by AuBurn Pharmacy
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by AuBurn Pharmacy
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Welcome!
Happy respiratory season when hand hygiene is key! Please reach out to our pharmacy team if there are subjects or topics that you would like to see discussed in future issues of this newsletter!
Vaccines
ACIP recommendation for the updated 2025-2026 COVID vaccine is to administer with shared clinical decision for those that are 65 years and older and those 6 months-64 years old with one of the qualifying underlying conditions.
We still have plenty of flu vaccines available for new admissions or those that have changed their minds. Please call, send orders through EMAR, or email us with any needs.
General Reminders
- If your facility EMAR is integrated with the pharmacy, new and/or updated narcotic orders do not transmit to us. ONLY refill request and d/c orders. So, if you get a new narcotic order, please either fax or call into the pharmacy.
- With an increase in use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring systems, please note that the readings from them should NOT be used for hypoglycemia treatment. They can be up to 5 minutes delayed from real time blood glucose level. Also note that if a resident is laying on the sensor it can also alter the reading, due to alteration in blood flow. Regarding us supplying CGMs we cannot provide to every patient as we are not a national DME provider. Please reach out to the pharmacy to verify coverage if residents are interested.
LTC/SNF Survey Trends
- Stop dates on PRN psychotropic. Per CMS regulations, there are NO exceptions (exempt diagnosis, pay status, hospice) to this regulation
- When a stop date is received from the provider, please ensure that date is entered into the medication order as a stop date within the EMAR
- Antipsychotics have a limited duration of 14 days and must be reevaluated by the provider every 14 days
- Increase of F605 tags are being seen, ensure a detailed rationale for non-approved diagnosis on antipsychotic are in the resident’s chart. Providers simply writing “well controlled”, “resident is on hospice”, or “benefit outweigh risk” is not going to be sufficient for survey. Just a reminder the three approved DX are Schizophrenia, Huntington’s, and Tourette’s.
- When an order containing Tylenol (Acetaminophen) is entered please add a Not to Exceed (NTE) amount to the order.
- Caution with hold parameters! If orders are going to have parameters, please ensure staff are following them. Evaluate the continued need for parameters on those that are stable and consider weekly or monthly checks instead, to create a home-like atmosphere for the residents. It will also reduce med-pass time, if we are not checking vitals with every administration.
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