It’s less than three 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 2011
Law Seminar
(Joint Meeting - North and North Central Chapter’s)
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
RSVP:TBA

April 2011
No meeting scheduled

North Central Chapter

February 15, 2011
Sedation Education Demonstrating Advances in the Intensive Care and Perioperative Settings
(Supported by the France Foundation)
Location: Saint Barnabas Medical Center
94 Old Short Hills Road
Livingston, NJ
Time:5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Speaker:John Devlin, PharmD
RSVP:TBA

March 2011
Law Seminar
(Joint Meeting - North and North Central Chapter’s)
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
RSVP:TBA

April 2011
No meeting scheduled

Southern Chapter

February 22, 2011
Topic:Optimizing Anemia Management through Medication Reconciliation:
Applying the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goal Requirements
Location:Maggiano’s Little Italy
Cherry Hill, NJ
Time:5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Speaker:Indu Lew, Pharm.D.
Saint Barnabas Health Care System
Vice President Corporate Pharmacy
Education and Research
South Plainfield, NJ 07080
RSVP:TBA

March 22, 2011
Topic:Pharmaceutical Waste Compliance
Location:Maggiano’s Little Italy
Cherry Hill, NJ
Time:6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Speaker:Pat Chapman
RSVP:TBA

April 2011
No meeting scheduled

May 24, 2011
Topic:Anticoagulation in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
Location:Virtua Center for Learning
Mount Laurel, NJ
Time:6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
RSVP:TBA

Upcoming Events
oRotation Roundtable, January 26th
The 1st portion will be preceptors telling students about what they expect from them while on rotation and how to prepare.
The 2nd portion will be current Rutgers rotation students that will talk about their experiences while on rotation and any advice they have.
This event is to help 5th year pharmacy students choose their rotations for the upcoming year.

Recent Events Summary
oInternship Roundtable, November 3rd
Students who have done an internship entered a panel to tell younger students about their experiences and how they got their internship.
A panel of 15 students who all did different internships ranging from hospital, industry, retail, and research talked to students.
This was a joint event with APhA.
oClinical Pharmacy Event, November 10th
Dr. Choudry shared her experiences with students about clinical pharmacy.
Topics of discussion included: general role and responsibility at practice site, career path to position, what to do at Midyear, training required for the position.
oHospital Field Trip, November 13th
Eleven students took a field trip through St. Joseph’s Healthcare System.
The trip included lectures from many of the pharmacists in the hospital on topics including Director of Pharmacy perspective, Pharmacy Practice Model, Pediatric Pharmacy, Medication Safety, Anticoagulation, and Pharmacy Practice Residency.
Students also took a tour around the hospital to see pharmacy satellites, pharmacists stationed on the floors, and the main pharmacy.
Special thanks to Radhika Pisupati, PharmD, BCPS for helping organize the event!
oMidyear Clinical Meeting, December 4-8th
Astrela Sison, last year’s President of Rutgers NJSHP, presented our poster at the Student Poster Session at Midyear.
Our poster was on our events on Residency Information.
Our Student Society was recognized during the poster session as one of ninety-one colleges who have ASHP Recognition.

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

The Annual Awards will be presented during the installation dinner at the Annual Meeting on April 8, 2011. Now is the time to nominate your peers for their accomplishments, whether big or small, in the areas of continuous process improvement, innovation or enhanced patient care.

Want to learn a little history about these awards first? View Indu Lew’s presentation.

It’s easy to nominate someone who fits the criteria for excellence and recognition. Several categories of achievement are listed for each award candidate here .

You need not give a response for every section of the core values noted. At times, small changes, achievements, and innovative thinking are all that is needed to cite a candidate for recognition. You can complete your application on-line.

Questions about this process? Contact Stella Williams at swilliam@njha.com or at 609-936-2205.

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) Position serves to oversee the management of the day-to-day finances of the Society. Additional functions are secondary to the treasurer’s participation in other activities.

•Director of the Council (2) Two positions will be available. One involves the council on educational affairs, and the other, council on professional affairs. 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

The Handbook on Injectable Drugs, 16th edition brings together a wealth of information on 349 parenteral drugs commercially available in the United States and in other countries. It is the leading injectable drug guide, trusted, turned to and touted the world over for its intuitive, easy to use layout and its accessible organization and presentation of data. The information in the 16th edition is accumulated from 2788 references, including 65 new to this edition. As for each previous edition, the monographs have been completely updated. In addition to the updated monographs, 6 additional monographs on parenteral drugs that are new to this edition are presented. The Handbook is available in print, or in a CD-ROM format, which can be bought as a package. For more information, visit www.ashp.org/hid16.

The role of pharmacy technicians is rapidly expanding, and demand for well-trained technicians continues to grow. ASHP has released new editions of its best-selling training resources, the Manual for Pharmacy Technicians, 4th Edition, and the Pharmacy Technician Certification: Review and Practice Exam, 3rd Edition. A new addition to the collection is the Workbook for the Manual for Pharmacy Technicians, a companion to the Manual with additional exercises and assessment tools. Now available as a package, these three resources help pharmacy technicians master the practical skills and gain the foundational knowledge they need to be successful on the job. The newly reorganized Manual for Pharmacy Technicians provides comprehensive coverage designed to engage students and prepare them for all types of pharmacy technician positions. The text features new chapters which cover the latest essentials, and many useful new features to enhance learning. For more information, visit www.ashp.org/techmanual.

1/12/2011

ASHP and representatives from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the American Hospital Association (AHA) met recently with aides to Sen. Amy Klobuchar(D-Minn.) to discuss key issues that should be included in federal legislation to address drug shortages.

The Senator's office has indicated a strong interest in developing legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new tools to deal with potential shortages. The group discussed several policy options developed during the November 2010 drug shortages summit that could be included in a drug shortages bill. Among the options discussed were:

• A requirement for advance notification by both single source and multi-source manufacturers of supply or production problems, or business decisions that involve discontinuing a product;
• Changes to FDA regulations for reporting interruptions in single source medically necessary product supplies prior to planned action at least 12 months in advance; and
• Revision of FDA's definition of "medically necessary" to allow for inclusion of the impact of medication use factors.

As one of the outcomes of the Drug Shortages Summit the co-conveners, ASHP, ISMP, ASA, and ASCO, are working with participants in the November meeting to build consensus around policy alternatives that will help minimize disruptions to patient care. The group will continue working with both stakeholders and Senator Klobuchar’s office to address the drug shortages issue.

To read the recommendations from the Summit, go to www.ashp.org/drugshortages/summitreport.

Read More.

Access to Full-Text Articles Latest in Series of Electronic Enhancements to Premier Pharmacy Journal

1/12/2011

Full-text of articles in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHP) are now available via subscription on the Amazon Kindle e-reader.

AJHP publishes peer reviewed scientific papers on contemporary drug therapy and pharmacy practice innovations in hospitals and health systems. The journal joins several other prestigious publications on the Kindle, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, and the British Medical Journal.

AJHP articles will share all of the Kindle’s popular features, including wireless delivery and text-to-speech conversion. The $6.99 monthly subscription allows readers to access AJHP articles also on smartphones and tablet computers using the Kindle app for Android devices. Abstracts of journal articles are also available the Kindle as a blog.

AJHP’s availability on the Kindle is one of several recent electronic enhancements to the journal. Podcasts featuring interviews with authors of upcoming articles are available on the AJHP website and iTunes two weeks prior to the print publication of the papers. Social bookmarking features are also available on AJHP Online, which allow users to save and categorize a personal collection of articles and share them with others. Online articles can also be shared using eight different social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.

About ASHP For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists who practice in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety. The Society's 35,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who practice in inpatient, outpatient, home-care, and long-term-care settings, as well as pharmacy students. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP's Web site, www.ashp.org, or its consumer Web site, www.SafeMedication.com.

Read More.

Cheryl A. Thompson

BETHESDA, MD 06 January 2011—Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. today announced a follow-up to its October 2010 recall of 250-mg metronidazole tablets in 250-count bottles.

This time, the company is alerting consumers to the recall of lot 312566, which contains some underweight tablets.

A course of treatment with underweight metronidazole tablets may cause a patient's infection to worsen or recur, the company said.

The tablets, bearing the imprint "PLIVA 333," were distributed to wholesalers and other buyers from October 8 to 20, 2009, spokeswoman Denise Bradley said.

She said more than 55 of the approximately 75 bottles that were distributed have been returned to the company.

Croatia-based Pliva became part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. when the latter acquired Barr Pharmaceuticals in December 2008. Barr acquired Pliva in October 2006.

According to the website for Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., the company is working to put the imprint "TEVA" on its tablets and capsules.

Read More in ASHP's InterSection.

Kate Traynor [Updated January 10, 2011]

BETHESDA, MD 06 January 2011—FDA today posted a recall notice for all lots of alcohol pads, swabs, and swabsticks sold under various labels by the Triad Group of Hartland, Wisconsin.

According to the notice, a customer contacted the company about potential contamination of the products by Bacillus cereus.

The notice states that Triad has received one report of a "non-life-threatening" skin infection and that the recall is being done to ensure that the company' products are not the source of the "contamination issues."

All sterile and notsterile alcohol pads, swabs, and swabsticks made by the company are included in the recall. The products are branded as Triad Group, Cardinal Health, PSS Select, VersaPro, Boca/Ultilet, Moore Medical, Walgreens, CVS, or Conzellin and were distributed in the United States, Canada, and Europe, according to the notice.

The notice instructs purchasers to return recalled items to their place of purchase for a refund or contact Triad Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Central Time at 262-538-2900 to obtain a return authorization.

FDA's website describes B. cereus as a gram-positive bacterium that is found in soil and can cause diarrhea or vomiting in humans. The organism is associated with food poisoning but can also have other clinical manifestations, including severe systemic and pyogenic infections, gangrene, septic meningitis, cellulitis, panophthalmitis, lung abscesses, infant death, and endocarditis. Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals on Saturday warned patients to dispose of and not use the Triad-manufactured alcohol prep pads that are packaged with Bayer's injectable interferon beta 1-b product, Betaseron. Patients who prepare to inject Betaseron should use an alcohol prep pad that has not been recalled or a sterile gauze pad and isopropyl alcohol, according to Bayer.

The company stated that it has temporarily halted shipments of Betaseron and is seeking an alternative source of alcohol prep pads.

Read More.

The FDA today has approved fentanyl (Abstral) transmucosal tablets to manage breakthrough pain for adults with cancer. The new drug is available only through a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program designed to minimize the risk of misuse, abuse, addiction and overdose. Under this program, pharmacies, distributors, and health care professionals who prescribe to outpatients are required to enroll in the program to prescribe, dispense and distribute this product. FDA has standardized key components of the REMS program to facilitate the adoption of a single shared system. These components include the REMS document, the Patient-Prescriber Agreement, and the enrollment form. These components can be used by all sponsors of immediate release transmucosal fentanyl products to develop individual REMS programs. FDA has also directed the sponsors of this class of products to work together on a single shared system to implement the REMS. Common adverse reactions include nausea, constipation, drowsiness and headache. Serious adverse events, including deaths, have been reported in patients with other immediate-release transmucosal fentanyl products. The deaths occurred as a result of improper patient selection and/or improper dosing.

A new law in Ohio began limiting the times a prescription can be transferred between pharmacies to once a year as of Jan. 1, 2011. The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy says that it approved the change due to pharmacist concerns about paperwork and potential communication gaps that could cause patient safety concerns. Although some patients have complained about lack of choice, pharmacists say the law's ability to prevent potentially harmful drug-to-drug interactions and drug-to-disease interactions is worth any inconvenience. One such supporter is Thomas Bauer, a registered pharmacist and director of pharmacy at Summa Western Reserve Hospital's New Choice Pharmacy "As prescriptions are transferred from pharmacy to pharmacy, the chance for human, as well as electronic, error is bound to increase," Bauer points out. "This new law ... should eliminate one more chance of the patient receiving the incorrect medicine." Bauer added that the public should work with their physicians and pharmacists to create a plan so their medications remain available regardless of location. "This new law makes it even more important for the public to make educated decisions about their choice of pharmacy so they do not run into issues later," he said.

The Central Texas College (CTC) is offering a number of new programs, including a pharmacy technician course that prepares graduates to past the national Pharmacy Technician Certification Board Exam. Topics include law, ethics, terminology, body systems, calculations, purchasing, inventory, communication and professionalism in the workplace, study skills, and more. The class also includes a three-week externship. The course runs from Jan. 14 to July 29.

A new analysis confirms that the doubling of cardiovascular risk associated with the now-discontinued rofecoxib (Vioxx) persisted for at least a year after people stopped taking the drug. The analysis looks at a study of rofecoxib in adults with cognitive impairment for only a year. Therefore, researchers are unsure if the risk could potentially persist for longer than that or how long it might take to dissipate. Despite this uncertainty, researchers note that this analysis demonstrates the importance of observing patients after clinical trials have finished so as to determine whether any risks associated with study medications persist post-use. Of the 1,451 subjects in study analyzed, 43 percent were at risk for a first cardiovascular event and had off-drug follow-up data available. During off-drug follow-up, 22 investigator-reported cardiovascular thromboembolic adverse events occurred among the rofecoxib-treated subjects compared with six among those taking placebo. Among rofecoxib-treated subjects, 23 deaths occurred, compared with nine among those taking a placebo. Overall, an investigator-reported thromboembolic adverse event or death occurred during off-drug follow-up for 45 subjects: 32 in 287 patient-years of rofecoxib use and 13 in 234 patient-years of placebo use.

West Park Hospital in Cody recently became the first healthcare facility in Wyoming to acquire an automated drug dispenser. The new device, known as InstyMeds, arranges a three-day supply of medication for hospital patients. However, the Wyoming Board of Pharmacy may alter state regulations to allow the device to dispense in five- or 10-day quantities. Operation of the machine is overseen by pharmacy technician Donna Turecheck while an internal camera allows distance monitoring. Additionally, all prescriptions are validated using a triple-check barcoding system. The device is capable of holding more than 100 medications, the majority of which are stocked with drugs often associated with emergency department visits. Despite its capabilities, pharmacists at West Park see the system as a boon, not a threat. “It's just another aspect of care,” they say. “It still has to be overseen by a pharmacist.”

Pfizer has recalled 19,000 more bottles of atorvastatin (Lipitor). A musty smell detected in some bottles led to a series of four recalls that began in August 2010 and now totals 345,000 bottles. The smell has been traced to the chemical TBA, which is used to treat wood pallets on which the product was stored. Pfizer says that the company prohibits the use of TBA-treated pallets and that the bottles involved in the recall were supplied by a third-party manufacturer. Some adverse gastrointestinal events have been reported in association with bottles contaminated with trace amounts of TBA.

Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) has made good on his promise to hold Michele Leonhart's nomination to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration until a conflict over nursing home medication dispersals is resolved. Kohl, chairman on the Senate Aging Committee, has repeatedly asked the agency to work out an agreement allowing nursing home attendants to dispense Schedule II drugs to patients, like morphine and other pain medications, after consultation with a doctor. "Despite acknowledging that this unfortunate situation had led to real suffering by elderly and vulnerable nursing home patients, [Department of Justice] and DEA have not yet demonstrated a clear commitment to solving this problem in the short-term," Kohl wrote in a Dec. 3 letter informing Leonhart, DEA's current acting administrator, of the hold. Problems with medication dispersals have arisen because nurses and other attendants at nursing homes are typically not employed by doctors prescribing medications. DEA regulators in certain areas of the country have started enforcing rules requiring Schedule II drugs to be dispensed by "agents" of a doctor, which can require a business relationship between both parties, but legislation might be needed to ultimately iron out conflicts in the law. Kohl's letter also asserted that a state-by-state solution to the problem is unacceptable. "DEA seems to indicate they've gone as far as they can within [the] confines of the law, so we may need Congress to make changes to the law," says John Coster, head of government affairs at the National Community Pharmacists Association.

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has developed new standards to guide the content, language, and appearance of prescription medication labels according to how patients read and understand medication instructions. This is the first time that such changes are being proposed on a national level. Labels currently vary from pharmacy to pharmacy, although they must convey critical information for the drugs' safe use. The new standards are part of a broad effort by the Institute of Medicine to improve U.S. health literacy. "One key component of healthcare information is prescription container labels, which are a patient’s best—and often only—source of instruction and background necessary for safely and appropriately using a medication," said Roger L. Williams, MD, chief executive officer of USP. "These new standards were designed with the patient in mind, to bring clarity and consistency to the prescription labels they rely upon." The new standards propose that pharmacies' prescription container labels be organized in a patient-centered manner, featuring the most important information; emphasize instructions and other important information; provide explicit instructions; include purpose for use; improve readability; and limit nonessential information.

Health plans are increasingly realizing the potential cost savings of direct pharmacist intervention in patient care, viewing the idea of pharmacist as health coach as a bulwark against the predicted shortage of primary care doctors. "There's been a gradual development in which the pharmacist has begun to focus more and more on the total health of the patient rather than the dispensing of medication," says Daniel Brown, a professor of pharmacy practice at Palm Beach Atlantic University. A 2009 estimate by the New England Healthcare Institute found that patients who don't take their medication as prescribed cost the health care system up to $290 billion annually in emergency room visits and other expenses. Pharmacists are the most trusted source for medical research information, according to a 2010 study conducted by Charlton Research Co. As a result, health insurers and employers are paying pharmacists to advise patients, sometimes through medication therapy management programs.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, hospitals will be required to track central-line-associated bloodstream infections in ICUs and report them to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network beginning Jan. 1, 2011. A public report detailing hospital-specific infection rates will be released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the coming year. According to Consumers Union, "By requiring public reporting of infection rates, HHS aims to help patients learn more about their hospital's infection control track record and put pressure on hospitals to improve their care."

More than half of U.S. healthcare workers do not receive influenza vaccinations for a variety of reasons, although unimmunized healthcare workers are now widely recognized as a threat to patient safety. Throughout the country, various hospitals have made flu vaccination a requirement for workers, something that the Providence-based Lifespan hospital group in Rhode Island is considering. Flu-vaccination campaigns in the state have already looked to dispel myths and provide the vaccine directly to workers to make immunization easier. For example, South County Hospital has a vaccination program that enlists workers who support vaccination to educate and encourage their peers. The hospital had Rhode Island's second-highest flu-vaccination rate for the 2009-2010 flu season, the Health Department reported. Among nurses, certified nursing assistants, and doctors employed by the hospital, 82.5 percent at South County were vaccinated, compared to a statewide average of 61.2 percent. A 2007 survey of 846 workers as well as focus groups sought to determine some of the primary concerns among people who refuse the flu vaccine. Findings include the belief that influenza is a mild illness and that natural immunity and healthy habits provide adequate protection. Even when given additional information about the vaccine's safety and the dangers of influenza, many people were still difficult to convince to receive the shot. For its flu-vaccine effort, the Lifespan hospital group has an "army" of clinical managers who go floor-to-floor on all three shifts with a mobile flu wagon.