Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools » university

Pharmacists Improve Care of Diabetics While Cutting Costs, Research Shows

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:02:39 +0000

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2010) — The role of pharmacists hasn’t received much attention in the debate on the cost of health care. But national and regional studies show that when pharmacists directly participate in patient care, they significantly reduce treatment costs and improve outcomes.

A study on diabetic patients by the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences identified cost savings with improvements in a key indicator of glucose control in diabetes patients, the hemoglobin A1C measurement. The A1C provides a three-month average of the amount of excess glucose in the blood. Higher A1Cs indicate that a patient is at higher risk for developing long-term complications associated with diabetes, such as kidney disease or vision problems.

School of Pharmacy, Buffalo School of Pharmacy, University, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical, pharmacists, Pharmacy, School, health care, health, care, Pharmacy Schools and University

Published last spring in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, the UB study of 50 patients with Type 2 diabetes demonstrated that in just six months clinical pharmacists, in collaboration with primary care providers, were able to significantly reduce patients’ A1C levels.

In the UB study, patients’ A1C levels were reduced by an average of 1.1 percent, from an average of 8.5 percent to 7.4 percent, one year after being enrolled in the program, while also improving the overall metabolic profile.

“Our results show that enhancing the patient’s access to care through collaborative physician-pharmacist relationships can yield lower blood glucose levels, improve the overall metabolic profile and reduce costs to the payer,” says Erin Slazak, PharmD, UB clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice and board certified pharmacotherapy specialist.

These clinical improvements occurred while monthly costs per patient went down by approximately $212, around $2,500 per year, even though there were nominal increases in the cost of medications prescribed.

The key to success?

“Patients had unlimited access to pharmacists throughout the year,” says Slazak.

Patients referred to the UB program had been identified by their primary care providers as having difficulty controlling their blood sugar. Slazak notes that it was not uncommon to see patients with glucose levels as high as 400 mg/dl (normal levels are below 100 mg/dl).

The UB pharmacists spent an initial one-hour appointment with each patient, where they worked up detailed health records covering dietary information and all medications and disease conditions, and then reviewed them with each patient.

After that, patients could call or make appointments with pharmacists at will.

“We did extensive education with patients about how to manage their conditions,” says Slazak. “In many cases, we were instrumental in getting them to start insulin. There is a lot of resistance to that, and not just because it’s an injection.”

For patients in the initial stages of administering insulin, she says it was common to be contacted once every few days. The pharmacists then made suggestions to physicians about changes in medications, dosages or lifestyle that might be beneficial to their patients.

That kind of individualized attention is far from the norm for diabetic patients.

“Nationwide, the standard of care is that the primary care provider manages diabetes alone,” says Slazak. “Pharmacists typically do not have direct involvement.”

That is partly because some states, including New York, have not yet approved collaborative practice agreements between physicians and pharmacists. In the Buffalo study, for example, physicians were required to review pharmacists’ recommendations and approve all interventions first. Completion of the review process and approval occurred in only half of the cases, potentially limiting the overall benefit to the patient.

“We know there’s a long-term clinical and economic benefit to pharmacists working directly with patients and we think that can continue to grow,” says Scott V. Monte, PharmD, UB clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice and director of Diabetes and Cardiovascular Research, CPL Associates, LLC, in Buffalo. “Pharmacists can help achieve better outcomes if given the chance.”

The study was conducted through MedSense™, part of the Pharmacotherapy Research Initiative, a collaborative effort between Lifetime Health Medical Group and UB, to study how pharmacists impact patient care. MedSense™ is one of many program sites that are part of the UB Pharmacotherapy Research Initiative in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, which was established to study how pharmacy medication management can improve the health of patients while cutting costs through patient-centered pharmacotherapy.

In addition to Slazak and Monte, other co-authors on the paper include Nicole Paolini Albanese, PharmD, UB clinical assistant professor; Martin Adelman, PhD, chief information officer at CPL Associates, LLC; Gauri Rao, a student in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Joseph A. Paladino, PharmD, UB professor of pharmacy and director of outcomes research at CPL Associates, LLC.

The program is jointly funded by Lifetime Health Medical Group and the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Pharmacists Improve Care of Diabetics While Cutting Costs, Research Shows is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

UB Unveils Ambitious Capital Expansion Plan

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:33:58 +0000

BUFFALO, NY (WBFO) – UB has a new master plan that officials say will grow the university, benefit the region and make UB a 21st century model university. Officials unveiled the long-awaited comprehensive physical plan Tuesday night. It calls for more than five billion dollars worth of capital expansion and improvements across all three campuses over the next 20 to 30 years.”It is what is sometimes referred to as b-hag, a big hairy audacious goal,” said Robert Shibely, director of UB’s Urban Design and lead on the master plan project.

As evidence of that, Shibley had giant, impressive architectural renderings, scores of data, and even an inch and half thick bound hardcover book containing the finished product.

The plan took three years from inception to completion, a cadre of planners, input from thousands of people and $4.5 million dollars. And that was just to get it on paper. Now the real work begins.

But Shibley said for the first time, UB has a solid concept for future growth that does not leave campuses or buildings stranded.

One of the first priorities of the plan was to make sure each campus has its own academic mission. That will mean expansion and improvements on all three campuses and shifting some programs.

The north campus will retain the college of arts and sciences, engineering and management. The south campus will become home to the professional schools, including architecture, law, social work and education. And the downtown campus will complete UB’s biomedical corridor vision, with all health sciences located at the rapidly expanding campus.

That includes eventually relocating all health sciences from the south campus, including the dental and pharmacy schools. UB President John B. Simpson said they are prepared for opposition.

The medical and nursing schools would be the first to move downtown, followed quickly by public health and, many years later, dentistry and pharmacy. Once complete, the downtown campus is expected to house about 13,000 students, faculty and staff.

Expansion and population growth are also planned at the other two campuses. Shibley said the south campus will not be abandoned. He said the professional schools will make good neighbors, and the campus will get a new look with refurbished historic buildings and a more parklike setting.

The north campus would be enhanced to accommodate the largely undergraduate population. The spine could be widened and extended, connecting Ellicott around the lake.

But central to the plan also is tying all three campuses together.

Shibley said the best way to create a “spine” to do that is by extending metro rail. He said UB is actively working with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to push for extension of rail service that would link all three campuses before the NFTA extends service to the airport.

The tally for the twenty plus year build out at all three campuses is between five and six billion dollars. $2.9 billion of that would have to come from the state. Simpson said that is not as much of a reach as it seems.

“The plan is about capital expansion, which is one time funding, which the state of New York, generally, even in difficult times like last year, has been willing to come up with for investments in the future,” said Simpson. “And this kind of plan really is an investment in the university, and therefore, an investment in the region.”

Of course, Simpson said how fast the plan evolves will depend largely on passage of the UB 20-20 bill. The law, which would give UB greater financial flexibility, is currently stalled in the legislature.

Still, some work is already progressing, even without the bill. Shibley said cranes are in the air and the plan is moving forward. “It’s not a question of if it will get done, but when,” said Shibley.

UB officials said the master plan is closely linked with other plans for the region and demonstrates UB’s long range commitment to western new york.

UB Unveils Ambitious Capital Expansion Plan is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Work begins on URI pharmacy building

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:17:09 +0000

pharmacy, pharmacy building, classrooms, laboratories, College of Pharmacy, pharmacy doctorate program, pharmacy doctorate, pharmacists, university

URI officials said the 148,000-square-foot pharmacy building – which will include three classrooms, a 165-seat auditorium and assorted research facilities – will allow the program to expand. The building, which is designed for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification, will also contain teaching laboratories, tissue culture rooms, an intravenous preparation lab, a 3-D visualization auditorium and a patient simulation center.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – University of Rhode Island officials broke ground Monday morning on a five-story, $75 million College of Pharmacy building that will be the largest academic structure on the Kingston campus when it is completed in 2011.

pharmacy, pharmacy building, classrooms, laboratories, College of Pharmacy, pharmacy doctorate program, pharmacy doctorate, pharmacists, university

The groundbreaking marks the next phase of a URI construction plan focusing on science and biotechnology. Earlier this year, the school opened a new, $54 million Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences and a $15 million Ocean Science and Exploration Center and Pell Marine Science Library on its Bay Campus in Narragansett.

Enrollment in the pharmacy doctorate program is projected to increase by 30 percent over the next several years. Graduate and undergraduate programs are forecast to expand as well.

“This state-of-the-art facility will pave the way for us to expand our work in training a new generation of pharmacists, growing our state’s research capacity and generating groundbreaking discoveries,” Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said in a statement.

The construction project is largely being paid for through a $65 million bond approved by voters in November 2006, with the remaining cost expected to be covered by donations. More than $4.1 million in pledges have been received as of Monday, according to URI.

“The University of Rhode Island is a real engine for the economic recovery of Rhode Island,” URI President David M. Dooley said in remarks released ahead of the groundbreaking Monday. “This new building represents an important investment in research and education by both the state and the private sector. It’s an investment that will provide a great return to the people of Rhode Island.”

Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp., whose CEO Thomas M. Ryan is a URI graduate, pledged $2 million to the College of Pharmacy last month, about half of which will go toward financing the new building.

“This is a tremendous day for URI and for those of us who set our sights on the goal of building a state-of-the-art school of pharmacy in Rhode Island,” Ryan said Monday in prepared remarks. “With the aging of the population and continual advances in pharmacy health care, pharmacists play a key role as part of the health care delivery team. We are pleased to help in preparing them for their careers as trusted health care advisors.”

URI’s biological sciences complex, DeWolf Laboratory and Tyler Hall north annex will be demolished to make way for the new building and a new quadrangle in the north side of the Kingstown campus. Activities in those buildings already have been relocated to new facilities, including the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences.

URI said the 700 students and 45 faculty members at the College of Pharmacy have outgrown Fogarty Hall, where the pharmacy school has been located since it opened in 1964.

The pharmacy program has traditionally been the most selective at the university, accepting only about 95 students annually for its doctorate program, from an applicant pool that usually totals more than 1,000.

Work begins on URI pharmacy building is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Dreams of medical and health professions careers – Appalachian alumni

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:09:11 +0000

health careers, health, careers, University, Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, College, pharmacy school, pharmacy, school

In 1952, Windham, Frances McKinney Duncan and Lorraine Proctor Anderson were all members of the third graduating class from the University of Arizona’s College of Pharmacy.

They were its only female graduates in a class of 30 or so. “There were two other women in the class, but they did not graduate,” says Windham.

They rolled pills, compounded suppositories and ointments, and made their own eyedrops.

“When we took our state licensing exams, we had to make all our powders, ointments and lotions,” recalls Yvonne Anderson Windham.

health careers, health, careers, University, Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, College, pharmacy school, pharmacy, school

Only a handful of women, including several WACs, had ever enrolled in the pharmacy school, which began in 1947.

Many of the men in the Class of ‘52 were returning veterans, says Windham. “Most were medics from World War II, and 80 percent were married. We would meet in the basement of Old Main, and they would tell us the most gruesome war stories.”

Windham, Duncan and Anderson all graduated from Tucson High School in 1948, enrolling that fall at the UA.

Organized within the College of Liberal Arts, the pharmacy school was not given separate status as the College of Pharmacy until 1949.

“We went right after high school and went into regular college classes the first two years,” says Windham.

She and her two fellow grads, all age 78 now, had varying reasons for enrolling in pharmacy.

“My mother was a teacher, and my dad was a school administrator. I knew every teacher in town,” says Windham. “I did not want to be in education.”

For Duncan, it was a way to stay off the ranch. “I grew up on a ranch, and I did not want to have anything to do with that life anymore,” she says. “We prayed for rain. The bank owned us. Then I heard about this college of pharmacy and thought I’d give it a shot.”

For Anderson, now living in Phoenix, it was runner-up to her real goal. “I would have liked to go to medical school, but we could not afford it.”

Classes were held in Quonset huts next to Bear Down Gym. Later, the school moved to the Chemistry and Physics Building.

The classes, says Anderson, “were challenging.” And long, running six days a week.

Dress was informal until 1950, when pharmacy Dean Haakon Bang put in a dress code, forbidding Levi’s for men and mandating white, nurselike uniforms for women.

That sparked a retort from the Arizona Daily Star, defending Levi’s as cheap, sturdy and “part of the tradition of the Wildcat school.”

The dean was unmoved.

All three of the women got jobs after graduation. Anderson worked briefly at Martin Drug Stores in Tucson, then worked at a hospital pharmacy in Flagstaff. In the early ’60s, she moved to Phoenix and worked there.

“It was a whole different type of pharmacy,” she says. “I remember soaking and washing the bottles thoroughly and then reusing some of the bottles for prescriptions.”

Windham and Duncan both headed to Phoenix after graduation, rooming together and getting jobs as hospital pharmacists — Windham at Memorial Hospital, Duncan at Good Samaritan. Starting pay was less than $400 a month.

“I worked in the basement,” says Duncan. “We shared it with central supply. It was down in the dungeon.”

After a few years, both were back in Tucson, where Duncan worked for Matthias Pharmacy and Windham worked first at the old Pima County Hospital and then at the Ryan-Evans chain.

Those were the days when drugstores were hopping with customers, at both the lunch counter and the cosmetics counter. “Grocery stores weren’t even carrying toothpaste back then,” says Windham.

Meanwhile, attire for the pharmacists, says Duncan, was often a starched shirt with a high neck. “You felt like your neck was going to fall off.”

Both Windham and Duncan remember when condoms were kept in a drawer in the back of the pharmacy.

“Some guys would stand there for an hour, waiting for a man to appear,” says Windham.

Doctors’ handwriting also had to be deciphered at times.

“We would call them up, and sometimes they were not too nice about it,” says Windham.

“But we had to make sure we were giving patients the right thing,” adds Duncan.

All three women married and had children during their careers, sometimes taking off work for a time.

“It was a great job for a woman with a family, because she could always work part time,” says Duncan, who moved back to Phoenix and worked from 1971 to 1992 in a professional pharmacy.

Windham retired in 1996 after 15 years with Pima County. Duncan, who moved back to Tucson in 1992, worked for a couple of years for Drug Emporium, then retired. Even so, she continued to work as a temp everywhere from Morenci to the Wilmot prison.

Anderson, who worked for two decades as a pharmacy manager with Walgreens in Tempe, retired in 1990.

Only she has a child who followed in her footsteps — a daughter and UA grad who works at a women’s compounding pharmacy.

Dreams of medical and health professions careers – Appalachian alumni is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Colorado Denver School of Pharmacy at the University of Colorado Denver

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:25:20 +0000

At Colorado’s School of jobs.pharmacy-bg.com/”title=”pharmacy” >Pharmacy, excellence is an everyday exercise. Nationally renowned researchers pursue the latest scientific discoveries while skilled academic clinicians perform outstanding patient care. Pharm.D. students begin their quests for achievement in the noble profession of pharmacy and Ph.D. students prepare for careers in research and academia. Through expanded experiential training, critical skills development and active learning, we produce quality practitioners. Whether they go on to become community pharmacists, hospital pharmacists, teachers, researchers or entrepreneurs, our mission is to make sure our graduates are scientifically knowledgeable, compassionate, ethical and committed to a lifetime of continued learning.

Colorado Denver School of Pharmacy at the University of Colorado Denver

Colorado Denver School of Pharmacy at the University of Colorado Denver is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Education in Pharmacy Schools and University in Indonesia, Iran, Ireland

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:30:51 +0000

Indonesia

Universitas Surabaya, Pharmacy Faculty, Surabaya 60284
Gadjah Mada University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sekip Utara, Yogyakarta 55281 (English)
Institut Teknologi Bandung, School of Pharmacy, Jalan Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132
Gadjah Mada University, Faculty of Pharmacy , Sekip Utara, Yogyakarta

Iran

Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, School of Pharmacy, Tehran
Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz
Tehran University of Medical Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad

Ireland

Trinity College Dublin, School of Pharmacy, Panoz Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2
University College Cork, School of Pharmacy, Cork Enterprise Centre, Distillery Fields, North Mall, Cork
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, School of Pharmacy, 123 St Stevens Green, Dublin, 2

Education in Pharmacy Schools and University in Indonesia, Iran, Ireland

Education in Pharmacy Schools and University in Indonesia, Iran, Ireland is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Rutgers, the state university education school

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:33:25 +0000

education, state, school, university, Education Writer, Maryland Student, State Universities, U S News

Stuart Nachbar asked:

From time to time, I write about Rutgers, the state university I know best. Rutgers is a very good school; U.S. News ranks my alma mater as one of the nation’s top 20 state universities – and quirky enough to be interesting to an education writer.

Rutgers is the state university of New Jersey; those four words follow the name in all school marketing, so people know for sure. Purdue, the College of William and Mary and most recently, the flagship campuses of the State University of New York are the only national public institutions that do not include the name of their state.

Rutgers University’s flagship campus in New Brunswick has been an exercise in organized disorganization for 35 years. The organized disorganization has preserved and protected the identities of four federated colleges, the first of which traces its roots to colonial times.

Before 1972, Rutgers College, the oldest school, was all-male. Livingston, a liberal arts college founded to address issues of social change in the late sixties, was the only co-educational institution. Students in agriculture, engineering and pharmacy affiliated with Rutgers, Douglass or Livingston for their housing.

Things got only more confusing after 1972: the ag school became Cook College, another liberal arts school while Rutgers College became co-ed, and competed directly with Livingston for students – and resources. Today the Livingston campus provides housing for Rutgers College students, as well as their own and Douglass College is less a college than a residence life option for women.

No other flagship state university is organized the same as Rutgers. If had enrolled at the University of Maryland, for instance, I’d start as a University of Maryland student with an undeclared major and then apply to attend the school of business, journalism, education and the like. Even after I declared my major, I’d still be a University of Maryland student who’d become a University of Maryland alumnus, a Terrapin for life.

Not so at Rutgers; I’m a Rutgers College graduate, so I’m invited to join an association that includes the largest subset of Rutgers alumni – but not every one of them. I also get solicitations to the business school’s alumni association because I have a Rutger’ MBA – and they invite undergraduate business students to join. I’m also solicited by the graduate public policy school, because I took their undergraduate courses for my bachelor’s degree. There’s no university-wide association that all Rutgers alumni can be a part of – and that’s damn silly.

Instead of one large association, I get hit up by three small ones that have overlapping memberships. I threw in the towel – joined none of them – and gave the same money to the Touchdown Club, the group that supports the football team. Why? Because the activities are fun and most of them are free. I love college football. I’m a season ticket holder, the activities are all informal, and I get discounts to buy licensed football apparel. I get a lot for my money – a lot more than I’d get from the alumni associations.

Rutgers got the message; the university administration wants to consolidate 19 separate alumni associations on three campuses into one. They will allow any of the legacy groups to soldier on, but there will be better-coordinated services for alumni within one association. This is necessary at a time when alumni desire services from the university, such as personalized Web content, continuing education and career services – that are not and never could be, managed by alumni relations.

What would I like to see from a single Rutgers alumni association?

Membership for Rutgers’ parents; they want their children to succeed and they are in a better position to support the university while their son or daughter is starting life after college. There are also more “helicopter parents” than there have ever been in college communities. Development officers could use that to the university’s advantage.

A Founder’s Week; there should be a huge celebration of the university’s history and accomplishments each year with events for students, alumni, their families and of course, parents. I didn’t know that November 10 was Rutgers’ Founder’s Day, until this year, twenty five years after I received my bachelor’s degree. That’s a good time to plan a Founder’s Week; it’s after midterms and before Thanksgiving. It’s also the best week to host a Homecoming football game.

Low cost family events; alumni who graduated between 1980 and 2000 are not only in careers, they are likely raising families. It’s very difficult to attract them to campus events where their children cannot participate. Besides, a university should expose children of alumni to their campus at an early age; admission to Rutgers is a worthwhile goal.

Customized Web content; I want to know about events and subjects of interest to me. Rutgers is a treasure trove of news, but my interests are very specific.

An alumni career services office in New York City, to complement the campus career centers.

A master discount card, as the students have, to shop at campus stores online and offline, as well as with participating merchants. Combine that with a hotel discount that students can also use, as well as discounts on Rutgers’ sports tickets for the teams that have no waiting list.

Online networks for alumni to contribute their time to admissions and career development.

The Rutgers print magazine delivered to my door each month, with a calendar of events – with alumni and family discounts.

Rutgers has over 360,000 living alumni, and they have considerable buying power. It’s time for Rutgers to put that buying power to work. Alumni might not need another credit card, or insurance policy, but they are willing to support family-oriented events and quality services they can actually use.

So, for the new association, whatever it may be called, I suggest that they be guided by these words: School spirit and family values.

Makeapost Blog

Rutgers, the state university education school is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools