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Need a presentation for your civic club or a local school? Searching for a link to the latest laws affecting your practice? What about a MedGuide to dispense to your patients on anti-depressants?
Pharmacy Practice Tools is the go to section of the NCPA Web site that will help you keep up to date with the latest resources you and your staff need to serve patients and practice efficiently every day.
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ACA
The American College of Apothecaries was founded on May 9, 1940 in Richmond, Virginia. In 1978, the Research & Education Foundation was established, and in 1998 the American College of Veterinary Pharmacists began. The existence of these three separate entities allows for the provision of numerous benefits to the Fellowship and the profession. Our Research & Education Resource Center was founded in 1998 in Bartlett, Tennessee.
PCAB
What is the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB) and what is its mission? PCAB is a not-for-profit corporation formed by eight national pharmacy organizations that recognized the need for a national standards organization for compounding pharmacy. PCAB’s mission is to organize and carryout a comprehensive program of voluntary accreditation in the practice of pharmacy compounding.
The member organizations are:
IACP
The mission of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) is to protect, promote and advance the art and science of pharmacy compounding. IACP is the recognized authority for information, expertise, and practice standards with regard to pharmacy compounding.
PCCA
The mission of the Professional Compounding Center of America (PCCA) is to strengthen the role, position and skills of member compounding pharmacists so they can meet the unique healthcare needs of patients through our exceptional service, highest-quality products, shared innovations and education.
One patient. One physician. One pharmacist. A triad relationship with a common goal: achieving a positive therapeutic outcome for the patient. And in the midst of this relationship and this common goal is PCCA, the leader in pharmacy compounding since 1981.
USP
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is the official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplements, and other healthcare products manufactured and sold in the United States. USP sets standards for the quality of these products and works with healthcare providers to help them reach the standards. USP's standards are also recognized and used in more than 130 countries. These standards have been helping to ensure good pharmaceutical care for people throughout the world for more than 185 years.
USP is an independent, science-based public health organization. As a self-sustaining nonprofit organization, USP is funded through revenues from the sale of products and services that help to ensure good pharmaceutical care. USP's contributions to public health are enriched by the participation and oversight of volunteers representing pharmacy, medicine, and other healthcare professions as well as academia, government, the pharmaceutical industry, health plans, and consumer organizations.
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FDA
Drugs@FDA provides one place where you can search for official information about FDA approved brand name and generic drugs. Drugs@FDA contains prescription and over-the-counter human drugs currently approved for sale in the United States as well as discontinued drugs.
Drugs@FDA
Drugs@FDA provides one place where you can search for official information about FDA approved brand name and generic drugs. Drugs@FDA contains prescription and over-the-counter human drugs currently approved for sale in the United States as well as discontinued drugs.
New Drugs—FDA New Drug Approvals
Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD)
Promotes the development of products for the diagnosis and/or treatment of rare diseases or conditions.
The Orange Book
Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations. The following versions of the Orange Book are on the site:
Additional FDA Manuals, Regulatory Publications and Reports can be found at www.fda.gov/opacom/7pubs.html
Medication Guides (MedGuides)—MedGuides
FDA may require distribution of Medication Guides (MedGuides), FDA-approved patient information, for selected prescription drugs that pose a serious and significant public health concern. Medication Guides will be required if the FDA determines that one or more of the following circumstances exist:
- patient labeling could help prevent serious adverse effects
- the drug product has serious risk(s) (relative to benefits) of which patients should be made aware because information concerning the risk(s) could affect patients’ decision to use, or to continue to use, the product
- the drug product is important to health and patient adherence to directions for use is crucial to the drug’s effectiveness
FDA Asks Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Drug Manufacturers to Develop Patient Medication Guides.
- Go to www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ADHD/default.htm for direct access to FDA Draft ADHD Medication Guides:
Please note that previous MedGuides were based on class of drug (one overall MedGuide per class of NSAID for example), however, in this case FDA is requiring individualized MedGuides for each of the approx 15 ADHD drugs on the market so it is important to use the link below to find the correct MedGuides for your patients
Counterfeit Drugs
Counterfeit drugs—illegal and inherently unsafe—are a growing public health problem. An FDA task force is working with other agencies and the private sector to help protect the nation's drug supply from the threat of counterfeits. FDA has found a great deal of pharmacist trust with the MedWatch program, and is encouraging pharmacists to report counterfeit drugs in the following ways:
- For suspicious drugs, labels, packaging or cases from patients: Report suspect counterfeit, adulterated, misbranded or contraband drugs to Medwatch at www.fda.gov/medwatch
- For suspicious offers or vendors: Contact FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations by email at rxdrugcops@oci.fda.gov, using as a guide the previously cited risk factors, or if you suspect that prescription drug diversion is taking place.
- In all cases: Notify your state pharmacy regulatory board. A directory of boards is available here: Board of Pharmacy Web Sites PDF (42k)
Counterfeit Alert Network
NCPA is a member of the Counterfeit Alert Network, a coalition of health professional and consumer groups. The Network has three goals:
- to disseminate alert messages to a wide audience about specific counterfeit drug incidents in the U.S. and measures to take to minimize exposure (recall information, for example);
- to develop educational information about the roles and responsibilities that consumers, pharmacists, other health professionals, and wholesalers should play to identify counterfeit drugs, report suspect counterfeit drugs, and prevent them from entering the U.S. drug distribution system; and
- to develop a network of national organizations, consumer groups, and industry representatives to help distribute the information.
Drug Shortages
Drug Shortages Email Alert: To receive e-mail notification of drug products added to the Current Drug Shortages, and Resolved Drug Shortages lists, visit the listserv list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=drug-shortages&A=1 and complete the Drug Shortages listserv form.
Other drug shortage sites include the CDC National Immunization Program Shortages
Drug Safe Disposal
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) no longer recommends flushing old meds down the toilet. Sewage treatment plants may not be able to clean all medicines out of the water and damage to fish and wildlife may occur. To throw away your medicines safely, check with your local government. Many cities and towns have household hazardous waste facilities where you can bring your old medicines.
National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) has a new brochure entitled
Syringe Safe Disposal
- CDC Safe Community Needle Disposal
This Web site was designed by the CDC primarily for individuals and communities who are working to build safe syringe disposal programs and improve public understanding of this important issue. We hope that the information and tools provided here will help communities move closer to the ultimate goal of "no syringes discarded in the trash or in public locations such as parks, buildings, or the streets."
- Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste
This site has general reference publications from the EPA including a brochure on safe disposal of self injectables, e.g., lancets, insulin syringes, etc.
- Community Options PDF (257k)
FDA's New Drug Safety Initiative
FDA is launching a new program to make drug safety information available in an easily accessible format. The FDA believes that patients, their healthcare professionals, and other consumers will find the following information useful in their prescribing and treatment decisions. The following items are available:
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CDC News Updates
Check this new section for the latest important news from the CDC.
CDC Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response
Emergency Preparedness and Response; Agents, Diseases, & Other Threats.
CDC National Immunization Program
NIP provides consultation, training, educational, epidemiological, and technical services to assist in planning, developing, and implementing immunization programs.
Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work Campaign Information
Why does the CDC have an appropriate antibiotic use campaign? Antimicrobial resistance among respiratory pathogens has become a common clinical problem, and the association of resistance with the use of antimicrobial drugs has been documented in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The Institute of Medicine has identified antibiotic resistance as one of the key microbial threats to health in the United States and has listed decreasing the inappropriate use of antimicrobials as a primary solution to address this threat. For this reason, antibiotic resistance is among CDC's top concern.
CDC Pandemic Flu Preparedness
This site provides one-stop access to U.S. Government avian and pandemic flu information. Managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Tobacco Intervention Program (TIPS)
Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing nearly 440,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $75 billion in direct medical costs. This site offers Fact Sheets and access to The Guide to Community Preventive Services that addresses the effectiveness of community-based interventions for three strategies to promote tobacco use prevention and control: 1) prevent tobacco product use initiation, 2) increase cessation and 3) reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
Download: The Guide to Community Preventive Services (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/comguide.htm)
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National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE)
NCPIE is a coalition of over 125 diverse organizations whose mission is to stimulate and improve communication of information on appropriate medicine use to consumers and healthcare professionals.
Two out of every three visits to the doctor ends with a prescription being written. Over 3 billion prescriptions are dispensed yearly. While taking medicines is very common, it's not always easy to take them correctly. For nearly 25 years, NCPIE has been at the forefront in promoting information sharing among consumers, prescribers, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals.
National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) OTC Safety
Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)
The mission of ISMP is to understand the causes of medication errors and provide time-critical error-reduction strategies to the healthcare community, policy makers, and the public. The Institute has a long history of achievements. Its medication error prevention efforts began in 1975 with a groundbreaking and continuing column in Hospital Pharmacy that increases understanding and educates healthcare professionals and others about medication error prevention.
Partnership for Safe Medicines
The Partnership for Safe Medicines is a group of organizations and individuals that have policies, procedures, or programs to protect consumers from counterfeit or contraband medicines.
Medicines in My Home
Medicines in My Home program was born in Summer 2004 as a proposal to teach sixth grade students about the safe use of over-the-counter, or non-prescription, medicines. A major goals was to teach students how to find information about their medicine on the Drug Facts label and to give them information to share with their families.
The National Diabetes Education Program is a federally-sponsored initiative that involves public and private partners to improve the treatment and outcomes for people with diabetes, to promote early diagnosis, and to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. All their publications are copyright-free and they encourage duplication and distribution of as many copies of these materials as desired to patients and caregivers.
FEMA
Disaster. It strikes anytime, anywhere. It takes many forms—a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, a flood, a fire or a hazardous spill, an act of nature or an act of terrorism. It builds over days or weeks, or hits suddenly, without warning. Every year, millions of Americans face disaster, and its terrifying consequences.
National Institutes of Health
NIH is the nation's medical research agency—making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. NIH is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research. It is currently composed of 27 centers and institutes.
ClinicalTrials.gov
ClinicalTrials.gov provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers. ClinicalTrials.gov gives you information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details. The information provided on ClinicalTrials.gov should be used in conjunction with advice from health care professionals. Before searching, you may want to learn more about clinical trials.
U.S. National Library of Medicine—Healthcare Professionals
What is the National Library of Medicine (NLM), what does it do, and what can it do for me? Answer: The National Library of Medicine (NLM): is the world's largest biomedical library; supports national network of local and regional medical libraries, as explained at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/nnlm.html
National Library of Medicine (NLM)/Medline Plus
MedlinePlus will direct you to information to help answer health questions. MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations. Preformulated MEDLINE searches are included in MedlinePlus and give easy access to medical journal articles. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news.
NLM Medline PubMed
PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of eight agencies that compose the Public Health Service (PHS) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The National Cancer Institute coordinates the National Cancer Program, which conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.
Pharmacy Quality Alliance
The Mission of the PQA is to:
- Improve health care quality and patient safety through a collaborative process in which key stakeholders agree on a strategy for measuring performance at the pharmacy and pharmacist-levels
- collecting data in the least burdensome way; and
- report meaningful information to consumers, pharmacists, employers, health insurance plans, and other healthcare decision-makers to help make informed choices, improve outcomes and stimulate the development of new payment models.
Pharmacy Value Alliance
Pharmacy Value Alliance Mission Statement: to foster the community pharmacist-patient dialogue through pharmacist and pharmacy technician programs and messages that enhance consumer appreciation of the need for quality prescription medications in health care and the value of community pharmacists in helping patients to maximize the benefits of those medications. The Web site has CE and training materials for pharmacists to use when counseling their patients.
Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT)E
The purpose of the Exam for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT) is to help ensure that a minimum knowledge base or competency is possessed by pharmacy technicians who assist pharmacists in the preparation of prescriptions. The ExCPT is nationally recognized by the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores as a psychometrically sound pharmacy technician certification exam.
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