Pharmacy Newsletter - St. Mary's Hospital

Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Actions
Kate Rotzenberg, PharmD
From the May 25th meeting:
Additions from Dean Formulary: none
Additions to St. Mary’s Formulary:
• The commercial preparation of hydroxyprogesterone
caproate injection
will not be added to formulary.
Patients will continue to use their
own supply compounded by local
pharmacies.
• C1 esterase inhibitor (Cinryze®)
was added to formulary for treatment
of acute attack of hereditary angioedema.
MUE will be conducted in the
future to ensure appropriate usage.
Full monograph available on St.
Mary’s Intranet.
Drug Class Reviews
• Nasal Steroids: Therapeutic Interchange
approved to use fluticasone
propionate for majority of patients
and reserve budesonide for use by
pregnant or potentially pregnant patients.
Implementation date pending.
Policy Changes
• Argatroban, lepirudin, and magnesium
(for OB only) have been added
to the high-risk drug list requiring
dual sign-off.
• Updated Multi-dose and Single-dose
injectable container Policy.
From the July 27th meeting:
Additions from Dean Formulary:
• Lurasidone (Latuda®) - Tier 3
• Dextromethorphan/quinidine
(Nuedexta®) - Tier 2 with PA
Additions to St. Mary’s Formulary:
• Fidaxomicin (Dificid®) was added
to formulary, restricted to use by
Infectious Disease, for the treatment
of C. difficile infection. MUE is
planned in the future with focus on
readmission rates. Full monograph
available on St. Mary’s Intranet.
Drug Class Reviews
• Thiazide Diuretics: Therapeutic
Interchange substituting chlorthalidone
with hydrochlorothiazide was
removed based on review of literature.
Chlorthalidone 25 mg tablet
added to formulary. Full review available
on St. Mary’s Intranet and will
be featured in next newsletter.
Policy Changes
• Updated Monitoring of Refrigerator
Temperature Policy to reflect
changes due to Pharmacy remodel.
• Monitoring of Intravenous Haloperidol
Policy reviewed, approval pending
issue clarification.
• Approved Palivizumab per Pharmacy
order for qualifying infants requiring
long-term hospitalization.
Pharmacy Residents: Class of 2012
Kate Rotzenberg, PharmD
If you see these smiling faces around
the hospital, be sure to give them a
warm welcome. Our new pharmacy
residents, Jennifer Klink and Josh Rekoske,
joined our department at the
end of June and will soon be staffing
weekends on CVICU and 5E in addition
to their rotations throughout St. Mary’s.
Jennifer is a 2011 graduate of Creighton
University. She completed rotations
in community outreach/visiting
nurses and home health, drug information,
critical care, acute care, ambulatory
care, cardiology, and community
pharmacy during her fourth year of
pharmacy school. Jennifer is interested
in working on improving documentation
of pharmacist interventions
and is excited to be working with our
staff.
Josh is a 2011 graduate of UW-
Madison School of Pharmacy. During
his fourth year of pharmacy school, he
gained experience in
solid organ transplant
pharmacy, cardiac
ICU pharmacy,
pharmacy benefit
manager Navitus,
and community
pharmacy. Josh had
previously completed
a third-year
rotation at St. Mary’s
working with Randy
Binning in our Emergency
Department.
He is interested in
researching pharmacy
involvement in
discharge counseling
or medication education and potentially
the effect of this intervention on
readmission rates.
Let’s not forget last year’s excellent
resident class—Dominic Porcaro has
stayed on at St. Mary’s as a staff pharmacist
and Catie Brackin is a pharmacist
at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
in Chicago, IL. We wish them the
best of luck as they move on in their
pharmacy careers.
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Pharmacy Newsletter