NJSHP

Congratulations to the newly elected ASHP State of New Jersey Delegates. It’s an honor and major responsibility to be selected for the four available New Jersey seats. These delegates will convene, along with other state delegates, in Orlando in June.

During their two year term, delegates will debate and vote on changes in ASHP policy statements, by-laws, regulations, and other new business that presents itself to the floor. These policies establish how NJSHP responds to federal and state legislation, how “best practices” are advanced in hospital pharmacies, and how guidelines are established for pharmacy practitioners. Let your voice be heard through your delegates. Don’t hesitate to contact them and inform them about the issues that are most important to you. Take a moment to get to know your delegates more closely:

Charles Arrison
Charles currently serves as Director of Pharmacy at Deborah Heart and Lung Center where he directs the departments of Sterile Processing, Supply and Patient Transport and Receiving. Charles is a past president of NJSHP and has served in various officer positions for NJSHP over the last 12 years. This is Charles’ third time as a Delegate. Charles can be reached at ArrisonC@Deborah.org.

Eric Hola
Eric Hola currently serves as Pharmacy Director for Saint Barnabas Medical Center. He is responsible for all distributive and patient care functions of the Pharmacy Department. Saint Barnabas uses automated dispensing devices to service all patient areas, with on-unit pharmacists to assist patient care personnel in providing medications. Specialty services are provided to NICU, oncology and critically ill patients.

Eric is not a newcomer to the ASHP delegate scene and has held this post for the last 8 years. He served on ASHP’s Council on Organizational Affairs and acted as Chairperson for the Board of Canvasers. In 1998 he was the NJSHP President, and was awarded the Gregory Santora Leadership Award in 1999. Eric’s e-mail address is EHola@SBHCS.com.

Russ Lazzaro

As Holy Name Hospital Pharmacy Director for the last 20 years, Russ has seen his department advance from a part-time pharmacy to a full IV additive, 24/7 clinical department. Russ works with his 50 employees in these four major areas. His department is working towards an automated dispensing function with the goal to move pharmacists closer to patients. Additionally, Russ is working

with Nursing and IS to develop a bar code point of care scanning program. Currently, Holy Name’s IS Department has already created a program that scans all physicians’ order to pharmacy linking the orders to the patient’s pharmacy profile and automatically prints allergies on blank orders.
In the past, Russ has served as a state delegate and thanks the NJSHP membership for giving him the opportunity to represent his state and member concerns again. Contact Russ at lazzaro@mail.holyname.org.

Andre Emont
Andre is currently Director of Pharmaceutical Services at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Andre is proud to admit that his staff is actively engaged in assuring that pharmacy practice meets as well as exceeds all quality professional practice standards. As President of the North Central Chapter of NJSHP, he is very excited about being selected as a Delegate and intends to remain dedicated by being a vocal participant in bringing positive change and advancement for the pharmacy profession. Andre can be contacted at emontaj@umdnj.edu.

NJSHP also congratulates ASHP Alternate Delegates, Carlo Lupano and Marsha Durniak.

Mary Barna and Patrick Bridgeman
At ASHP’s 40th Annual Midyear Clinical Meeting, held in Las Vegas this year, we competed in the National Clinical Skills Competition on behalf of Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. Out of 82 schools in the country and against strong competition, Rutgers placed in the top ten, under the guidance and coaching of Dr. Jacqueline Olin and the faculty at Rutgers. The competition began in October, when 15 teams at Rutgers vied for the local championship position, which guaranteed the winner a trip to nationals in Las Vegas, taking place in December as part of the midyear meeting. We took the championship at the local level and went on to represent Rutgers in Las		Vegas. Cheered on byacademic advisors, faculty, and a well-represented number of fellow students, our team placed among the top ten in the nation. At both the local and national level, the competition centered around a written patient care plan, in which students were given a case scenario and two hours to identify patient’s problems, pharmacotherapeutic needs, and outcomes. At the national level, our team was given the opportunity to verbally present our therapeutic recommendations to a panel of judges, and then respond to judge’s rapid-fire questions related to the case. Butler University placed first in the competition, but our team felt like winners. In the competition’s		Mary Barna and Patrick Bridgeman placed in the Top Ten for the National Clinical Skills Competition in Las Vegas. ten year history, this is the first time that Rutgers placed among the top ten. The faculty and team members couldn’t have been more pleased! Rutgers Among Top Ten in Las Vegas Continued on page 4