PHARMACISTS AND OTHER HOSPITAL WORKERS the allied health professions know that when disaster strikes, they may have to lodge in place at their facilities to ensure that there is no disruption in patient care and assist with any potential evacuation or influx of patients. It’s part of the job. So, when hospitals and health care [...]

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,” [...]

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 [...]

Ernest Dole, Pharm.D., PhC, BCPS, FASHP, a pharmacist clinician at the Pain Consultation and Treatment Center of the University of New Mexico Hospitals in Albuquerque, has been writing prescriptions since 1996. Three years earlier, his state became the first in the nation to grant a subset of highly trained clinical pharmacists prescriptive authority, contingent on [...]

  A pharmacist discovered the mistake, and it was a big one. Gone unnoticed, the error would have corrupted an entire clinical trial. The detection occurred at the outset of a phase I gene therapy trial at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) in New Brunswick. Patients with carcinoma of the bladder were to receive [...]

When Kenneth Kennedy, Pharm.D., began pharmacy school in 2005, he believed that finding his first job would be a snap. He had every reason to be optimistic: The nationwide shortage of pharmacists that had begun a decade earlier showed few signs of abating. Signing bonuses were routinely included with job offers. The problem had become so severe [...]

Pharmacy students are worried about finding a job or residency after they graduate, and new practitioners are concerned about their future career growth. Those are the main findings of  ASHP’s new Job Market Perceptions Survey of 1,516 students and 614 new practitioners. The survey also revealed the following: 2011 pharmacy school graduates started their job [...]

DURING HIS LONG CAREER AS A PHARMACIST, RICHARD CARVOTTA, R.PH., M.B.A., has never experienced anything quite like the prescription drug shortages currently plaguing hospitals and health systems across the U.S. “I’ve been a director for 27 years, and the past year has been the worst I’ve ever experienced,” said Carvotta, director of pharmacy for St. [...]