Editor’s Note, DCMS #192

On my way to the airport Monday morning I was listening to a feature on NPR’s Morning Edition about the use of pharmacists in the ER and of course my ears perked up. They were discussing how many drug errors occur in the hospital and how over 7,000 people die in hospitals each year because of these errors. I was listening to the director of a large pediatric ER facility in Dallas, TX as he described how these clinical pharmacists reviewed every prescription and made changes based on weight, age and other medications about 30% of the time. In fact, he went on to say that many of the ER physicians were in favor of making a note and letting the pharmacist dose and in some cases choose the medications. This concept of adding the eyes of another medical professional is the subject of this week’s Disaster Averted.

Our Homerun Slides look at how diabetes is as much a vascular disease as it is a metabolic disease, and our Clinical Text are all about how medications that block carbohydrate absorption work and how we can use them for our patients. Our Mastery In Minutes video is about how one hospital system lowered hypoglycemia incidents so successfully.

If you are on you way to the ADA in San Francisco we want your opinion on the latest information presented. If you would like to share your opinions or information with our readers by doing a video interview, please pop an email to our publisher Stephen Freed at publisher@diabetesincontrol.com and he will contact you to set up a time.