Regardless of where you live, the action in Washington, DC, affects you, your patients, and your practice. Get up to speed on the latest news from federal agencies, Congress, and the White House.

Rachel Balick

Pharmacy technicians may be held liable for malpractice when they breach their duty to patients. A legal case illustrates how miscommunication and a distrustful perspective can serve as the basis for malpractice liability of a pharmacy technician.

David B. Brushwood, BSPharm, JD

Smart pump errors, which involve both human and technical factors, can cause injury or death to patients. Fatigue and distractions plague many busy patient care units and frequently contribute to smart pump errors.

Joey Sweeney, PharmD, BCPS

The “postantibiotic era” is not coming—it is already here. The ubiquity of lower respiratory tract infections makes community acquired pneumonia (CAP) an evident target in limiting antimicrobial exposure. Results from a new study, published in April 2021 in the Lancet by Dinh and colleagues, boasts success for patients with a 3-day CAP treatment course.

Corey Diamond, PharmD

Management of patients with heart failure (HF) has evolved over the past few years, prompting the American College of Cardiology (ACC) to release an updated Expert Consensus Decision Pathway to provide guidance and recommendations on the clinical care of patients with HF with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Maria G. Tanzi, PharmD

Trending Topics in Health-System Pharmacy

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) received the following reports of injection and wrong-route errors that will likely happen again unless risk reduction strategies are implemented.

Institute for Safe Medication Practices

New and relatively low-priced at-home COVID-19 tests are now available at local pharmacies and can also be shipped directly to a patient’s home.

Clarissa Chan, PharmD

The potential cardiac effects of lamotrigine were added to its label late last year, and in March 2021, FDA released a drug safety communication highlighting the increased risk of arrhythmias in patients with heart disease who use lamotrigine.

Maria G. Tanzi, PharmD

The shift to quality-based incentives continues to emerge in pharmacy. The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) is currently working to develop pharmacy measures for A1C and blood pressure reporting; adherence to medications for hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes treatment; and antidepressant medication management.

Loren Bonner