Once again we were privileged to attend the Rutgers Pharmacy Career Day. This annual event hosted by the College of Pharmacy takes place at the Busch Campus Student Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. Heavily attended by major corporations, hospital organization and professional societies, this event provides NJSHP with the opportunity to speak with pharmacy students of all grade levels about their career options and opportunities available as members of NJSHP.

As a professional pharmacy organization represented at the career day, NJSHP has the unique ability and responsibility to encourage students to step out of their comfort zone and improve upon their career development as well as provide a venue by which they can demonstrate their professionalism and showcase leadership capabilities. Many students who are currently members of the student chapter of NJSHP clearly demonstrate these qualities and will surely be a great asset to not only NJSHP but our profession as well.

NJSHP’s participation in this event is crucial if we are to successfully weave the fabric of our profession between the various generations that make up our membership.

It’s less than two months away so be sure to mark your calendar for April 8. It’s NJSHP’s major event – The Annual Meeting/Exhibition and Installation Dinner. This once-a-year event brings members together to welcome newly installed officers, exchanging information with peers and network with vendors. It’s also an opportunity to earn continuing education credits.

The event will again take place at The Hilton East Brunswick, Three Tower Center Boulevard, East Brunswick, New Jersey. This year’s jam-packed meeting promises not to disappoint. New this year we scheduled an early seminar, “Regional Variations in the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma,” for an additional 1.5 hours of ACPE credits! Check out the College Bowl Competition; it’s the jeopardy style format that continues to challenge its participants each and every year. Meet with dedicated vendors who support this event every year and are always available to meet your needs throughout the year! Witness the annual award recipients accept their awards AND your new officers take their oaths during their official installation. We look forward to seeing you at this meeting in less than three months! Click here to see the agenda for the day.

North Chapter
March 23, 2011
Topic: Law Seminar (Joint Meeting - North and North Central Chapter)
Location: St. Joseph Wayne Hospital
224 Hamburg Turnpike
Wayne, NJ
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Speaker: Angelo Cifaldi, RPh., Esq.
Partner Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer
Woodbridge, NJ
Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacy Law
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Piscataway, NJ

April 2011: No Meeting Scheduled

North Central Chapter
March 23, 2011
Topic: Law Seminar (Joint Meeting - North and North Central Chapter)
Location: St. Joseph Wayne Hospital
224 Hamburg Turnpike
Wayne, NJ
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Speaker: Angelo Cifaldi, RPh., Esq.
Partner Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer
Woodbridge, NJ
Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacy Law
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Piscataway, NJ

April 2011: No Meeting Scheduled

Central Chapter
March 31, 2011
Topic: Update on Antibiotics
Location: TBA
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Daryl Schiller, PharmD, BCPS-ID
Assistant Director/Clinical Pharmacy Services
Residency Program Director
Saint Barnabas Medical Center
Livingston, NJ

April 2011: No Meeting Scheduled

May 26, 2011
Topic: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: George Shehata, PharmD, CACP
Assistant Director/Clinical Coordinator
Residency Program Director
Clara Maass Medical Center
Belleville, NJ

Southern Chapter
March 22, 2011
Topic: Successful Integration of a Comprehensive Pharmaceutical Waste Management
Program in a Healthcare Facility
Location: Maggiano’s Little Italy
2000 Route 38 Ste 1180
Cherry Hill, NJ
Time: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Speakers: Enrico Vona
Regional Sales Director
Stericycle Inc.
Northbrook, IL
&
Michael Roshko, PharmD
Team Leader, Operations Manager
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Philadelphia, PA

April 8, 2011: No Meeting Scheduled

May 24, 2011
Topic: Anticoagulation in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
Location: Virtua Center for Learning (Located across from Sage Diner)
1200 Howard Blvd., Building 1200
Mount Laurel, NJ
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Stephanie Polli, PharmD
Cardiology Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Camden, NJ

June 21, 2011
Topic: Pediatric Medication Safety
Location: TBA
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Laura Bio, PharmD, BCPS
Assistant Professor Clinical Pharmacy
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA 19102

NJSHP Student Chapter February Report

Upcoming Events
Residency Night, February 25th
Dr. Evelyn Hermes-DeSantis will be giving her presentation on residencies again.
She will go over the differences between a fellowship and a residency and take students through the entire process of applying for and getting a residency.

Recent Events
Rotation Roundtable, February 1st
The 1st portion was preceptors telling students about what they expect from them while on rotation and how to prepare.
The 2nd portion was current Rutgers rotation students that talked about their experiences while on rotation and any advice they have.
This event was to help 5th year pharmacy students choose their rotations for the upcoming year.
This event was rescheduled from January 26th because of the weather.
General Meeting, February 2nd
Officers went over this semester’s events and what they’re about.
We went over dues forms and the benefits of being a member of NJSHP.
We had sign up sheets for Rutgers Day, Fundraising Committee, and Poison Prevention Community Outreach Committee.

Visit our website www.njshprutgers.weebly.com gallery for pictures of our past events!

Please feel free to contact me via e-mail, laurenfaust@comcast.net or cell: 856-261-1128 with any questions or comments. – Lauren Faust, NJSHP Rutgers Chapter President

NJSHP Welcomes Disney Institute to Newark on March 14, 2011 and Princeton on March 17, 2011

Every hospital, clinic, group medical practice, dental practice, or freestanding medical care provider has the opportunity to distinguish themselves through the delivery of quality services.

A one-day local workshop, Disney’s Approach to Quality Service for Healthcare Professionals program will show you the importance of attention to detail in everything Disney does -- from training its Cast Members (employees) to treating every Guest (patient) as a VIP. You will hear the stories and see how Disney best practices can be easily adapted to your healthcare delivery organization.

IMPORTANT: Please use the NJ Society of Health-System Pharmacists promotional code SHPMNE to receive $50 OFF PER GUEST when registering. Additional group discounts are available. No prerequisite training required.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NEWARK EVENT AND REGISTER GO TO: www.NewarkMouse.com.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRINCETON EVENT AND REGISTER GO TO: www.PrincetonMouse.com.

Recruitment Form Click this link for the Membership Form.

State Pin Get into the Society Spirit and order your state pin today. State pins can be ordered easily through the NJSHP website.

2/10/2011 - You can help ensure that the FDA has the tools it needs to help minimize the impact of drug shortages on patient care by urging your senators to cosponsor the Preserving Access to Life Saving Medications Act (S. 296).

This legislation, introduced this week by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Robert Casey (D-Pa.), is an important first step towards preventing the patient harm that often occurs when a medication is in short supply.

Use the resources on ASHP’s online ASHP Advocacy Center to contact your senators and let them know about the impact of drug shortages on the patients you serve.

To contact your senators, log onto the Grassroots Advocacy Center using your member id number and password and follow the instructions on the page.

ASHP worked closely with Klobuchar’s and Casey’s offices as they developed the legislation and will strongly advocate along with you for its passage by soliciting cosponsors in the Senate.

Read More

Bill Gives FDA New Authority to Prevent Shortages - 2/8/2011

Legislation introduced yesterday by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Robert Casey (D-Pa.) is a critical first step towards addressing the serious public health threat posed by drug shortages, according to officials at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

The "Preserving Access to Live Saving Medications Act" (S 296), gives the Food and Drug Administration new tools to help prevent drug shortages.

"Drug shortages present a significant challenge to our health care system and interfere with the quality of care that patients receive in our nation’s hospitals," said ASHP Executive Vice President and CEO Henri R. Manasse, Jr., Ph.D., Sc.D. "We are pleased to see a legislative proposal offered to address this critical issue and will advocate strongly for its passage." For the link to the Press Release and to Read More

Cheryl A. Thompson - MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 11 February 2011—Proponents of personalized medicine met January 18–19 in Mountain View, California, to discuss emerging technologies and new business models and commiserate over the regulations and economics that seem to be blocking the translation of science to practice.

Old regulations. The regulatory roadblock for personalized medicine, said Jeffrey Gibbs, a former counsel for enforcement at FDA, arises from a "fundamental problem" with the law: It was enacted in 1976.
Congress passed the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 on the basis of 1970s-era products, he said.

Thus, a lot of the provisions in the law "just don’t work," he told the several hundred attendees at the Personalized Medicine World Conference. Gibbs is a director at a Washington, D.C., law firm that serves companies whose business is regulated by FDA.

"The whole concept of substantial [equivalence] for 510(k)s does not work well with the kinds of products that are coming out, that are necessary for personalized medicine and for other diagnostics," he said. "There often are no predicate devices."

Click for More Information

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and other groups have called on Congress to pass federal legislation designed to alleviate drug shortages in the United States. ASHP representatives recently met with aides to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to discuss the bill, which Klobuchar introduced. The Preserving Access to Life-Saving Medications Act would require prescription manufacturers to give the FDA early notification of incidents likely to result in a shortage. Incidents to be reported to the FDA include changes to raw material supplies, manufacturing adjustments, and mergers. The FDA, for its part, would be required to provide up-to-date information of shortage situations and the actions it takes to address them.

The new School of Pharmacy at Marshall University is preparing to admit its first students for the first class in fall 2012. Marshall President Stephen Kopp said, "The Marshall University School of Pharmacy builds upon the distinguished and well-established resources that comprise the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine ... These foundations provide distinct advantages for the development of a public School of Pharmacy that will produce well-prepared pharmacists for the field's evolving role in the patient care continuum." Kopp also says that the new school will benefit from Marshall's good relationships with the nearby Cabell Huntington Hospital, St. Mary's Medical Center, and its long-standing partnership with the Huntington VA Medical Center. Marshall has already submitted its pre-candidacy application to the Accredication Council for Pharmacy Education. The school's final application will be submitted in April 2012. The first class will start its studies in fall 2012 and will graduate in 2016. Recruiting the first class will begin in fall 2011. The primary recruiting areas are West Virginia, southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. The school will admit 80 students per year. It will also have 35 faculty members. Recruiting for faculty has already started, and key members are expected to be in place by summer.

Researchers have found that ambulatory care computerized order entry with prescribing alerts about FDA-issued black-box warnings (BBWs) did not improve clinicians' overall adherence to BBWs, though it did improve adherence for specific clinically important subcategories. These conclusions are based on a comparison between the frequency of non-adherence to all BBWs about drug-drug, drug-disease, and drug-laboratory interactions for 30 drugs and drug classes, and by individual drugs and drug groups with BBWs between the pre- and post-intervention periods. By doing so, researchers found a slightly higher frequency of non-adherence to BBWs after the intervention. In multivariate analyses, after adjustment for patient and provider characteristics and site of care, medications prescribed during the pre-intervention period were less likely to violate BBWs compared to those prescribed during the post-intervention period. However, black-box warning violations did decrease after the intervention for BBWs about drug-drug interactions and drug-pregnancy interactions.

Between 5 percent and 15 percent of Americans are affected by influenza each year, and about 150,000 hospital admissions and 24,000 deaths occur annually because of the flu. Pre-exposure vaccination has been found to be the most efficient prevention of influenza infection and annual epidemics. Healthcare personnel (HCP) are at an increased risk of influenza because of potential exposure to ill patients, and they are at risk of exposing other patients to influenza. Because of these risks associated with HCP, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) recommends that healthcare facilities such as acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities require all employees to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine, except in the case of "compelling medical contraindications." APIC recommends that this requirement be part of a comprehensive strategy that includes all HCP vaccination recommendations by the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. HCP that are exempted from vaccination should be educated on the importance of adhering to all non-vaccine related HICPAC prevention strategies, including hand hygiene and cough etiquette.

The FDA has requested that manufacturers of prescription combination products that contain acetaminophen limit the amount of acetaminophen to no more than 325 milligrams in each tablet or capsule. The FDA also is requiring manufacturers to update labels of all prescription combination acetaminophen products to warn of the potential risk for severe liver injury. The elimination of higher-dose prescription combination acetaminophen products will be phased in over three years so as not to create a shortage of pain medications. Because of continued reports of liver injury, FDA proposes that boxed warnings be added to all acetaminophen prescription products. Most of the cases of severe liver injury occurred in patients who took more than the prescribed dose of an acetaminophen-containing product in a 24-hour period, took more than one acetaminophen-containing product at the same time, or drank alcohol while taking acetaminophen products.

More people are dying from abusing or misusing drugs, including both prescription and illegal substances, new research suggests. The study showed that deaths from accidental poisonings-- most of which were the result of overdoses-- in all age groups are higher than they were several decades ago, particularly among white Americans. Study authors attributed the rise in deaths to an increase in the number of prescription medications being taken in the United States by all age groups. Study authors analyzed data from the U.S. Census. Overall, white men and women were more than nine times as likely to die from an accidental poisoning in 2005 through 2007 than they were in 1968 and 1969 according to the analysis. Black men and women were about three times more likely to die from the same cause in recent years than they were 40 years ago. Because of changes in the body or changes in drug use, the greatest proportion of overdoses happen in people in their 40's and 50's, study authors wrote.

The challenge and burden of adhering to diabetes treatments over a long period of time leads many patients to relax their treatment routines. A new study from the University of California, San Diego, however, shows that more patient education can help them keep with treatment plans. Writing in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, researchers described a survey of more than 1,200 diabetes patients regarding medication routines. More than 86 percent of respondents said they needed to take medication at least twice a day. Although the majority of patients said they faithfully followed their treatment plans, others reported a need for more motivation. The most common motivating factors were assurance of medication effectiveness, knowledge of managing potential side effects, and improved understanding of drugs' benefits. "To empower patients to overcome medication adherence barriers, we conclude that pharmacists are well-positioned to provide more proactive and thorough counseling sessions to include education of how diabetes drugs work and why they are so important," said lead researcher Candice Morello.

There was a record 178 drug shortages in 2010, marking a jump from 157 in 2009, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The shortage in injectable generic drugs for cancer and other diseases can be attributed to consolidation in the generic-drug industry, increased federal enforcement of quality standards and the lengthy FDA approval process, which makes it difficult for new producers to enter the market when supplies cannot keep up with demand. These drug shortages have hit hospitals hard, and while pharmacists often can obtain medications from other facilities or use alternative treatments, such a strategy can increase costs. Moreover, some alternatives are not good substitutes. The nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices released a September survey that blames drug shortages for more than 1,000 medication errors, near-misses and adverse outcomes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is collaborating with seven other national organizations and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, the Emory University School of Medicine, and the Emory Vaccine Center to sponsor a Clinical Vaccinology Course. This course will be held March 4-6, 2011, in Chicago, Ill., and will involve lectures and interactive case presentations. Topics will include new developments and concerns about the use of vaccines, with leading infectious disease experts to present the latest information on newly available vaccines and vaccines currently under development. This course is particularly intended for health professionals involved with the clinical use of vaccines, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and vaccine program administrators.