 4 months."

The labeling available this morning from the company's product website and FDA's Drugs@FDA database states the original 30-day beyond-use date.

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10/31/2011
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists applauds President Obama for today’s executive order taking action on the public health crisis of prescription drug shortages. The President’s order directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to broaden reporting of potential shortages, expedite regulatory reviews, and increases staffing resources for the FDA’s Drug Shortages Program.

The President also expressed support for bipartisan legislation that would require drug manufacturers to notify the FDA six months ahead of a potential shortage so that the FDA can help facilitate increased product availability from other manufacturers. ASHP has advocated strongly in support of this legislation together with the American Hospital Association and co-conveners of a drug shortages summit last year.

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New Formats Make this Resource Even More Interactive
10/13/2011 Bethesda, Md. - The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ (ASHP’s) popular Interactive Handbook on Injectable Drugs: I.V. Decision Support, by Lawrence A. Trissel, is now available online and was just released on the Apple store as an app for the iPad and iPhone. With extremely fast search results and continually updated information, the new online and mobile app versions expand the interactivity of the current network and CD versions of the publication, setting the standard for IV compatibility resources.

The new versions also feature a streamlined interface, with more simplicity and fewer clicks, providing faster access to valuable compatibility data in easy-to-read tables. Subscribers will receive quarterly updates with the most accurate and current information available.

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President Obama recently ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to boost its efforts to prevent shortages and price fixing of vital prescription drugs. The FDA is ordered to more broadly enforce reporting requirements for manufacturers experiencing drug shortages, expedite review of new prescription drug suppliers, and work with the Justice Department to prosecute price gouging. The number of shortages of potentially life-saving drugs has been on the rise in recent years, reaching at least 232 this year, according to industry experts. Such drugs include those given to cancer patients, heart attack victims, and accident survivors. There is also legislation pending in Congress that would require pharmaceutical companies to notify the FDA of potential shortages earlier than the current requirements. Some experts say, however, that an executive order may not have any immediate effect, as it does not address the fundamental causes of drug shortages. These include fewer manufacturers for older, less profitable products and shortages of raw material or functioning equipment.

A recent federal grant will provide $20 million in funding for a Missouri initiative designed to train 4,600 state residents for jobs in the healthcare sector. The grant is the result of a collaboration between 12 community colleges, Linn State Technical College, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, and the Missouri Workforce Investment Board. Officials say pharmacy technician is one of the primary positions being specifically targeted by the collaboration.

Mike Alkire, chief operating officer of the Premier healthcare alliance, says that hospitals across the country are experiencing life-threatening drug shortages and cites a University of Utah report that a record high of 360 drugs will be unavailable by year's end. With some hospitals turning to the "gray market" to obtain needed medications, Alkire says that Premier has spelled out steps hospitals can use for safe and reliable purchases. Hospitals should understand the risks of "gray market" drugs, which could be counterfeit, stolen or adulterated; create a policy for determining acceptable distributors and suppliers; and consider making exceptions to existing policy to allow emergency loans from other hospitals or purchases from a different supplier or distributor. They also should confirm with the authorities that wholesalers, distributors and suppliers are properly licensed; confirm receipt of drug pedigree; and carefully examine packaging and do not use medications if concerns arise. Finally, hospitals should document the names of vendors they will not work with and why, and report suspect suppliers to the authorities.

U.S. employers placed 85,000 new job ads for healthcare professionals over the past month, according to WANTED Analytics. Despite being the most demanded nationwide, the volume of job ads has declined 9 percent versus the same 30-day time period in 2010 and 25 percent compared to 6 months ago. Some of the most commonly advertised healthcare job titles include Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Registered Nurse, Pharmacist, Speech Language Pathologist, and Licensed Practical Nurse. Despite a decreasing volume of job ads, the talent supply remains limited for healthcare occupations and has caused moderately challenging recruiting conditions.

High-dose rosuvastatin given once per week leads to improvements in serum lipids that are comparable to those achieved with daily doses of atorvastatin 10 mg, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. “Based on these findings, we think a high-dose weekly statin regimen may be an alternative for patients with major barriers to standard daily therapy,” said principal investigator James M. Backes, PharmD, of the University of Kansas Atherosclerosis and LDL-Apheresis Center and the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy. "As pharmacists I think we are more conservative with medications, and I am concerned about what happens 30 years down the road,” Backes added. “Atorvastatin, for example, has been on the market since 1998, and we are now seeing blips of diabetes. Maybe less drug exposure might be better.”

Reports indicate that Florida's new legislation to prevent physicians from writing excessive prescriptions for opioid painkiller has reduced the number of registered pain clinics in the state from 930 in 2010 to 736 in 2011. Under the new law, physicians can review a patient's prescription history before prescribing medication. Pharmacists are required to enter prescription information into the Electronic Florida Online Reporting of Controlled Substances Evaluation dating back to Sept. 1. Clinicians are not, however, required to check those records before prescribing. Since its launch on Oct. 1., 1,500 of Florida's more than 70,000 prescribing practitioners have signed up for access to the database. Florida is not the only state to take action in an effort to reduce deaths associated with opioid-prescription abuse. In Washington state, for example, primary care physicians must consult with board-certified pain specialists before prescribing daily morphine-equivalent doses of 120 mg or greater.

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study indicates that almost 15,000 Americans died from an overdose of prescription opioids in 2008. That figure is higher than any previously recorded, exceeding deaths due to illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin combined. According to the CDC, 2010 estimates indicate 12 million Americans were using opioid or narcotic pain relievers--such as acetaminophen and hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin), and methadone--for recreational purposes, and the amount of these medications available at pharmacies and healthcare facilities quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. By state, the worst prescription abuse problems were found in Oklahoma, where more than 8 percent of the population over the age of 12 abused opioid pain relievers between 2008 and 2009. Other states with high abuse rates included Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington state, while New Mexico, West Virginia, and Nevada had the most deaths associated with abuse.

Antimicrobial stewardship programs to prevent antibiotic overuse have prompted a decline in antibiotic resistance and costs, according to several studies presented at the 49th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). In 2007, IDSA and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America released antimicrobial stewardship guidelines for acute-care hospitals. One study found room for improvement, with only about one-third of U.S. hospitals fully compliant with the 2007 guidelines. One antimicrobial stewardship program, established in 1993 at Wesley Medical Center in Kansas, has led to improved susceptibility to antibiotics and less money spent on antibiotics. The study found that in 2003, 66 percent of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultures were susceptible to gentamicin and 68 percent to ceftazidime. By 2009, susceptibility to the two drugs increased to 92 and 90 percent, respectively. At the program's start, antibiotics made up 22 percent of the yearly pharmacy budget, but they are now just 9 percent to 14 percent of the budget each year. Although stewardship programs can be costly, a University of Minnesota study suggests the expense is worthwhile, saving more than $732,000 in antibiotic purchases within two years at two of the university's hospitals in 2007. Net savings to the hospital was calculated to be $243,758 after accounting for salary costs for the infectious diseases physicians and pharmacists in the stewardship program.

An online survey of 750 parents of children age six years and under, conducted by pediatrician and University of Michigan researcher Amanda Dempsey, reveals that more than 10 percent of parents skip or delay some recommended vaccinations for their children due to concerns about safety. About 20 percent of parents whose children are fully vaccinated do not believe the recommended vaccination schedule is as safe as postponing some vaccines. The U.S. government recommends that children receive about 24 doses of vaccines against 14 diseases by the time they are six years old. However, the study, published online in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that more than 2 million infants and young children may not be fully vaccinated, which Dempsey attributes in part to erroneous and sensationalized media reports about vaccine safety. A 2010 federal survey indicates similar results, with 10 percent or more of toddlers and preschoolers behind in recommended vaccinations.

The FDA has issued a warning that dasatinib (Sprycel) may increase the risk of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Information about this risk has been added to the Warnings and Precautions section of the dasatinib drug label. In reported cases, patients developed PAH after starting dasatinib, including after more than one year of treatment. Patients with PAH during treatment with the drug were often taking other medications at the same time or had other co-existing medical conditions. Dasatinib was initially approved in the United States in June 2006. Since approval, 12 cases of PAH have been identified in the manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb’s global pharmacovigilance database. No fatalities from the condition have been reported.