Latest Conference Articles

Several new antiepileptic drugs have recently been approved in the United States. In a symposium at the American Epilepsy Society in Seattle, Washington, Professor Martin J. Brodie, MD, director of the epilepsy unit of the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland, discussed some considerations with ezogabine and eslicarbazepine.

Mark Cook, MD, of the University of Melbourne, and Brian Litt, MD, of the Penn Epilepsy Center and the Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania, discuss how new devices, big data, and massive online competitions are enabling prediction of seizures before they start.

S. L. Moshé, MD, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, discusses the importance of creating disease-specific models of epilepsy in animal models for understanding and treating specific epilepsy subtypes.

The links between epilepsy and other diseases offer clues for early treatment. Frances E. Jensen, MD, past AES president and professor at Cornell Medical School, describes these links, and what they mean for future epilepsy treatment modalities.

Kristen Park, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics and neurology at the University of Colorado, discussed the potential risks and benefits of alternative therapies for epilepsy, including medical marijuana.

Treating patients with status epilepticus is a challenging balance of minimizing the risk of medication adverse events while managing the serious dangers of status epilepticus itself.

Antiepileptic medications are a broad category of drugs with many potential adverse events. In this session, Eugen Trinka, MD, MSc, reviews the most common adverse events associated with these therapies.

Understanding the recommendations of evidence-based guidelines is an important component of treating patients with therapies backed by the best available evidence.

Speakers at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting ranging from ASHP President Gerald Meyer, PharmD, to Michael Lee, PharmD, of the Indian Health Service, argued that pharmacists are closer than ever before to achieving their goal of attaining provider status.

Specialty pharmacy presents itself as both a challenging business model and a significant financial opportunity under the right circumstances, especially for health systems. Kevin Colgan, MA, FASHP, of Rush University Medical Center and Kyle Skiermont, PharmD, of Fairview Pharmacy Services provided an overview of specialty pharmacies and presented strategies for building a successful specialty pharmacy business.

Quality and performance measurement has become an integral part of the health care system. As pharmacists continue to increase their role and exposure as health care providers, they are well positioned to assist in identifying ways to improve the quality of care delivered and to play an integral role in the development of quality measures, according to Curtis Collins, PharmD, MS, BCPS (AQ-ID), FASHP, who spoke at the ASHP Midyear Meeting.

As the prevalence of obesity continues to increase and treatment strategies evolve, pharmacists are not only in a position to advise on appropriate use of pharmacotherapy for obesity, but also to assist in improving outcomes from gastric bypass surgery.

Genomic sequencing is rapidly increasing its value as a clinical tool in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, including cancer. In his presentation, Justin M. Balko, PharmD, PhD, from Vanderbilt University, provided a background on the current state of next-generation genomic sequencing (NGS), and the potential role that pharmacists play as this science continues to evolve.

Retired general and former secretary of state Colin Powell discussed his thoughts on the US health care system and the role pharmacists play within it during his keynote address at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting.

In this session, a sustainable business model for pharmacists practicing in an accountable care organization environment was described by Kelly Boesen, PharmD, BCPS, and Sandra Leal, PharmD, MPH, CDE, FAPhA, of the El Rio Health Center in Tucson, Arizona.

New and experienced pharmacists are always on the lookout for ways to improve their careers. This presentation focuses on some key strategies for identifying new opportunities that allow new and experienced pharmacists to develop and apply their clinical skills.

Illicit drug use continues to be a prevalent and growing problem in the United States, and the use of newer substances is on the rise. Because of the increasing prevalence and "tweaking" of compounds to avoid detection, the identification of drug abuse by practitioners often relies on signs and symptoms. In this session, presenters reviewed some of these agents, including their history and their impact on those abusing them.

The editor of the Pharmacy Times Health-System Edition offers pointers on getting as much as you can out of the 2013 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting.