Health System

As they headed home Thursday from the 2022 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition in Las Vegas, pharmacists pitched in to help a man having a medical emergency aboard a United flight bound for Newark, New Jersey.

Patients with pemphigus reported lower risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, among other cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes, when treated with rituximab compared with the first-line corticosteroid-sparing agents azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil.

The novel coalition was announced at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum, which took place December 4-7 in Orlando, Florida.

Frequency of orthostatic hypotension among Ethiopian patients with Parkinson disease (PD) was shown to be higher than that among healthy controls, with a higher proportion of constipation, urinary urgency, and nocturia symptoms reported in those with PD.

There is new data coming out on complementary and alternative therapies for dementia, including supplements, mindfulness techniques, exercise, music therapy, and more, said Kalin Clifford, PharmD, BCGP, BCPS, FASCP, associate professor, Geriatrics Division, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy.

Some of the latest trends in the health-system pharmacy space are ones that have already been around for a while, and organizations will need to understand how to address them at the local level, explained Marie A. Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, PhD, MPH, MBA, FCCP, FASHP, FAST, executive vice president and provost at Oregon Health and Science University.

Once patients with HIV start treatment, pharmacists can play a key role in addressing patient accessibility and affordability of HIV treatments and promoting adherence, said Dena Behm Dillon, PharmD, AAHIVP, HIV clinical pharmacy specialist, University of Iowa Health Care.

A partnership between a university and the local Black community in San Bernadino County, California, illustrated how pharmacists can actively work to improve vaccine uptake in their communities.

There are many risk factors for developing postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), but a simplified risk score can help with assessing those risk factors, said Jawad N. Saleh, PharmD, BSPharm, BCCCP, BCPS, clinical manager of pharmacy services, Hospital for Special Surgery.

A cross-sectional study showed that patients experiencing homelessness were at more than 2-fold greater age-adjusted mortality risk due to COVID-19 compared with the general population, with these increased risks observed across race/ethnicity and sex status.

Patients with diabetes who reported use of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or metformin prior to COVID-19 infection were associated with lower COVID-19–related adverse outcomes during hospitalization.

A clinical pharmacy specialist with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) described how the department is trying to address the needs of female veterans, including their reproductive health, as well as addressing disparities in chronic diseases.

Intravenous (IV) robotic technology brings advantages for pharmacy staff, but there are also accuracy issues with the technology. In addition, this technology will not be replacing a pharmacy technician job, said Scott Soefje, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, director of pharmacy cancer care and assistant professor of pharmacy, Mayo Clinic.

The CDC reported that the number of people who were hospitalized with the flu nearly doubled during the week of Thanksgiving; contraception for people producing sperm is finding promising results in clinical trials; marijuana use in children has risen 245% in the last 20 years.

Interviews with chief financial officers of rural hospitals revealed that they perceived telehealth to have some financial advantages; however, they did not believe that telehealth improved their hospitals’ financial situations.

The increasing complexity and costs of oncology care and resulting patient financial toxicity is driving more health systems to adopt oncology stewardship principles in their pharmacy practices, according to a session at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) 2022 Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exposition.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, discussed the influence of genetics and background on the care management of lupus nephritis.

Female allopathic medical students pursuing careers in dermatology were less likely than those pursuing other specialties to be from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in medicine or be a sexual minority, with a lack of interest in underserved care and public health shown overall.

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in Community and Home Health Nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, noted that a comprehensive assessment of each patient is necessary to develop individualized care plans that can achieve better outcomes and keep older adults in the home setting.

People with a gastrointestinal biopsy of normal mucosa or nonspecific inflammation were shown to be at increased risk of Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease.

Ferring’s Rebyota, a novel first-in-class microbiota-based live biotherapeutic, has been approved by the FDA for the prevention of recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in individuals 18 years and older, following antibiotic treatment for recurrent CDI.

Early life exposure to antibiotics, particularly during weeks 2, 3, and 4 of life, was associated with a decreased risk of atopic dermatitis development.

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in community and home health nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, addressed barriers related to access, cost, and knowledge impeding technology use in home health.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, discussed how the potential teratogenic effects of novel therapies being investigated for lupus nephritis can impede clinical trial recruitment for women of childbearing age.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, spoke on how clinical studies in atopic dermatitis (AD) are increasingly investigating topics that remain unknown for disease management, including primary vs secondary failures and AD pathophysiology across different ethnic groups.

Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope and chief clinical adviser of AccessHope in Duarte, California, spoke on the influence that the California Cancer Care Equity Act is having on legislative efforts in other states, as well as future steps to promote accessible, affordable, and effective cancer care for patients nationwide.

Elderly Japanese patients with a high geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) were associated with significantly better Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) relapse-free survival compared with those with low GNRI.

The studies reviewed estimates of economic and humanistic impact on both patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) as well as their caregivers.

Urban-living Indigenous children and young people in high-income countries reported a higher likelihood of current and severe symptoms of atopic dermatitis (AD) compared with a non-Indigenous population, as well as a higher incidence of bacterial skin infections.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, spoke on issues regarding the current standard of care for lupus nephritis, including steroid overuse, pregnancy, and dose-related toxicity.