PTCB Exhibits at 2008 NACDS Conference
August 26, 2008
The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board was an exhibitor at this week’s National Association of Chain Drug Store (NACDS) Pharmacy & Technology Conference alongside more than 320 exhibitors and 150 leading retail companies.
The PTCB’s exhibit provideed conference participants with solutions for enhanced patient safety and the benefits of pharmacy technician certification in the largest single gathering of retail pharmacy executives from drug, food, and mass retailers and their supplier counterparts.
Generic Drug Problems
August 22, 2008
I recently stumbled upon a website run by 2 pharmacists titled “The People Pharmacy.”
The website includes a section where users can post their gripes and adverse reactions to generic drugs that they were prescribed.
The largest amont seemed targeted at Generic forms of Wellbutrin XL, Zoloft, Ambien, and of course, many levothyroxine medications. Some get more obscure as Valium, Ativan, Elavil, and some brand name drugs that have not been manufactured for decades.
Some questions for you: are there some brand name drugs you have to stock for your customers that you wish you didn’t? What’s the oddest story you’ve heard about an adverse reaction to a seeming dependable generic? Are there brand names you’ve been asked to stock that you flat-out refuse to?
Please leave it in a comment or, you can also start a thread in our forums!
What should the penalty be?
August 14, 2008
Two Orlando, FL parents said they’re outraged after a pharmacy made a mistake that claimed the life of their 3-year-old son.
Sebastian Ferrero was prescribed 10 times the amount of a growth drug that he needed. The Ferrero family said the pharmacist involved received the minimum punishment for the mistake.
His parents said the decision to fine the Shands Hospital pharmacist responsible for filling their son’s prescription is just a slap on her wrist and a slap in their face.
The 3-year-old died last October. The family blames the pharmacist’s error. Read more
More on Don’t Shoot The Pharmacist
August 4, 2008
Another gem passed on by Dave Broitman R.Ph. regarding his film “Don’t shoot the Pharmacist”.
Dave, and actor Miles MacVane were interviewed on a cable show titled “The Directors Chair”.
The episode can be watched by clicking here. The interview appears at about the 40 minute mark. Watch it all or fast forward. but go check it out.
Aetna formulary now on-line
July 23, 2008
Aetna has set up a Web site expressly for pharmacists, providing participating pharmacy providers with access to drug pricing information, formularies, a guide to Aetna’s policies and services, and other resources. Pharmacists must register to get in. The assigned username will always be the pharmacist’s NCPDP number.
The Website address is www.aetnapharmacists.com.
Don’t Shoot the Pharmacist: Video
June 26, 2008
You may have seen the trailer for a new film titled “Don’t Shoot the Pharmacist” in the Featured Video section of this website.
The film was written, directed, and produced by Dave Broitman, RPh. and stars Cash Cab’s Ben Bailey as Zack Wright, a Pharmacist stuck on a zany graveyard shift in Brooklyn who must do everything in his power to simply surive the night.
Dave was kind enough to send me a link to an additional scene from the movie, located at the video section on the website of one of the film’s actors.
Go to myles.macvane.com, Click on VIDEOS then DON’T SHOOT THE PHARMACIST. Watch, Laugh, Enjoy.
CPhTLink.com will keep you posted with news and videos as they are made avilable.
Supreme Court Rejects Pharmacist’s Petition
June 20, 2008
Last March, I posted a story on Niel Noesen, a pharmacist who refused to refill or transfer a college student’s birth controll pills.
Noesen, 34, of St. Paul, Minn., told regulators that he is a devout Roman Catholic and refused to refill the prescription or release it to another pharmacy because he didn’t want to commit a sin by “impairing the fertility of a human being.”
Senate bill fails to make it to the floor
June 16, 2008
On a 54-39 roll call, a majority of the Senate voted June 12 in favor of continuing debate on health care legislation (S.3101) sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that includes provisions requiring prompt payment to pharmacies in Medicare Part D and a delay in the implementation of the disastrous AMP reimbursement cuts in Medicaid. It also includes a delay in implementing the Medicare DME competitive bidding program. Read more
Drugs With Fewer Side Effects
June 8, 2008
A Duke University chemist has apparently solved a long-standing frustration in creating certain synthetic molecules that make up drugs, which could lead to better drugs with fewer side effects.
Like human hands, many molecules that make up drugs come in two shapes, right and left. But usually only one of the two versions has the desired effect; the other is at best useless and sometimes even harmful. For example, side effects from the morning sickness drug Thalidomide resulted in profound birth defects because one shape of the molecule was therapeutic and the other was dangerous.
Don Coltart, an assistant professor of chemistry at Duke, appears to have found a way to make synthetic ketone molecules in just one version or the other using a process that is faster, cheaper and less wasteful than the best techniques now available. Read more
And The Winner Is….
June 2, 2008
First let me explain how I chose the winner.
I found a nice little Flash app that will choose a random name from a given list. Then, It shows the form of a slot machine and spins the list, randomly landing on one. Seems fair and random enough.
And the lucky winner is…. Read more
