It's a week away! 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
April 2011: No Meeting Scheduled

North Central Chapter
April 2011: No Meeting Scheduled

May 31, 2011
Topic: PPI’s Drug Interactions: To Worry or Not to Worry
(Tentative) Location: Wallace Auditorium, Overlook Hospital
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Speaker: Corinne Chahine-Chakhtoura, MS, PharmD, BCPS
Director, Pharmacy Clinical Services and Residency Programs
Saint Michael’s Medical Center
Newark, NJ

Central Chapter
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
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

Pharmacy Learning Network is pleased to announce its first ever multi-day educational conference dedicated to health-system pharmacists!

May 20-21, 2011 at the Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel

Join our expert panel for a wide range of therapeutically-driven and practice-based discussions. Our faculty regularly incorporates your feedback throughout the day, giving you data targeted not only for the health-system pharmacy field in general, but for the individual needs and interests of our attendees. Our 2-day format offers ample flexibility for your busy schedule. Register for either Friday or Saturday (presentations begin at 8:00 am both days) or attend the conference in full and earn up to 13 LIVE contact hours.

Space is limited, so reserve your seat today!

REGISTER BY APRIL 25TH and receive a $15 discount per person per day

Individuals

• Friday and Saturday - $100 ($130 after 4/25)
• Friday only - $50 ($65 after 4/25)
• Saturday only - $60 ($75 after 4/25)

Groups – 4 or more Attendees

• Friday and Saturday - $90 per person ($120 per person after 4/25)
• Friday only - $40 per person ($55 per person after 4/25)
• Saturday only $50 ($65 per person after 4/25)

To Register
Visit www.pharmacylearningnetwork.com*

Questions? Call (609) 371-1137
Or Email kciszeski@pharmacylearningnetwork.com

“PLN Faculty—individuals who are the top experts in their field—are not normally seen in other live, local educational venues. The speakers were knowledgeable and presented very stimulating lectures.” Laura M. Rivera, RPh, PLN Learner

*Group registration not available online. To register a group of 4 or more, please call 609-371-1137 X6214 or X6229

Upcoming Events
Elections, March 30th
The positions of President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and PGC Representative will be voted on by NJSHP members.
Jennifer Kostialik will be President of NJSHP Rutgers Chapter for the 2011-2012 school year.
College Bowl, April 8th
Twenty students divided into four teams from the Rutgers Chapter will be competing in the College Bowl this year. We look forward to an exciting and challenging competition against LIU!
NJSHP Poster Presentation at the Annual Meeting, April 8th
NJSHP members will be at the Poster Presentation at the Annual Meeting. Make sure to come by!
Careers Post Residency Event, April 14th
We will be providing students with the information about what opportunities one can have after completing a residency.
This is a collaboration event with ACCP.
Dining to Donate, April 14th
The Dining to Donate Day has been arranged with TGI Fridays (1315 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway). Flyers are being posted around the school.
We encourage all NJSHP members, family, and friends to attend! 20% of your bill will go towards the March of Dimes cause.
Lexi-Comp Info Session, April 21st
A representative from Lexi-Comp will provide information about clinical resources/technology. The rep will talk about software for iPhones, iTouch, Droid, etc.
Discounts on software will be offered to Rutgers students.
Rutgers Day Booth, April 30th
NJSHP is teaming up with APhA-ASP's Trooper Turtle committee to create a booth for the children visiting campus during Rutgers Day!
The booth will focus on teaching children the danger associated with everyday poisons, such as household cleaning products, and what to do if they come into contact with a poison.
NJSHP members will perform the skit from the poison prevention activity.

Recent Events
S.H.A.P.E.S. Initiative, March 3rd
S.H.A.P.E.S stands for the Student Healthcare Alliance Promoting Education and Support Initiative.
The pharmacy school worked with The Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine M.D. and P.A. programs and the Rutgers College of Nursing to put together a collaborative health fair series at Elijah's Promise Soup Kitchen in downtown New Brunswick.
An NJSHP member was there to present on Smoking Cessation.
Poison Prevention Community Outreach Project, March 14th
NJSHP members presented a short skit titled “Spike’s Poison Prevention Adventure” to children at the Rutgers Livingston Daycare.
Important poison prevention concepts were taught to children via interactive games, music, and singing.
Health-Systems Career Night, March 21st
Guest speakers from different careers in health-systems pharmacy came to speak to students.
We had a speaker from pharmacy administration (Mitch Sobel R.Ph. M.A.S.), and two staff pharmacists present.
Each speaker told the students about their job, experiences that they have had, and how they got to where they are today. After each presentation there was an interactive Q/A session.

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

Celebrate your hard work and dedication in your pharmacy career! Share your accomplishments with NJSHP! Our monthly Newsbriefs is an excellent opportunity to provide education and information about your contributions to the practice of pharmacy. Your story can be an inspiration to others! So don’t be shy. To submit your contribution, please contact Stella Williams at 609-936-2205 or email at swilliam@njha.com. We’d love to hear from you!

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

[April 1, 2011, AJHP News], Kate Traynor, BETHESDA, MD 14 March 2011—The influenza virus vaccine formulation for the 2011–12 flu season should remain the same as for the current season, FDA advisers recommended February 25.

During the meeting of FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, held in Bethesda, Maryland, the 16 advisers voted unanimously to retain the current influenza type A H3N2 and influenza B strains in next season's vaccine formulation. The recommendation to retain the influenza type A H1N1 component was 15 in favor, with 1 abstention.

The specific recommendations are for an A/California/7/2009-like H1N1 virus, an A/Perth/16/2009-like H3N2 virus, and a /Brisbane/60/2008-like virus. This is the same Northern Hemisphere recommendation made days earlier by the World Health Organization.

Samson Lee, manager of vaccine manufacturing at Sanofi Pasteur's Swiftwater, Pennsylvania, facility, said the industry as a whole produced more than 160 million doses of trivalent vaccine for the current flu season. He said manufacturers are well-poised to sustain this production capacity for the next flu season.

Lee said many manufacturers have already begun production of vaccine virus strains in anticipation of this year's recommendation.

Read More

[April 1, 2011, AJHP News], Kate Traynor, SILVER SPRING, MD 14 March 2011—A February 15–16 FDA public workshop on track-and-trace systems for prescription drugs drew more than 100 registrants, and agency officials said they are eager to take what they learned and use it to shape final policy on the subject.

"We need to do some more thinking, but that's not going to slow us down," said FDA Senior Adviser Ilisa Bernstein.

She said FDA is working with various industries and other countries to learn how to best implement pharmaceutical tracking and tracing in the United States. She said this "due diligence" will continue and urged all stakeholders to contribute their insights to the agency.

Bernstein said FDA currently does not have a specific timeline for finishing the standards-development process and wants to get the fundamentals right.

"It's important to ensure that the system is accessible, feasible, and cost-effective for all players in the system," Bernstein said.

The purpose of the workshop was to explore approaches to a workable track-and-trace system that takes into account the perspectives of all stakeholders in the supply chain. Ultimately, FDA will set standards that "facilitate identification, authentication, and tracking and tracing of prescription drug packages," according to the agency.

Read More

New Website Features Results from February Stakeholders Conference, 3/11/2011
Pharmacy leaders representing all aspects of pharmacy practice met at the Pharmacy Residency Capacity Stakeholders Conference last month in Washington, D.C. to address the critical shortage of pharmacy residency training positions and programs in the U.S. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is sharing results from the conference on a new Website. In addition to ASHP, the conference co-conveners included the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA).

“This shortage of pharmacy residency positions and programs ultimately limits patients’ access to pharmacists serving as direct patient care providers who are accountable for medication therapy outcomes.,” said Henri R. Manasse, Jr., Ph.D., Sc.D. ASHP executive vice president and CEO. ASHP policy advocates that by 2020, residency training should be required for all new graduates going into practice that involves direct patient care. “The outcomes from this important conference solidifies the pharmacy professions consensus that having a pharmacy workforce that is residency trained is vitally needed, and that we must work together to assertively implement the conference recommendations to increase the number of accredited residency training positions and programs,” Manasse added.

Read More

[April 1, 2011, AJHP News], Cheryl A. Thompson, BETHESDA, MD 11 March 2011—By the end of March, the first data analysis based on FDA’s fledgling electronic active surveillance system for medical products should be complete, a workgroup leader recently announced.

And, if the subsequent nine quarterly data analyses proceed as planned, the surveillance system will estimate the relative risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in saxagliptin users ahead of the company-sponsored Phase IV study.

Bruce Fireman, a workgroup leader for the FDA-sponsored program known as Mini-Sentinel, described its first medical product evaluation during a virtual roundtable held by the Brookings Institute on January 31.

This first evaluation, he said, focuses on MI and oral hypoglycemics because "heart attack is a serious outcome of great interest in the diabetes population, and it’s an outcome that can be ascertained well by Sentinel data partners."

Read More

Drug shortages across the country have led many hospital pharmacists to turn to older treatments. Although many of these medications are just as effective, dosing differences leave healthcare professionals at risk for safety concerns. Approximately 35 percent of healthcare professionals surveyed by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices regarding the shortages say they experienced an error that could have led to harm during the past year. Hospitals have also taken to moving drugs in short supply from one facility to another as they are needed. Reports indicate that the current shortage of some drugs is being caused by manufacturing issues and quality-control problems at a number of companies including toxins and "particulate matter" in medicines and mistakes in paperwork used to verify that the drugs are safe and effective. Consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry has also contributed to the shortage. "These are the worst shortages I have ever seen," said Thomas Wheeler, a hospital pharmacist for three decades and director of pharmacy for Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. "The most troubling aspect is that it is critical drugs for which there are limited alternatives. Many are involved in cancer care and surgery." According to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, approximately 150 drugs are facing shortages- triple the number released give years ago. Of those medications, approximately 60 are deeded "medically necessary."

The FDA has issued a warning regarding serious health problems observed in premature babies receiving lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) oral solution. This product contains alcohol and propylene glycol, which have been associated with an higher risk of adverse events, such as serious renal, cardiovascular, or respiratory problems in premature babies. The FDA recommends the use of this product be avoided in premature babies until 14 days after their due date or in full-term babies younger than 14 days of age, unless a healthcare professional believes the benefits of using it to treat HIV infection immediately after birth outweighs its risks.

UCSF Medical Center now has a fully automated hospital pharmacy, believed to be the nation’s most comprehensive. The new pharmacy uses robotic technology and electronics to prepare and track medications in order to improve patient safety. Thus far, no errors have occurred in the 350,000 doses of medication prepared during the pilot program. The system can handle both oral and injectable medications. In addition to providing a safer environment for pharmacy employees, the automation also frees UCSF pharmacists and nurses to focus more of their expertise on direct patient care. Lynn Paulsen, PharmD, director of pharmaceutical services at UCSF Medical Center commented on the system, saying “It was important to develop a system that is integrated from end to end. Each step in safe, effective medication therapy – from determining the most appropriate drug for an individual patient to administering it–is contingent on the other.” Currently, the new pharmacy serves UCSF hospitals at Parnassus and Mount Zion and has the capacity to dispense medications for the new UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, scheduled to open in 2014.

The American Thoracic Society and Infectious Diseases Society of America both have guidelines for the management of hospital-acquired, ventilator-associated, and healthcare-associated pneumonias. Researchers conducted a study to improve compliance with these guidelines and assess their outcomes. The study included 303 intensive-care unit (ICU) patients at risk for multidrug-resistant pneumonia. The patients were assessed for illness severity, with follow-up ending at either death, hospital discharge, or day 28. Prescribed treatment was guideline-compliant in 129 patients and non-compliant in 174 patients. The authors note that Kaplan-Meier estimated survival to 28 days was 65 percent in the compliance group and 79 percent in the non-compliance cohort. Between the two groups, median length of stay and duration of mechanical ventilation was not significantly different. For patients with subsequently identified pathogens, empirical treatment was active in 81 percent of patients receiving compliant therapy compared with 85 percent of patients receiving non-compliant therapy. In the compliance group, 34 percent of patients died before 28 days, compared to 20 percent in the non-compliance group. The researchers assert that, because adherence with empirical treatment was associated with greater mortality, a randomized trial should be conducted before these guidelines are implemented further.

The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will begin issuing American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) accreditation for for Indian pharmacy students (Pharm.D). Students who complete an ACPE-accredited program will be able to earn a license to work as a Registered Pharmacist in any state once the pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination. The PCI is going to conduct a seminar and recruitment session on April 9, 2011 for the 1st batch of ACPE Pharm. D students which will be granted to the students passing out in 2011.

Topiramate (Topamax) may raise the risk of cleft lip and cleft palate in babies born to women who use the medication during pregnancy, according to new research. Data from the North American Antiepileptic Drug (AED) Pregnancy Registry showed a higher risk of oral clefts in infants exposed to the drug during the first three months of pregnancy. Infants exposed to the drug as a single therapy experienced a 1.4 percent prevalence of oral clefts, compared with a prevalence of 0.38 percent to 0.55 percent in infants exposed to other antiepileptic medications. Topiramate will now have a stronger warning in its prescribing information, and specifically, the pregnancy category will be changed to Pregnancy Category D instead of C.

Antimicrobial agents have saved millions of lives since the early 1930s, but their effectiveness is now at risk, due to antibiotic resistance and a decline in the antibiotic research and development pipeline. Recent reports of infections from gram-negative bacteria producing the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1) enzyme also show that antibiotic resistance is a growing global public health threat. Fighting this will take comprehensive strategies against antimicrobial-resistant organisms and a boost to the development of new antibiotics. Because antibiotics work well and fast, usually only taken for 7 to 14 days, they are not as profitable as other types of drugs used to treat more chronic conditions. Regulatory uncertainties also create barriers to development. However, as much as 50 percent of antibiotic use in humans may be unnecessary or inappropriate, prompting a need for public education to lower these rates and the resulting antimicrobial resistance. Comprehensive infection prevention and control efforts, as well as strong surveillance and data collection, can significantly limit the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Healthcare professionals in the medical community can also help fight such bacteria by raising awareness of these problems and prescribing antimicrobial agents appropriately. A Transatlantic Task Force for Antimicrobial Resistance is in development, and antimicrobial resistance will be the theme for World Health Day in April 2011.

San Jacinto Methodist Hospital recently hosted a pharmacist and a pharmacy student from Japan. Ayako Furuta of Community Pharmacist for Sugiyama Pharmacy Co. LTD in Fukuoka City, Japan, and Takuya Furuta, a pharmacy student at the Pharmaceutical School in Koube, Japan, finished their two-week educational tour on Feb. 25. During the tour, they followed registered pharmacists, observing American pharmacy techniques and sharing international perspective on pharmacy policies and procedures. Ayako and Takuya were supervised by Edward Bornet MS, RPh. "We had such a great experience with our recent visitors. Not only did they learn a great amount about American pharmacists; we in turn learned an incredible amount about Japanese pharmacists and techniques," said Bornet, who is the Director of Pharmacy Services at San Jacinto.

The FDA reports that prescription proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs may cause hypomagnesemia if taken for prolonged periods of time. In approximately one-quarter of the cases reviewed, magnesium supplementation alone did not improve low serum magnesium levels and the PPI had to be discontinued. Low serum magnesium levels can result in serious adverse events including tetany, arrhythmias, and seizures; however, patients do not always have these symptoms. Treatment in patients taking a PPI and who have hypomagnesemia may also require stopping the PPI. Information about the potential risk of low serum magnesium levels from PPIs will be added to the warnings and precautions sections of the labels for all the prescription PPIs.

Cellulitis and cutaneous abscess are two of the most common infections that contribute to hospitalization, but research is lacking on the optimal management strategies. A team of researchers hypothesized that an institutional guideline to streamline the evaluation and treatment of inpatient cellulitis and abscess can decrease the use of antibiotics and other healthcare resources. This study team compared management before and after implementation of a guideline in the periods Jan. 1, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2007, and July 9, 2009 to July 8, 2010. The study included 169 patients in the baseline cohort and 175 patients in the intervention cohort. Results showed that the intervention led to a significant decrease in use of microbiological cultures and fewer requests for inpatient consultations. Median duration of antibiotic therapy also decreased from 13 days to 10 days after the intervention. Fewer patients were given antimicrobial drugs with broad aerobic gram-negative activity, antipseudomonal activity, or broad anaerobic activity. Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that implementation of a guideline for inpatient cellulitis and cutaneous abscess can lead to shorter duration of more targeted antibiotic therapy and reduced use of resources without affecting clinical outcomes.