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Pharmacists in hospitals across the U.S. are performing more medication-related patient transition of care interventions, medication order review, and patient medication counseling,...Pharmacists’ movement into more direct patient care roles combined with the widespread use of medication-use technology are improving efficiency, safety, and clinical outcomes,..

Requiring…a reason for prescribing an antibiotic could curb overuse…researchers...piloted an antimicrobial stewardship program…have been shown to shorten hospitals stays and decrease readmission rates…lower morbidity and mortality…importance of having a pharmacist…in that antimicrobial stewardship...

A discharge clinic, staffed with a pharmacist ...who meet with patients after their release from the hospital, has helped…cut its readmission rates, Medication management issues are one of the primary reasons behind preventable readmissions,…they credit the success of the program to the participation of pharmacists, who conduct a comprehensive medication history and hospital course evaluation on patients.

..... session at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ 2015 Summer Meetings ....Tom Frank, PharmD, BCPS, ......walked health-system pharmacists through the new drugs for 2015.....a detailed list of 22 new medications, describing the indications, pharmacology, adverse effects, dosing, and associated costs for each.

Patients hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are at high risk for...readmissions...."Implementation of an (clinical pharmacy services) multidose medication dispensing on discharge program was associated with a reduction in 30-day and 60-day hospital readmissions...

…some hospitals are providing pharmaceutical services to hospital patients being discharged, and that some retail pharmacies are providing pharmaceutical services to long-term care facilities and/or skilled nursing facilities in violation of Nevada Revised Statutes and Nevada Administrative Code.

Clinical pharmacists included in team-based interventions can reduce the proportion of potentially inappropriate medications dispensed to elderly patients in the emergency department ...Enhancing the Quality of Prescribing Practices for Older Veterans Discharged… integrated provider education, electronic medical record-embedded pharmacy order sets, and peer feedback and benchmarking into the care model.

...five million medications have been tracked using radio frequency identification technology. system allows a hospital to track reliably from ordering through dispensing through administration at the bedside, patient safety has been greatly enhanced. "It's cutting down on medication errors,..

'Technology and analytics, connected with care will reduce redundancy and drive down cost. "It’s not just talk about clinical integration ..."..you have to talk about what’s next around value-based contracting,"… If you do a better quality of care with a patient, you will reduce costs."…keeping tabs on patients as they move through different care settings.

The takeaway: David Kwiatkowski, who is serving a 39-year jail sentence for stealing drugs and infecting patients with hepatitis C, explains how he stole narcotics and continued to be hired for hospital jobs—despite repeatedly being caught.