Getting Great Feedback From Our Advisory Board

Pharmacy Times® Directions in Health-System Pharmacy™ hosts an annual meeting with our advisory board members to pick their brains and get a temperature check on whether the print publication, website, video offerings, podcasts, and email offerings are meeting the needs of pharmacy professionals.

These meetings are typically conducted in person and held concurrently with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition. This year, because of COVID-19, the editorial team met with our esteemed advisory board members virtually. Although the format was different, the feedback was no less valuable than it has been in other years.

Some areas of focus that the board members discussed produced much food for thought for Pharmacy Times® Directions in Health-System Pharmacy™ and how it can continue to stay ahead of the curve with news, analyses, and cutting-edge video and podcast content, especially post pandemic. Topics included the challenges faced by pharmacists in rural areas; the future of telehealth; the impact of delayed screenings; increases in addiction, alcoholism, and smoking, as well as other mental health issues; long-term patient health consequences resulting from COVID-19; and technician shortages.

It his Editor's Note, Curtis E. Haas, PharmD, FCCP, discusses the strain the pandemic has put on the health care system. He points out that a shift has occurred and that pharmacists, as well as other health care professionals, must be prepared for what this means for them and their patients down the road.

Elsewhere in this issue, Deepali Dixit, PharmD, BCCCP, BCPS, FCCM, and some of her PharmD program students at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in Piscataway, look at adequate pain assessment and management in the intensive care unit—a complex process. They discuss how it is further complicated by patients' unstable health statuses, which make them unable to communicate their pain accurately.

Other coverage this month addresses brain health; the recent approval of Cabenuva (cabotegravir and rilpivirine), the first long-acting injectable for the treatment of HIV; treatments for small cell lung cancer; and news from the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association 2021 Virtual Annual Conference.

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