Objective. To evaluate a flipped drug literature evaluation course for first-year pharmacy students.Design. A drug literature evaluation course was flipped during the 2014 winter semester. Homework from 2013 was transformed into activities and lectures were transformed into multiple short YouTube videos.Assessment. Average examination scores increased from 75.6% to 86.1%. Eighty-two of 94 students completed the postcourse survey in 2014. Compared to traditional lecture, 59.8% of students indicated they preferred the flipped course. Additionally, students felt the course was important, the in-class activities were helpful, and some of the YouTube videos could be improved. We found length of the video to be significantly correlated with the percentage of videos viewed.Conclusion. The flipped model should be considered in drug literature evaluation courses that seek to increase the amount of active learning in the classroom.

Previous studies have established a correlation between vancomycin troughs and nephrotoxicity. However, data are currently lacking regarding the effect of guideline-recommended weight-based dosing on nephrotoxicity in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (MRSAB).

Background: Heart failure (HF) transition of care (TOC) programs may improve continuity of care and coordination and decrease hospital readmissions. Objective: This study evaluated the impact of pharmacy-led HF TOC on HF readmission rate. Methods: This was a single-center, pre-post quasi-experimental study. Pharmacy TOC comprised admission and discharge medication reconciliations and patient education. Patients were included if they had a primary HF diagnosis. Patients were excluded if they were admitted for a non-HF diagnosis, admitted for <24 hours, had a stage IV cancer or dementia diagnosis, or were transferred to hospice care. The primary outcome was HF 30-day readmission rate. Results: A total of 663 patients were included in the study: 330 in the control group and 333 in the intervention group. The average age for both groups was 67 ± 16 years; 48.1% were female; 56.9% were African American; and 51.4% of patients had an ejection fraction ≤40%. In the control group, 57 (17.3%) patients had a HF 30-day readmission compared with 35 (10.5%) patients in the intervention group. After adjusting for age, the intervention group continued to show a difference in readmission (odds ratio = 0.578; 95% CI = 0.367-0.911; P = 0.018). The most common interventions were medication addition (11%), dose titration (7.5%), medication discontinuation (6.6%), and duplication avoidance (2.7%). Conclusion and Relevance: Pharmacy-led HF TOC, as a component of a targeted hospital-based initiative, significantly decreased HF 30-day readmission rate. Results from this study warrant further research to explore which interventions in TOC are most effective.

No studies have evaluated the effect of guideline-recommended weight-based dosing on in-hospital mortality of patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.