Utilization of a "Diversity Index" to Assess Racial Diversity of US School of Pharmacy Graduates.

OBJECTIVE: Diversity in the training environment for health professionals is associated with improved abilities for graduates to care for diverse populations. Thus, a goal for health professional training programs, including pharmacy schools, should be to pursue representation among graduates that mirrors that of their communities. METHODS: We evaluate racial and ethnic diversity among graduates of Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programs across the United States (US) over time. Using a "Diversity Index", we quantify the relative racial and ethnic representation of each program's graduates compared with that of college-age graduates nationally and within the geographic region of the respective pharmacy school. RESULTS: Over the past decade, the number of US PharmD graduates increased by 24%. During this time, the number of Black and Hispanic PharmD graduates significantly increased. Still, representation of minoritized populations among graduates continues to be significantly lower compared with US benchmark populations. Only 16% of PharmD programs had a Diversity Index that matched or exceeded their benchmark comparator Black or Hispanic populations. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the significant opportunity that exists to increase the diversity of graduates of US PharmD programs to better reflect the diversity of the US population.

Implementation of a prioritized scoring tool to improve time to pharmacist intervention.

PURPOSE: The implementation of a prioritized scoring tool to improve time to pharmacist intervention is described. SUMMARY: At the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, pharmacists are accepted providers of therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin and aminoglycosides. At the onset of this initiative and despite the implementation of an integrated electronic medical record (EMR), management of pharmacokinetically monitored medications was conducted using a paper monitoring form. The potential for transcription errors during this process provided an opportunity for improvement. For these reasons, the department of pharmacy focused its initial efforts for a patient scoring system on the pharmacokinetics scoring module. Adjustment of associated medications based on pharmacokinetic values was a core function of pharmacists of the institution and was expected to be conducted without fail. Vancomycin was used as the index surrogate pharmacokinetically monitored medication within the module for testing and validation because of the clear expectations and standardized resources available to pharmacists to complete the task. The pharmacokinetics scoring module was designed specifically for the function of dosing management, searching throughout the EMR and concisely displaying the information a pharmacist needs to make a clinical decision. Importantly, integration of the scoring module reduced the time to intervention from hours to minutes. The median time to intervention was reduced to within a clinical working shift (8 hours) with the scoring module versus 24 hours or longer with the paper monitoring system. CONCLUSION: The implementation of an internally developed pharmacokinetics scoring module built into the EMR substantially reduced the time to clinical intervention for pharmacokinetic monitoring of vancomycin drug levels.

A Primer on Prescription Drug Abuse and the Role of the Pharmacy Director.

Prescription drug abuse, or using a prescription drug in a way not intended by the provider, has become such an issue in the United States that in 2013 the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classified it as a new epidemic. The goal of this article is to provide pharmacy directors with a primer on prescription drug abuse and its prevention. This article will cover the causes and societal impact of prescription drug abuse, review recent and proposed strategies to prevent prescription drug abuse, and discuss efforts within the health system to reduce the risks of narcotic diversion that can lead to prescription drug abuse. There are several health and societal factors that have contributed to the rise in prescription drug abuse. As there is no singular contributory factor to this epidemic, there is no easy solution for proper containment and monitoring of prescription drug use. Pharmacy directors play a vital role in the safe use of prescription medications by providing for fail-safe systems for accounting and controlling prescription drugs. In addition, pharmacists can play a role in educating patients and health care workers on the dangers of prescription drug abuse. Health systems should form teams to identify drug diversion and provide an intervention that demands accountability while helping the impaired professional. Health system pharmacy directors must play an integral role in these efforts and continue to seek opportunities to reduce any risks for prescription drug abuse.

Physicians as executives: opportunities and strategies for health-system pharmacy leaders.

To deal with the pressures in health care that stress clinical excellence and profitability, health systems are increasingly recruiting physician executives or physicians in leadership and management positions. Physicians occupy less than 5% of all hospital leadership positions, but there is an apparent increase in the recruitment of physician executives. With the growth in the number of physician executives, pharmacy leaders must capitalize on their existing clinical relationship and apply it to health care leadership and management. By focusing on developing an executive presence, by clearly describing a patient-centered strategy and vision for pharmacy, and by nurturing the existing clinical relationships, the pharmacy director can work with physician executives to promote patient-centered pharmacy services.