Week in Review: Health Care Professionals and Vaccines

This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, medical product approvals, FDA rulings, and more. The Week in Review highlights aContemporary Clinicarticle each week, and is a can't miss for the busy healthcare professional.

Nicole Grassano, Host:Hello and welcome to thePharmacy TimesNews Network. I’m Nicole Grassano your host for our Pharmacy Week in Review.

Visit Pharmacy Times.com for coverage this weekend of the 2018 National Community Pharmacist Association’s annual convention in Boston. While we are in Beantown,Pharmacy Timeswill co-host with Parata Systems the 2018 Next Generation Pharmacist awards.

These awards honor remarkable pharmacists, student pharmacists, technicians, and industry advocates who are chosen from 10 categories, including Civic Leader, Entrepreneur, Future Pharmacist, Health-System Pharmacist, and Rising Star. Three finalists were chosen in each category, and finalist winners will be announced tonight at a gala dinner, along with one winner who will be named the 2018 Next Generation Pharmacist.

All health care professionals should receive an annual influenza vaccine to prevent the spread of illness among their colleagues and patients and reduce the number of sick days taken by health care personnel, according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices,Contemporary Clinicreported. Surveys concluded that strategies to increase workplace immunization, such as requiring vaccination or promoting free onsite vaccines, lead to increased vaccination rates, according to theCDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The CDC surveyed 2,265 health care professionals to determine how many were vaccinated during the 2017-2018 flu season and concluded that 74.8% had received a flu vaccine. These data were consistent with data collected during the past 4 flu seasons, according to the CDC.

New research has found that lymphatic vessels surrounding the brain may play a crucial role in the development and progression of multiple sclerosis,Specialty Pharmacy Timesreported. The vessels may also play a key role in other neuro-inflammatory diseases and brain infections as well.

Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine found that the vessels appear to carry previously unknown messages from the brain to the immune system that ultimately trigger the symptoms of MS. By targeting the lymphatic vessels surrounding the brain, the researchers were able to impede the development of MS in a mouse model using a number of strategies to block or destroy the vessels, effectively decreasing the number of destructive immune cells capable of causing paralysis.

Pharmacists may get more questions about Alka-Seltzer Plus Maximum Strength Cough & Mucus DM if their patients have seen a new commercial for the OTC medication. In the spot, called “Meeting” a man has to take a work meeting at home while he is sick. But then his day gets much worse when his violent cough sends his laptop to the floor, and the employees in the meeting get a direct shot of him in his lovely red heart boxers.

According to the commercial, Alka-Seltzer Plus Maximum Strength Cough & Mucus DM can provide relief to those with coughing and mucus congestion when taken regularly as suggested.

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Thanks for watching our Pharmacy Week in Review. I’m Nicole Grassano at thePharmacy TimesNews Network.