Study Questions Safety of Diabetic Heart Treatments
March 14, 2010. A newly released study
has found that three aggressive treatments to prevent heart attacks among Type
2 diabetics could be more harmful than helpful to patients. Doctors have been
trying three strategies to reduce the risk of heart attack for diabetics: getting
blood pressure to a normal range; raising levels of good cholesterol and
lowering levels of dangerous triglycerides; or modulating sharp upswings in
blood sugar after a meal. Unfortunately, it has been found that each of those
strategies either put patients at more risk of heart attack, or caused severe
unwanted side effects without alleviating the heart problems. Doctors across
the country expressed disappointment over the results of the study. Gina
Kolata, The New York Times. Read Article
Man Robs Pharmacy, Pays Cash for Booty
AP March 9, 2010. COEUR D'ALENE -- Police in northern Idaho say a robber demanded a controlled drug from a local pharmacy, and then threw some cash on the counter to pay for it before fleeing. Full story.
March 10, 2009. Update. Suspected robber turns himself in.
Fricke Valentine Story
February 14, 2010. ISHP member Brent Fricke and his wife of 36 years were featured in the Valentine's Day edition of the Idaho Statesman. They both recently retired from SLRMC. Brent is a Past-President of ISHP. Full story.
Lancet Retracts Flawed MMR/Autism Study
February 2, 2010. AP - A major British medical journal on Tuesday retracted a flawed study linking the MMR vaccine to autism and bowel disease. The retraction by The Lancet comes a day after a competing medical journal, BMJ, issued an embargoed commentary calling for The Lancet to formally retract the study. The commentary was to have been published on Wednesday. Read more here.
Related Article: 1 in 4 parents believes vaccines cause autism (03/01/10)
Special Court Rules Thiomersol Does not Cause Autism (03/12/10)
De Blaquiere Appointed to Board of Pharmacy
January 25, 2010. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter recently appointed Dr. Rich De Blaquiere to the Idaho Board of Pharmacy to replace Dwayne Sheffler, who resigned last month. Rich is a 2004 graduate of WSU College of Pharmacy and works for two family-owned White Cross pharmacies in Sandpoint and Priest River, Idaho. He was born and raised in Priest River. His father, Gary, is also a pharmacist.
February is Heart Month: 400,000 Will Die of Heart Disease in 2010
February 1, 2010 Reuters - Decades of progress in the United States on cutting cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking are being stalled by rising obesity rates, and heart disease will kill around 400,000 Americans this year, experts said on Monday. Full Story.
Opioid Overdoses Studied
Jan. 18, 2010 (Bloomberg) -- More doctors are prescribing oxycodone, morphine and other opioid painkillers for back pain, arthritis and headache, leading to potentially fatal overdoses, a study said. Researchers looked at pharmacy files for adults with chronic pain who had been given at least three opioid prescriptions over three months. They found that 51 patients of 9,940 had an overdose, and six died, according to the study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Read the Bloomberg story here.
Idaho pharmacist who tackled armed robber fired
December 19, 2009. COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- A northern Idaho pharmacist who tackled a gun-toting robber and received a special award from the city of Coeur d'Alene has been fired for violating company policy. Full Story.
Fall Meeting Photo Gallery
Find yourself at the Fall Meeting Photo Gallery here.
DEA Issues Proposed Rules on Carisoprodol, Comments Due in 30 days
November 17, 2009. The DEA today published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register to place Carisoprodol into Schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act on a recommendation from the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health at DHHHS and on an evaluation of relevant data by DEA. Written comments must be postmarked and electronic comments must be submitted on or before December 17, 2009. For more information, click here.
ISU Task Force to Look at Merging Colleges of Pharmacy and Health Professions
by Associated Press
November 8, 2009. Idaho State University officials are putting together a task force to look at merging the College of Pharmacy and the Kasiska College of Health Professions.
Linda Hatzenbuehler, ISU's interim associate vice president, says the group will look for overlapping curricula and similar research activities between the two colleges.
ISU Provost Gary Olson says bringing the two colleges together will make ISU more efficient in its administration of health science programs.
The Idaho State Journal reports that the task force is scheduled to begin meeting next week
Board of Pharmacy Adopts Telepharmacy Rules
November 5, 2009. The Idaho Board of Pharmacy adopted final language for the telepharmacy rules today.
The Board heard public comment in October, mostly from ISHP members, which included the results of the ISHP Telepharmacy Survey and a review of the recently adopted ASHP Policy Guidelines, which the Board found very helpful. The Board incorporated several changes referenced in the ASHP Guidelines.
The Telepharmacy rules have been approved by Governor Otter as temporary rules, so they are effective now, but still await final approval in the legislature before they become permanent rules.
For further details, the Telepharmacy Law is here, the final Rules are here, the ISHP survey results are here, and the ASHP Policy Guidelines are here.
Medication Use Safety Training (MUST) for Seniors™ Program
The National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) is a non-profit coalition of over 100 diverse organizations, whose mission is to stimulate and improve communication of information on the appropriate use of medicines to consumers and health care professionals. NCPIE develops programs, provides educational resources, and offers services to advance the common mission of its members.
The Medication Use Safety Training (MUST) for Seniors program is designed as an interactive, national initiative to promote safe and appropriate medicine use by enabling older adults to avoid medication misuse, recognize and manage common side effects, and improve medicine use knowledge, attitudes, and skills to avoid medication errors.
MUST for Seniors can be offered to community-based, ambulatory older adults. Older individuals and family caregivers are also encouraged to use this site and to participate in the program by viewing the online PowerPoint presentation, video clips and other program messages and materials. For more information, click here.
Apply for a Research Grant
Do you have a good idea or a research proposal that needs some money to get started? The Idaho Pharmacy Research and Education Foundation (IPREF) was established years ago by ISHP and has a small fund to support pharmacy research. For more, click here.