Editor’s Note: After Hurricane Sandy flooded the lower floors of Bellevue Hospital Center, N.Y., with 10 million gallons of water, rendering the fuel pumps for the center’s back-up generators useless and many of the nursing units without power, the nation’s oldest public hospital was forced to do something no one in its 276-year history ever [...]

Editor’s Note: While hospitals near the Atlantic Ocean braced for Hurricane Sandy and prepared to evacuate as necessary, medical centers located inland readied themselves for an influx of patients. Rebecca Deoras, Pharm.D., pediatric clinical pharmacy coordinator at Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York, spoke with InterSections about the center’s preparations and the challenges of treating [...]

The story of how ASHP helped achieve new legislation addressing national drug shortages is one of persistence, a singular focus on a major health care problem, and an all-encompassing commitment to patient safety. “This is really a story about how, when pharmacists work together, we can change our health care environment to keep patients safe,” [...]

  With the October launch of its Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service™ (PhORCAS™), ASHP has pushed aside the typically cumbersome, paper-laden residency application process to make room for a more efficient and convenient alternative. “The residency application process has been slow and labor-intensive,” said Kate Farthing, Pharm.D., BCPS, pharmacy clinical specialist, quality and patient [...]

When Tyler Van Schyndel, Pharm.D., was choosing his pharmacy residency project in 2011, he wanted one that would leave a lasting mark. He chose well. His pilot study demonstrated that pharmacy technicians could efficiently and accurately collect medication histories in the emergency department (ED) of Froedtert Health,Milwaukee. Dr. Van Schyndel’s work was so compelling that [...]

A new continuing education (CE) series of monthly webcast and on-demand offerings sponsored by ASHP and the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Chapel Hill, will feature nationally recognized leaders in progressive pharmacy practice, education, and research. The subscription series launches in January. Subscriptions to UNC Pharmacy Grand Rounds are available at both the [...]

Are you passionate about building a strong future for health-system pharmacy? Do you know someone else who is? Consider nominating yourself or a colleague for a position among ASHP’s elected leadership. ASHP’s president-elect and board members oversee the Society’s initiatives and programs, including professional policies, finances, and strategic planning. Officers are elected by active ASHP [...]

LAST APRIL, THE PHARMACY DIRECTOR of a large, multi-hospital health system in the Midwest phoned Gloria Sachdev, Pharm.D., clinical assistant professor of primary care at the Purdue University School of Pharmacy, West Lafayette, Ind. Several administrators had bombarded the director with requests for additional clinical pharmacists. Faced with juggling the competing demands while securing adequate resources to [...]

Although John Darnell, Pharm.D., is just embarking on his pharmacy career, he already can see how easy it would be, a few years down the road, to fall into a pattern of professional inertia. “One of my biggest concerns is that I won’t continue my education and professional growth beyond the minimum I’ll need to [...]

I am an eternal optimist, and today, I’d like to talk about two concepts which have optimism at their heart.  First, the value of setting a goal and pursuing it relentlessly, and, second, the importance of being the “MVP,” or most valuable pharmacist, on the health care team. Baseball, America’s pasttime, has always been a [...]