KCHP Member Pat Parker Chats with Lawrence Journal-World About the Drug Shortage
Pat Parker, Director of Pharmacy and IV Therapy at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and KCHP Member who was honored with the KCHP Legacy Award at this year's Annual Meeting, sat down this past week with the Lawrence Journal-World for a public web chat about the current drug shortage crisis and its effect on Kansas hospitals and patients.  Calling the shortage "something we will struggle with for some time," Parker said that his hospital was currently tracking approximately 30 medications that are either unobtainable or difficult to find.  Read the entire chat.  The Journal-World has more coverage of the shortage on its WellCommons website.

KCHP Board Secretary/Treasurer Promoted
KCHP Secretary/Treasurer Samaneh Wilkinson of the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City was recently promoted from Clinical Manager to Assistant Director, Clinical Services.  "We have experienced tremendous growth in our organization in the last several years and been fortunate to maintain similar growth in clinical pharmacy services allowing us to keep pace with our patients' needs. Since 2005, Samaneh has lead the evolution of our clinical practice model, implemented new services to improve patient care, and managed an ever growing group of expert clinical pharmacists," said Rick Couldry, MS, RPh, Director of Pharmacy.  "We are fortunate to have the leader who will insure ongoing success and excellence in clinical services within our own ranks."  Congrats Samaneh!

University of Kansas Hospital Celebrates Pharmacy Week
The week of October 16th was National Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Week, which was celebrated by many Kansas hospitals.  The University of Kansas Hospital (KUH) Department of Pharmacy recognized it in unique ways. Outside of the daily meals provided by various drug reps, pharmacy staff were treated to emails from Hospital Executives, including the CEO and CNO of KUH, praising the department for their continual efforts in caring for patients and optimizing healthcare outcomes. Pharmacy staff were invited to participate in a "Pharmacy Scavenger Hunt" created by PGY2 Drug Information Resident, Emily Prohaska. PGY1 residents took the candy cart around the hospital to promote Pharmacy Week and to treat hospital workers to the best medicine: candy!  Pharmacy staff members were also invited to participate in a Pharmacy Jeopardy game created by PGY2 Admin resident Bryan Schuessler. The final Jeopardy question asked participants for the definition of Rx. All in all, pharmacy staff enjoyed celebrating with each other and recognizing their hard work.

University of Kansas School of Pharmacy Holds Competition
The University of Kansas School of Pharmacy recently held its Clinical Skills Competition.  Judges (and KCHP Members) Amber Lucas, Jim Lichauer and Linda Radke judged 14 teams in the competition, with the first place team receiving free registrations to ASHP's MidYear, and will compete in the national competition while in New Orleans in December for the event.  The top three teams were:

First place: Joanna Wakeman and Spence Pummel
Second: Thomas Lupton and Wesley Kosko
Third: Courtney Johnson and Lauren Frasier

KCHP congratulates the winners and all who participated in the event!

Lawrence Memorial Hospital Sends Two to Thailand
Lawrence Memorial Hospital recently sent two of its pharmacy staff to Thailand to present at a week-long conference, as well as lecture to pharmacy students at both Khon Kaen University and Ubon Ratchathani University.  Michael Bennett, Residency Program Director and current KCHP President, and Mike Oszko, Clinical Pharmacist, made the trip to Thailand.  During the trip, they also met with Peerawat Jinathongthai, ho completed a residency rotation at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in 2009.

Kansas Health Information Exchange Names CEO
The Kansas Health Information Exchange, Inc. (KHIE) Board of Directors announced in its October 12, 2011 board meeting that Bill Wallace has been selected to serve as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Wallace previously served as Vice President of Information Systems and Claims for BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas, He comes to the KHIE with over 38 years of experience with health care information systems and has served on several Commissions and Boards dedicated to fostering the secure exchange of health information in Kansas.

Mr. Wallace received his economics degree from Washburn University and after a short time in banking, began his career at BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas in their information systems department, working his way up to executive leadership. He has worked closely with health care providers, policy makers and other stakeholders over the years, most recently serving on the Kansas eHealth Advisory Council Financial Committee and as a consultant to the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care. “Bill Wallace brings an incredible amount of experience in health care information exchange and technology to the KHIE and we are fortunate to have him join our team to assist with implementing statewide health information exchange in Kansas” stated KHIE, Inc. Board of Directors Chair Karen Braman. Mr. Wallace resides in Topeka, is married and has two grown children.

The Kansas Health Information Exchange, Inc. was created by former Governor Mark Parkinson in a June 2010 Executive Order to implement statewide health information exchange in Kansas. The Board of Directors is comprised of representation from physicians, hospitals, safety net providers, pharmacists, consumer advocacy and other stakeholders. The KHIE, Inc. is currently funded by a federal grant through the Office of the National Coordinator. Mr. Wallace’s office will be temporarily located in the Kansas Health Institute, (KHI), with which the KHIE has entered into a short-term agreement for office space and administrative support.

PTCB Job Analysis Study
About every five years, PTCB conducts a Job Analysis Study to learn first-hand information on the current work of pharmacy technicians. This study then becomes the blueprint for revalidating and updating the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE). Pharmacy technician participation in this initiative is crucial since it is important for PTCB and the profession to obtain as many responses to this survey as possible. Last week, PTCB CPhTs received an email from ACT, the nonprofit research and testing organization that PTCB is working with to complete this study, containing detailed instructions on how to participate. CPhTs will earn two hours of Continuing Education credit toward their PTCB recertification if they complete the survey. We ask that you please encourage your pharmacy technicians to complete the survey should they receive an email from ACT.

U.S. FDA Reports Drug Shortages Have Caused Delay in Life Saving Treatments
As far back as May of this year reports of drug shortages to treat serious illnesses were being reported.  Website FairWarning sounded an alarm that U.S. Hospitals were facing serious shortages of medications used to treat illnesses like cancer and heart disease. Cheaper drugs were being used instead, which many times are not as effective. A survey conducted by the American Hospital Association found that of the 820 hospitals surveyed almost all had run out of important drugs and 80% said they had to delay patient treatments because of drug scarcity in the previous six months.      Read More

ASHP Testifies to Congress on Drug Shortages
Although there is no single solution that will immediately stop the drug shortages problem, there are several ways the issue can be addressed, ASHP past president Kevin J. Colgan, MA, FASHP, told legislators last week during a Capitol Hill hearing looking into the drug shortages crisis.

Colgan, corporate director of pharmacy at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, testified at a hearing held by the health subcommittee of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. Colgan described the benefits of the early warning system proposed by the “Preserving Access to Life-Saving Medications Act,” that would require manufacturers to report confidentially to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when they experience an interruption in the production of their product.

During his testimony Colgan presented additional strategies to address the problem, including additional resources so that the FDA can speed up the regulatory process, improved communication between FDA field personnel and the agency’s drug shortages program to assess the comparative risk of public harm when a potential enforcement action will cause or worsen a drug shortage; and incentives for manufacturers to continue or re-enter the market.

Drug Shortage Solutions Elude Stakeholders
Health care providers, patients, regulators and others frustrated by the growing problem of drug shortages urge all stakeholders to work toward a solution, despite the lack of consensus on what that solution may be. "Despite the efforts of all the partners in the room, and particularly the FDA, our drug shortages are getting worse and not better," said Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), during a September 26 public workshop on drug shortages held in White Oak, Maryland.    Read More

Bacteremia Outbreak Tied to Improper Filtration by Compounding Pharmacy
An improper filtration process let Serratia marcescens in tap water pass into two batches of pharmacy-prepared amino acid solution and then into hospital patients, a joint federal–state investigation has determined. The amino acid solution, said Neil Gupta, an epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had been prepared from scratch by a compounding pharmacy that he identified only as "Pharmacy A."    Read More

Emergency Medicine Practitioner Names Lethal Drug Interactions To Know
Stephen J. Traub, chairman of the emergency medicine department at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, recently offered this warning to colleagues across the nation: Fatigue from wading through alerts about drug interactions that conceivably could but likely won't occur in a particular patient means that computerized order-entry systems don't fail-safe prescribers against deadly combinations. "There's useful information there, the problem is that . . . it's really difficult to get a really functional [drug-interaction] signal from computerized order-entry systems," Traub said during an educational session October 17 at the American College of Emergency Physicians' meeting in San Francisco.    Read More