John Yanoschak, NJSHP Immediate Past President
As John Yanoschak leaves his one year post as NJSHP President, he shares his perspectives on a year that’s been dynamic, challenging and quick to pass.

To start with, John and his board of committed officers began the first steps to lay the foundation for a strategic plan. This strategic plan is highly member driven and will serve as bridge of continuity as the board changes with new officers. ASHP and a facilitator helped the Society with its new charge to define objectives and move forward with the process. As the plan continues to evolve, some areas have resonated loud and clear with the membership that include: 1) additional opportunities for professional development and continuing education credits, 2) more effective communication between the Board and members, 3) more motivational information about Board officer roles, and 4) additional networking and information exchange opportunities. Although John won’t be at the helm, he asks that members respond to future information from NJSHP that will solicit input about this very important initiative.

John cites his presidency as a great learning experience that included his greater involvement with ASHP. He assures that the importance and value of NJSHP is clearly heard and understood at a national level. John stresses the importance of committee board and officer level involvement.

At NJSHP, John sees many things growing and developing positively. He is pleased with the many enhancements and growth of the Annual Meeting. He mentions the great venue in New Brunswick, increasing member participation, quality programming, and additional CE opportunities. Also, John has received much positive feedback about the NJSHP website that continues to evolve.

The active and growing student chapter deserves many accolades and according to John “student involvement really solidifies the future.” He cites the student success at the Clinical Skills Competition in Las Vegas and its remarkable placement in the Top 10. He proudly admits that the student chapter was definitely a bright shining light.

John is also happy to have been a part of a year which saw current and former NJSHP board members nominated for both ASHP’s Board of Directors and the Council for Legal and Public Affairs.

Challenges came John’s way too. He still sees meeting the needs of the membership as an ongoing challenge especially in the arena of providing additional funding for professional development opportunities. Restrictive sponsorship funding and pharmaceutical industry guidelines have seriously limited corporate sponsor funding. Thus, securing effective business partnerships and sponsors is becoming more difficult because of these restrictions. Effective relationships with these business partners is essential to secure grants and additional funding that will help members meet their needs.

During the year a career change came John’s way. After 18 years at the Virtua Health System, John joined the Saint Barnabas Health System at Community Medical Center. John remarks that he’s privileged to work in his new place of employment, and is happy to have continued professional relationships with many past officers and board members who also work for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System. Talk about easy networking!
 
PHARMACY TECHNICIAN AWARD

Catherine McQuade is the 2006 Pharmacy Technician Award recipient. Ms. McQuade has been a pharmacy technician for 19 years and is PTCB certified. She is employed at Community Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System.

Catherine received a unanimous vote from all pharmacists in the entire Community Medical Pharmacy department for playing a vital role in transitioning the department to an automated medication dispensing system.

GREGORY A. SANTORA PHARMACIST
OF THE YEAR LEADERSHIP AWARD

Robert Adamson was selected for the prestigious 2006 Gregory A. Santora Pharmacist of the Year Leadership Award. Adamson has been employed at the Saint Barnabas Health Care System for the last four years. He has also served as the Society’s President, Director of Legal and Public Affairs and North Central Chapter President. He currently serves on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Legal Advisory Board.

The award is based on exceptional performance in the areas of leadership, strategic planning and the advancement of pharmaceutical care in the health care system setting. Rob’s achievements include the formation of a clinical pharmacy collaborative network within the Saint Barnabas Health Care System and patient focused pharmacy care projects that have revolved around post-operative nausea/vomiting management, anemia management, oncology supportive care and ICU sedative protocols.

PHARMACIST PRACTITIONER OF THE
YEAR AWARD

Dr. Jacqueline Olin
received the 2006 Pharmacy Practitioner of the Year Award. Dr. Olin is a beloved Clinical Assistant Professor at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is
considered to be one of the most involved and creative instructors in her field. Ms. Olin is also employed as a Clinical Coordinator at Hunterdon Medical Center. She was selected for the NJSHP Pharmacy Practitioner Award based on exceptional leadership, planning, pharmaceutical care, and performance improvement skills.

Dr. Olin is the Advisor of the NJSHP Student Chapter and was instrumental for the first time ever student chapter participation in the Student Society Showcase at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists at the Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas. the State University of

DEAN SCIARRONE STUDENT AWARD
(CO-RECIPIENTS)

Marilyn Novell and Rob Jenco were selected as co-recipients of the Dean Sciarrone Student Award. The Award is a tribute to the late Dean Sciarrone and embodies leadership, compassion, excellence and integrity for the profession of pharmacy. Novell is a 2007 Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at Rutgers,
New Jersey, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, and served as Treasurer of the NJSHP Student Chapter. In addition, she is involved in many community activities that provide support to pediatric patients and fundraising for breast cancer awareness and families in need. Novell is a Collinsville, Virginia native and is an intern at a CVS pharmacy in Martinsville, Virginia.

Rob Jenco is a 2007 Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. He concluded his term as President of the NJSHP Student Chapter. He is also a recipient of multi scholarships including the John Calasibetta Pharmacy Scholarship, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy Alumni Association Scholarship, National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation Robert J. Bolger Scholarship and the Schering- Plough Pharmacy Scholarship.
2006 marked another exciting year at the College Bowl of the Annual Meeting! Eight teams of Rutgers College of Pharmacy students competed for first and second place.

The teams were mixed with 3rd, 4th and 5th year students. Pharmacists throughout the state submitted 300 questions. Some questions were quite thought provoking while other questions were easier for NJSHP veterans. Participants and spectators definitely had a lot of fun with this competition.

Indu Lew, Pharm D. and Nancy Siekman, Pharm D., were wonderful moderators as they read the questions to the teams and handled requests to repeat questions. A big thank you to Indu who was responsible for formatting all the questions and made it possible this year for the audience to participate by seeing the questions. Our judges acted as an impartial group and did an excellent job of deciding if an answer was acceptable even if it differed slightly from the for formatted answer. Thank you
  
Jacqueline Olin, Pharm D., Rolee Pathak, Pharm D. and Yvonne Terceros, Pharm D. for taking the time to be our judges!

Our scorekeeper extraordinaire Rob Adamson, Pharm D., was his usual jolly self and helped by keeping an accurate score, especially when we had ties between 2 teams and needed to have a “run-off.”

As usual with this competition, all teams did a wonderful job vying for the 1st place prize of $250 per student and 2nd place prize of $100 per student. Congratulations to the First Place winners: Sarah Barlow, Henry Krell, Marilyn Novell, and Neil Patel. Second Place prizes were awarded to: Trixia Camacho, Robert Jenco, Sarah Kushlak, and Sharla Tajchman.

We hope to see you all next year! Don’t forget the College Bowl is not only entertaining, but it is worth valuable CE credits.
New Jersey Bill Senate 2200 sponsored by Nicholas P. Scutari
New Jersey Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act

The legislature has found and declared that “modern” medical research has discovered a beneficial use for marijuana in treating or alleviating the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating medical conditions, as found by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in March 1999.

1. In the 1999 study, the IOM stated that marijuana’s active ingredients might prove effective for a range of conditions.
 
a. Countering nausea and lack of appetite from cancer treatment,
b. Helping with painful conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
2. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 99 out of every 100 marijuana arrests in the country are made under state law, rather than under federal law.
 
a. Changing state law will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marijuana.

Stanley Watson, the co-director of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan and one of the authors of the IOM report, said there has been a lack of political interest in pursuing further studies. “There’s not enough evidence to let us say that marijuana is a great treatment, nor is there enough evidence to let us say that marijuana is a bad treatment.” he said. “The fact is we’re stuck.”

On June 7, 2005, the United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that federal authorities may prosecute sick patients who took the drug despite rules set forth by the individual states via voter referendum.

New Jersey Assembly Bill 398 sponsored by Jeff Van Drew and Nilsa Cruz-Perez. Pharmacy Quality Improvement and Error Prevention Act

The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee Substitute for Assembly Bill No. 398 would enact the “Pharmacy Quality Improvement and Error Prevention Act.”

These floor amendments would:
•
add two pharmacists representing mail service pharmacy to the New Jersey Task Force on Medication Error Prevention;

•
include prescriptions transmitted by facsimile in the feasibility study of restricting the methods in which prescriptions may be transmitted;
•
clarify that the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy may use all its statutory powers in enforcing this act;
•
remove the penalty provided in the bill in lieu of, or in addition to, the board’s existing statutory enforcement powers, for a registered pharmacist who fails to report;
•
 specify that the immunity received by reporting to the board applies to civil actions;
•
 remove the exception stating immunity does not apply in cases of knowing, purposeful, reckless or criminally negligent conduct; and
•
 make technical changes.

A3772 Prohibits pharmacists from refusing to dispense medication solely for philosophical, moral or religious reasons.

Identical Bill Number: S2178 and listed below are the bill sponsors:
Stender, Linda as Primary Sponsor
Smith, Robert J. as Primary Sponsor
Cohen, Neil M. as Primary Sponsor
Green, Jerry as Primary Sponsor
Voss, Joan M. as Co-Sponsor
Vas, Joseph as Co-Sponsor
Watson Coleman, Bonnie as Co-Sponsor
Gusciora, Reed as Co-Sponsor
Diegnan, Patrick J. as Co-Sponsor
Johnson, Gordon M. as Co-Sponsor
Weinberg, Loretta as Co-Sponsor
Hackett, Mims as Co-Sponsor

This bill was introduced on 2/7/2005 and has been referred to Assembly Health and Human Services Committee.

This bill amends the “New Jersey Pharmacy Practice Act” (N.J.S.A.45:14-40 et seq.) to provide an explicit statutory prohibition against a pharmacist refusing to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order solely on the grounds that the dispensing or refilling of the prescription or medication order would contravene the pharmacist’s philosophical, moral or religious beliefs.
In March the Student Chapter hosted a “Perspectives on Clinical Rotations” roundtable and invited nine clinical preceptors. The program was well attended with over 100 students. The Student Chapter thanks NJSHP members and preceptors, James Barna, Drs. Evelyn DeSantis and Jacky Olin for their time in making this program so worthwhile. Thanks goes out too to Walgreen’s for their generous $500 grant.

Also, the student chapter thanks Rob Adamson for his May 5 presentation on Electrolytic and Chem 7 Panels to help students prepare for their clinical rotations. The program focused on differential diagnoses and altering pharmacotherapy based on lab results.

The Student Chapter ends a quiet quarter as it says goodbye to its President, Rob Jenco. As most know, Rob is a highly spirited individual whose efforts have resulted in much invigoration of the chapter itself. John Yanoshak proudly admitted that the student chapter was definitely a bright shining light in his year end reflections. NJSHP thanks Rob for his dedication to his post. Rob reflected fondly too about NJSHP and said “It’s been such a great experience which opened so many doors for me.” Rob was a co-recipient of the 2006 Dean Sciarrone Award. We
  
wish Rob good luck as he prepares for his second clinical rotation with Dr. Rob Adamson, Past-President of NJSHP.

Congratulations to the incoming officers! President, Greg Abendroth; Secretary, Ellena Anagnostis; Treasurer, Lesly Jurado and Pharmacy Governing Council (PGC) Representative, Sarah Barlow. Dr. Jacky Olin keeps her post as faculty advisor.

The President-Elect position has yet to be filled so watch for this election in September. This position is a two year commitment. This officer serves under the direction of the President and faculty advisor and assists all the officers in coordinating the various activities of the chapter, such as the Clinical Skills Competition, College Bowl, etc. After serving one year as President-Elect, this officer automatically becomes President the following year. President-Elect is typically a P1 or P2 student. He/she cannot be a P3 student, because he/she will not be able to fulfill his/her duties as President during P4 rotations.

Check out NJSHP’s very own Student Chapter on the Student Forum Spotlight at
www.ashp.org/student/profiles/index.cfm.
Technician Update
Eight Members to Vie for ASHP Elective Offices
The Committee on Nominations has released the following list of candidates for ASHP office: Marjorie Shaw Phillips and Janet A. Silvester for 2007-08 President, Teresa J. Hudson and Michele Weizer for 2006-07 Chair of the House of Delegates, and NJSHP’s own Eric T. Hola, Janet L. Mighty, Kathryn R. Schultz, and James G. Stevenson for 2007-10 terms on the Board of Directors. Election of the president and two new members of the Board of Directors will occur in late summer. The chair of the House of Delegates will be elected at the ASHP Summer Meeting. NJSHP wishes Eric Hola the best of luck during this selection process!
 
 
Congratulations!

ASHP selected Jennifer Cimoch for its Policy and Legislative Affairs Student Subcommittee for the 2006-2007 term. Congratulations Jennifer!
 
 
SPOTLIGHT on YOU!

Celebrate your hard work and dedication in your pharmacy career! Share your accomplishments with NJSHP. Our newsletter 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; swilliam@njha.com. We’d love to hear from you!
 
 
Up Close and Personal
 
Continued from cover
 
For this year, John thanks the NJSHP membership, The Board and its Officers with whom close relationships developed. He emphasized great appreciation to Stella Williams, who tirelessly, diligently, and successfully, continues to drive the process, keeping the Chapter on track. On a personal note, John’s three children are grown – so there’s a little more quiet time with his wife, Barbara. In his spare time, you’ll find him relaxing by the pool, playing with the dogs, or cutting the Back-40, with iPod and headphones fully engaged, blocking out the stresses of the world around him.
 
Live educational and on-line learning opportunities for technicians are keeping Technician Director Barbara Dixey busy as usual. Here is a quick snapshot of recent sessions and what’s coming down the pipeline:

On May 25, 2006, Gina Rapp, Infection Control Practitioner from Shoreline Behavioral Services, presented her INFECTION CONTROL seminar to an audience of 20 technicians at Kimball Medical Center.

Karla Lee LaVoie, certified Reiki Master, presented ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE on June 15, 2006 to a group of 25 technicians. Technicians were amazed that holistic medicine is being used in hospitals, nursing homes and even animal shelters. Music, art and the power of touch have the ability to create well-being and heal. The seminar ended with a hands-on demonstration.

During the summer months of July and August, there will be no live educational seminars.

The NJSHP website (www.njshp.org) continues to be an invaluable resource to obtain CE Credits. NJSHP website features research articles from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Science and the Ernestt Mario School of Pharmacy. Dr. Linda Spooner and her Pharm D. students, along with Dr. Jacqueline Olin and her Pharm.D. students, have graciously shared their research articles with the technicians to create educational CE’s. Each article is worth (1) or (2) CE’s.

The following articles already appear on the website for credit:
•
The Use of oral Drug Therapy in Type 2 Diabetes
•
 Hyperlipidemia

Future website articles will have the title, author, CE’s and objectives listed. By probing each article, a request will be generated to mail the article in its entirety. After reading the article, ten questions will follow. Please e-mail the article title, date and answers along with your name and address to: Barbara Dixey at dixrx@aol.com. Your certificate will be mailed to you. Additional resources are available for technicians and pharmacists to obtain online CE credits at http://thecesolution.com/ce/index.asp. The CE Solution offers approximately 35 articles sponsored by drug companies for free CE’s. Registration on the site is required. This site offers a free law CE.

Rxschool.com is another site offering free educational resources like minimal fee articles and a free law CE.
  
Congratulations to Barbara Dixey who has been reappointed to the ASHP Technician Advisory Board for 2006-2007! Barbara’s been very active the last year and now reports:
•
An areas of focus includes the ExCPT (Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians) which was developed by the Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians. ExCPT was created because of the need to have more trained and certified technicians. Retail pharmacies have expressed the need for additional training and quicker processing of technicians.
•
Several states have accepted ExCPT as a recognized measure of technician’s knowledge and skills. Currently, PTCB is the only nationally recognized pharmacy technician certification. At the June session of the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy, Ken Schafermeyer expressed the need to consider recognizing ExCPT as an accepted measure of technician certification for New Jersey.
•
Some of the reasons given for the creation of another technician certification include:
o
Enhanced flexibility – Tests are given 48 hours after registration with a test fee of $95 as compared to PTCB testing which is offered 4 times a year, requires registration 2 months in advance and a test fee of $120.
o
Greater accessibility – ExCPT offers 1,000 computerized testing centers and 300 test dates as compared to PTCB which offers 165 test sites for written testing taking. PTCB is pleased to announce the initiation of online computer testing. The first online test will be available in September 2006. Stay posted for additional test sites, locations and dates.
On another front, California shares the vision of accepting tech-check-tech in hospitals. The State Board of Pharmacy has voted to allow tech-check-tech in hospitals after reviewing data showing that technicians are as accurate as pharmacists following a two year study at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Tech-check-tech is a great achievement for technicians because they have demonstrated their dedication, accuracy and skills needed to be entrusted with dispensing privileges. Pharmacists will now have the freedom to make rounds on the nursing units, recommend drug therapy and influence physician’s prescribing habits.

As California ploughs the way, hopefully New Jersey will follow someday.
       
The Annual Meeting is the premiere event for NJSHP that requires intense planning throughout the year. Thought provokingly entitled “What’s Next?” this meeting engaged NJSHP members to think critically about issues that are impacting the pharmacy profession. It’s the great planning that produced another record breaking event with 225 participants. Pharmacists and students trekked to the convenient Hyatt Regency for a filled-to-capacity day to network, exchange information, earn continuing education credits and see the latest on pharmaceutical products and technology.

First the Director’s Forum opened with Thomas P. Smith’s provocative discussion on technology integration and its impact on medication error reduction. With the official kick off that’s tons of learning fun, students engaged in a friendly style
competition, the College Bowl. Not only is this game session fun, it offers 2 CE credits. See the accompanying write up that provides more details.

Relatively new and introduced in 2004, a series of 15-minute presentations were on the docket so that attendees could earn an additional CE credit and learn new information in diverse areas. Some covered topics were:
•
effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs for chronic schizophrenia.
•
DCCT/EDIC study research group
•
Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemo-therapy for operable HER2- positive breast cancer
•
Controlling c.difficile following com-plications with increased fluoroquinolone use
•
Short-term risk of death after treatment with nesiritide for decompensated heart failure.
NJSHP thanks this year’s exhibitors for their consistent support throughout the years of this valuable meeting. The exhibitor forum is always a big hit where pharmacists and students can casually chat with pharmaceutical representatives and catch the latest happenings. Congratulations to this year’s winners of the 2006 Annual Meeting Poster Session. Thanks to the special judging time and talents of Charles Arrison,
Nancy Doherty, Carlo Lupano, Timothy Nguyen and George Piltz. See the separate legend for winners and poster titles.

After attendees had time to relax and network at the highly anticipated cocktail reception, John Yanoschak kicked off the Installation Dinner in which state and regional chapter officers were installed. This year’s keynote speaker, Karl Williams, RPh, Esq. presented a thought provoking session entitled “The Evolving Standards of Liability in Health-System Practice.”

As always, another evening highlight is the Awards Session in which the exceptional contributions of your pharmacy and student professionals are recognized. Don’t miss the separate write-up about the contributions of your peers!

See you next year! Mark the date for the 2007 Annual Meeting, Wednesday, April 11.

It’s with great sadness that NJHA reports the sudden passing of NJSHP State Treasurer, Bev Wilt. Bev was the Hospital Manager of Pharmacy at Kennedy Health System where she had been an employee for over 26 years. She devoted much energy and enthusiasm to her Kennedy family. Bev loved her career, especially her staff and her patients.

She was a first hand witness to the greater evolving role pharmacy continues to play in the overall patient care process. She devoted her time and talents to NJSHP and gave special advice to get involved with pharmacy as much as possible to really affect a positive change.

While a writing like this cannot possibly portray the depth of a person’s life or contributions, NJSHP was fortunate to have recently featured her for the Up Close and Personal Section in the Winter 2005 Bulletin. We invite you to visit http://www.njshp.org/winter05/index1.html

The suddenness of losing a dear friend and colleague brings the sharp reality that there are no guarantees in life and it’s a great gift to maximize joy and happiness by doing things that we love, both professionally and personally. We believe this is the spirit Bev would like to be remembered.

NJSHP extends its heartfelt condolences to Bev’s husband, Jay, her immediate family and her family at Kennedy Health System.
 

 
 
NJSHP Acknowledges These
2006 Corporate Sponsors:
     
PLATINUM
BRONZE
NJHA Corporate Services
George Hartpence
Ghartpence@njha.com
609-936-2197
Amgen, Inc.
Terry Robinson
Trobin01@amgen.com
973-723-1378
GOLD
  
AztraZeneca
Steve Gelwarg
Stephen.gelwarg@astrazenece.com
302-886-8880 ext. 66596
Greater New York Hospital
Association (GNYHA)
David Grish
grish@gnyha.org
212-506-5469
DIRECTOR’S FORUM
Ortho Biotech
Claudia Barbarisi CBarbari@obius.jnj.com
201-314-9942
McKesson Provider Technologies Eric Shubin
Eric.shubin@mckesson.com
610-825-1260
  
Roche Laboratories
Marcia Yu
Marcia.yu@roche.com
201-512-9233
If your organization is interested in learning more about the benefits an NJSHP Corporate Sponsorship offers, please contact Stella Williams today at 609-936-2205 or visit our website at www.njshp.org
 
New Jersey Society of Health-System Pharmacists
760 Alexander Road
P.O. Box 1
Princeton, NJ 08543-0001


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