When I began pharmacy school several years ago the thought of pursuing a residency wasn’t even on the radar. Like most other students at the time, I had a community pharmacy background and when the topic of post-graduate education was introduced I questioned its utility. I asked the important questions. Do I see myself working in a clinical setting? Is the extra year(s) of work and countless projects really worth it? Seriously you guys, who [...]

With increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among bacteria coupled with the lack of novel antimicrobial development, multi-drug resistant bacteria will continue to be problematic [1]. Due to this increased prevalence, it is likely that even in the emergency department, we will see more and more patients with prior cultures or past medical history documentation of multi-drug resistant bacteria, such as vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Once we are aware of this information, how should this affect [...]

Note: This is the introduction of a series of posts on Emergency Medicine PharmD called "Throwback Drug Thursdays" (#TBDT). It will feature medications that were once available for routine use in the emergency department, but are no longer on the market.   I work with some awesome providers within my emergency department, many of whom have been practicing for quite some time. Sometimes, they will reminisce back to their time during residency, especially the interesting [...]

I watched TRON over the weekend (yes, both the original and re-boot). If you’re familiar with the story, TRON was born in technology and “fights for the User.” I feel that the community of FOAM is taking on the role of TRON, and is fighting for the User/consumer/student of medical education. Often times, we are quite literally fighting (albeit minus a light cycle).It’s pretty easy now to get a colleague in the emergency department (pharmacist, [...]

Within our respective specialties, we often set our sights to new beginnings and adventures. With the passage of the resolution 44 by the American College of Emergency Physicians this past October and a recent post written by Bryan Hayes (@PharmERToxGuy) on Academic Life in Emergency Medicine describing in detail the training of EM pharmacists, I have been contemplating the general progression of the initiation and establishment of emergency medicine pharmacy, with ideas mainly surrounding the theme of "Where [...]

Live conference tweeting has grown to become quite commonplace in recent years. Conference organizers will often designate a specific hashtag for enhanced and engaged communication among attendees and non-attendees alike during the day(s) of the conference. Some of the basic concepts related to live conference tweeting have been discussed by Nikita Joshi (@njoshi8) and Bryan Hayes (@PharmERToxGuy) on the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine blog, and Rob Rogers (@EM_Educator) hosted a pro-con debate related to [...]

In this episode of what will hopefully become a series covering topics related to global pharmacy practice, we have featured Mark McIntyre, an EM pharmacist who practices at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Listen to the podcast by clicking the link below (link available on iTunes here):EMPOWER Episode 5 - Global Pharmacy Practice: Comparisons of USA versus CanadaShow Notes: Time Topic 0:00-0:26 Musical Introduction 0:26-3:09 Introduction to episode featuring Mark McIntyre, PharmD 3:10 Culture [...]

In recent months of giving presentations to both future and seasoned pharmacy practitioners, I have been able to garner a new category of feedback from audience members that was never the case previously. It has been quite interesting to gain a new focus of feedback for my presentations, but I think it speaks volumes to how far we have come and how far we need to go when it comes to the provision of medical [...]

I work at an institution with a Children’s Hospital attached to it, which means that we encounter a fair amount of pediatric patients in the emergency department (ED). One of the most common complaints of children presenting to the ED is fever.Acetaminophen is a routinely administered medication in this population. I recently had the opportunity to review a policy of standing orders for triage nurses in our ED that may be carried out before a [...]

I think that given the very name of this blog and what it represents, it would be extremely remiss if I did not write about such a historic event that unfolded at the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), which is currently being held in Chicago this week. For the first time, ACEP is now recognizing and supporting the presence and various roles EM pharmacists as members of the multidisciplinary team [...]