Hello all. I've written another article for Pharmacy Times. We've written about monoclonal antibodies previously (here, and here)..but this is a more "consolidated" and coherent article on the subject.

You can check it out here:

HIV Boot Camp: PIs

PIs. Ahhh the ever-so-important private investigators.

Err...I mean protease inhibitors.

You may recall that we've already discussed protease inhibitors in our post on Hepatitis C.

Apixaban use in Hemodialysis?

Howdy all. This is just a quick note to let you know that I wrote a short piece for Pharmacy Times.

You can check it out here:

Acid - Base Disorders: Essentials for Pharmacists

I have a confession to make...

I didn't "get" acid-base disorders until well after pharmacy school. They were something I was willing to skate through. To take an "L" on the exam if I had to.

HIV Boot Camp: NNRTIs

Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, or NNRTIs (pronounced like NRTIs, but with a stutter), are the next class of HIV drugs we will be covering.

What makes a NON-nucleoside as opposed to a regular old fashioned nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor?

The Epidemic of 'Professional Shaming'

Hi, I'm Brandon.

I like to joke around when I'm writing about fun topics like Oncology or Antibiotics.

But today I'd like to talk to you about something serious.

I'm talking, of course, about professional shaming.

Pharmacy School, Practice, Professional, ResidencyBrandon DysonAugust 8, 2016professional shaming

The Ultimate Guide to Oncology Pharmacy for the Non-Oncologist

Oncology pharmacy is hard.

Like, really hard.

You get a 3 - 5 week module during school. Maybe you have an APPE rotation. But there's just too much. Too many types of cancers. Too much history that explains how we got to where we are.

Psych Pharmacy: Depression Treatment and Overview

Editor's Note: It is with great pleasure that I introduce Nina Vadiei, PharmD. Nina is a totally bad ass PGY2 Psych Pharmacy Resident who has written the excellent post you're about to read. She's sort of like a wizard when it comes to all things 'psych,' and we really appreciate her dropping knowledge bombs here for you all.

Pro Tip: There is a whole bunch of awesome dosing charts at the end of this post.

New FDA Approval - Epclusa

Drug

sofosbuvir / velpatasvir [Epclusa]

Indication

Epclusa is used for treatment of chronic hepatitis C (HCV). It can be used in patients both with and without cirrhosis. If the patient does have cirrhosis (moderate to severe), Epclusa should be given with ribavirin.

Eplcusa can be given all by its lonesome self if there is no cirrhosis or if cirrhosis is in earlier stages.

Hypertension: A tl;dr pharmacy overview

Hypertension has been called the “silent killer.” It’s basically asymptomatic unless your blood pressure is high enough to classify as a "hypertensive urgency/emergency." Only then do you really notice anything. You'll get headaches, dizziness, blurry vision, shortness of breath...that sort of thing.

Otherwise, a hypertensive patient feels normal. But behind the scenes, bad stuff is going down in the body.

The pharmacy profession is moving on...with or without you

In my former life (pre-pharmacy school), I was a manager for a chain drug store. For the purposes of this article, I will affectionately refer to it as "Globo Gym."

I was in this role during a pivotal moment in pharmacy practice--the year that pharmacists gained the widespread ability to administer vaccines.

HIV Boot Camp: NRTIs

Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors make up what's called the "backbone" of every traditional HAART regimen. It is also an awfully long phrase to type, so I will refer to them only as "NRTIs" from here on out.

But before I go on, there's another distinction I have to make. There are actually both nucleoside and nucelotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors. We lump them into the same "NRTI" bucket because they work in exactly the same way. But they are technically different from each other.