Summer Operations and the Latest on COVID-19 Vaccination |
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I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Now that summer is truly here, many of us will be taking either staycations or vacations over the next few months.
I want to reassure all our customers that during the summer, business will continue as normal here at Red Rock Pharmacy. Our pharmacies will be operating as usual, and our Consultant Pharmacists will be attending all required meetings as normal.
Just before Memorial Day, data was released showing that COVID-19 vaccinations substantially reduce the risk of heart failure and potentially dangerous blood clots linked to COVID-19 infection for up to a year. Researchers analyzed health records from more than 20 million people across Europe and found consistent evidence that the vaccines protected against serious cardiovascular complications such as heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.
COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) have proven highly effective at preventing severe disease during the pandemic. However, medicines regulators also recorded increases in some rare heart and clotting conditions, mostly in younger vaccine recipients and from vaccines not used in the USA. This was validated a few days later by a study published in Nature, showing an overall reduction of more than 10% in Post-COVID Conditions among vaccine recipients.
Red Rock Pharmacy is proud to have assisted in providing the COVID-19 vaccine to tens of thousands of patients. We will continue to keep you updated as future recommendations are announced.
Shixian Wang
Director of Operations
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We are thrilled to announce Erika Lai as our Employee of the Month at Red Rock Pharmacy's Denver location! Erika has been a dedicated part of the RRRX team since March 2019, starting as a pharmacy intern and growing into a skilled and knowledgeable pharmacist who exemplifies our core values.
Erika's passion working in the pharmacy is evident in her meticulous medication reviews and insightful clinical responses. She has developed strong leadership and communication skills, particularly in managing cycle medications and handling daily responsibilities. Despite the increased workload from our cycle facilities, Erika works hard and often stays late to ensure issues are resolved. She can often be seen bringing food for the team as her way of contributing to high moral and synergy.
Erika has been with Red Rock for over five years, growing into a dependable and devoted pharmacist. Her commitment to providing the best service to our patients is truly commendable.
Outside of work, Erika enjoys being active outdoors and exploring new culinary experiences. If she could choose one meal for life, it would be dim sum, showcasing her adventurous spirit.
Congratulations, Erika, on this well-deserved recognition!
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Top 10 Most Frequently Cited F-tags (National)
New month, new list! Here are the top 10 most frequently cited F-tags on recertification surveys in 2024 (per CASPER 4/28/2024) so far:
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F812 Kitchen Sanitation
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F880 Infection Control
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F761 Storage of Drugs & Biologicals
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F689 Accidents/Supervision
- F656 Comprehensive Care Plans
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F684 Quality of Care
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F694 Respiratory/Trach Care
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F677 ADL Care
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F550 Resident Rights
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F641 Accuracy of Assessments
More unwelcome news – nationally, 5% of providers who have been surveyed in 2024 have received 20 or more citations. Also one NH received 41 citations in Q1 2024.
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Three new facts about Wegovy injections for weight loss.
1. Sign-ups for weight loss drug Wegovy jumped five-fold in the US in the first three months of the 2024 reaching a rate of more than 25,000 a week, Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk has announced.
2. a. Data announced at the European Conference of Obesity held in Venice, Italy in late May 2024 showed that Wegovy, and medicines like it, could protect against kidney disease, as well as heart attacks and diabetes. Those on the weekly Wegovy injections had the risk of death from all causes fall by 20 per cent and deaths from cardiovascular causes fell by 29 per cent. The risk of strokes fell by 18 percent in the study, which involved patients with an average age of 66.
b. The risk of severe kidney disease/transplants fell by 24%. Experts believe these kidney benefits are independent, with the drug triggering a separate response in kidney cells which is not yet understood.
3. A new Intensity Report indicates that Medicare could save $500 million/year by COVERING Wegovy/Ozempic!
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Nursing Home Staffing Update |
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Just 160 skilled nursing facilities out of roughly 14,500 that receive federal payments for care met the new Nursing Home Staffing Update requirements every day last summer, according to the most recent daily time card data available to the public, as reported by USA Today. Most nursing homes met core components of the new rule on only three days out of 92 in the third quarter of 2023.
About half the time, facilities had enough staff to provide each resident at least 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse (RN) each day, as the new rules require. About one day each week, the facilities could provide each resident 2.45 hours of care from a certified nursing assistant (CNA, or aide), which they must do every day under the new rules. In addition, nursing homes have to provide a total of at least 3.45 hours per resident of daily nurse-and-aide staffing, as well as have a registered nurse on site 24/7.
McKnight's has announced that they will be hosting a free webinar on the new staffing requirements at 1 PM ET on June 12, 2024.
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Patients treated by female doctors ‘have lower chance of dying’ |
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Patients are more likely to survive if that are treated by a female doctor, a recent study suggests.
US researchers examined more than 775,000 medical insurance claims between 2016 and 2019, noting how many people had died within 30 days of being seen by a doctor. Of 458 108 female and 318 819 male patients, 142 465 (31.1%) and 97 500 (30.6%) were treated by female physicians, respectively.
The death rate for female patients was 8.15 per cent when treated by female physicians compared to 8.38 per cent when the physician was male.
It means that in every 1,000 patients treated, an extra two would be expected to survive if they were seen by a woman.
While the difference for male patients was smaller, female physicians still had the edge with a 10.15 per cent mortality rate compared with male doctors’ 10.23 per cent, a difference of about one death in 1,000.
In conclusion the findings indicate that patients have lower mortality and readmission rates when treated by female physicians, and the benefit of receiving treatments from female physicians is larger for female patients than for male patients.
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The benefits of deep sleep
Deep sleep is thought to be the most restorative stage for the brain, when the body removes potentially harmful materials from it. A study published in the journal JAMA Neurology in October last year found not getting enough deep sleep could have serious long-term effects on our cognitive health. The ideal amounts are are 20-25 per cent or 1.4-2 hours according to the Sleep Foundation. Thanks to the easy availability of Smart Watches, it is easy to track Deep Sleep accurately.
The research from the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia, showed that a lack of deep sleep could even increase our risk of developing dementia.
Anything from 15-25 per cent deep sleep as an adult is within normal limits.
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Real world data - a successful reduction in Hospitalizations and Multidrug-Resistant Organisms via Regional Decolonization in Hospitals and Nursing Homes working together.
In a collaborative study involving 35 health care facilities (Nursing Homes and Hospitals) in Orange County, California, chlorhexidine bathing and nasal decolonization were associated with significantly lower MDRO prevalence and incidental positive clinical cultures. Infection-related hospitalizations, associated costs, and deaths among nursing home residents were also decreased over a 2 year period from July 2017 to June 2019.
In practice this means that a regional collaborative involving universal decolonization in long-term care facilities and targeted decolonization among hospital patients was associated with lower (between 10% and 25%) MDRO carriage, infections, hospitalizations, costs, and deaths.
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Rational deprescribing of Antidepressants in the Geriatric Population. |
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In a survey published in a recent issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, researchers interviewed 1,100 people suffering from post-withdrawal symptoms after stopping antidepressants and found that it impaired the ability to work for most of the participants. 20 percent lost jobs as a result; and 25 percent of the respondents said their personal relationships were affected.
“People are told, ‘You’re on 20 milligrams, go down to 10, then five, then zero.’ But the effect on the brain is not linear, and that last reduction is like jumping off a cliff,” says Mark Horowitz, a clinical research fellow in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, who coauthored the JAD Reports study and advocates a much more gradual tapering regiment than is recommended in the United States.
Anecdotally the article suggested that for every 4 years a patient is on an antidepressant, it can take up to 1 year to be weaned off and be free from side effects.
Guidance from England’s Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends gradual tapering, working with a physician to begin reducing the dose by as little as 10 or even 5 percent.
Rather than reduce by even amounts of the drug, they advise reducing by how each dose affects the brain, with doses becoming minutely smaller at the lower end, in some cases taking several years to complete. Liquid suspensions—or pills from compounding pharmacies—are generally required to accomplish such incremental reductions.
Editor’s Note. Even though this data is not US generated or Geriatric focused, it is interesting to me from the perspective that I have often wondered if we are too quick in tapering/discontinuing antidepressants in the Geriatric population. I have ordered a copy of the Maudsley book and will review it in next month’s RRR. What this means in practice that the Geriatric Medicine principle of “Start low, go slow” may have to be updated for Antidepressant Meds to “Start low, go slow and taper even slower”. Your RR pharmacist and I will keep you updated.
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If you have any questions, ask your Red Rock Consultant Pharmacist |
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