October represents pharmacists’ month and we’ve just concluded pharmacy week. This time honored tradition of free hospital pens and PHARMA sponsored lunches gives us time to indulge our narcissistic tendencies as a profession.  At the same time, it serves as a rally call for continued efforts in our daily professional lives. These efforts, at least for hospital based pharmacists and particularly clinical pharmacists, are simultaneously our performance measures as well as justification for continued existence.  [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology (NACCT). This is the annual conference of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT), a multidisciplinary organization focused on all things related to treatment and management of toxins, and offers plenty of opportunities for education and research related to clinical toxicology. It is certainly worth attending this conference, and if you have a strong interest in and/or [...]

Up until relatively recently, the concept of pre-treatment medications for rapid sequence intubation has remained uncontested. The acronym “LOAD” has often been proposed as a simple way to remember and apply this concept in clinical practice – lidocaine, opioids, atropine, and defasciculating doses of neuromuscular blocking agents. While most of these (classes) of agents have sparked controversy in the literature in recent years regarding their (f)utility as pre-treatment measures in rapid sequence intubation, it may [...]