PodcastRx

If your job is to sell pharmacy service to long-term care facilities, how do change your approach when your clients suddenly aren’t accessible to you? And on top of that, how do you adapt your pitch when those same clients are facing one of the biggest crises to ever hit their industry? These are questions that Nick McFerron, regional healthcare sales executive for Diamond, was faced with for the...

On this episode, we welcome back Judy Tomayko, senior respiratory therapist and infection control coordinator for Diamond Medical Supply. The fall of 2021 has been a trying time for Judy and her respiratory care team, as they’ve taken on an unprecedented surge in respiratory patients and dealt with various respiratory equipment shortages, all thanks to COVID-19. We discuss these and other difficul...

On this episode, we welcome back Deborah Milito, Pharm. D., Director of Clinical and Consultant Services for Diamond’s Long-Term Care division, to revisit some frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine. You might remember our special bonus episode from February featuring a vaccine town hall Q&A she gave for one of our nursing home clients. Dr. Milito goes over many of the questions fro...

Frequent contributor Chris Bender from the Diamond Drug Information Center is back - again- this time to talk about treating asthma in the correctional setting. According to a 2015 report from the US Department of Justice, the prevalence of asthma among correctional patient population was 15-20%, compared to just 10% among the general population. It should be no surprise then that Chris and his Dr...

Be honest- When you saw the title of this episode, did you let out a sigh, or maybe roll your eyes and think “They’re talking about COVID again?” Well, we understand. No matter what degree the pandemic has affected your life in the past year, it’s more than safe to say that you’re tired of it. You’re sick of it. And you probably felt that way just weeks into the pandemic, let alone months. Of cour...

Regular contributor Chris Bender from Diamond’s Drug Information Center gives us a much needed break from all the COVID talk to discuss another serious, if understated, problem in healthcare- polypharmacy. Chris breaks down what exactly polypharmacy is, its negative effects on patients and health care as a whole, and what pharmacists can do to stop it. Along the way we also talk about the prescrip...

Hopefully, you remember our last regular episode before we took a little winter break- It was titled “Anticipating the Arrival of the Covid Vaccine” and our guest was Deborah Milito, director of skilled and consultant services for Diamond. We discussed where things stood with Operation Warp Speed, the development of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and how pharmacies were planning for the rollout,...

We can’t say enough about the efforts of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic- from the doctors and nurses tending the ICU, to staff in long-term care facilities, and of course to pharmacists now vaccinating patients. But if there’s a group of professionals that might get a little lost in the shuffle, it’s respiratory therapists. While it’s a given that respiratory therapists woul...

Deborah Milito, Pharm. D., BCGP, FASCP, returns to the show to talk with us about the progress of a COVID-19 vaccine. As a member of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists’ Operation Warp Speed committee, Deb has an up-close look at the latest news regarding the development and distribution of the COVID vaccine. We chat about these topics, plus the effects of the pandemic on consulting, th...

Audra Palmo took over as manager of Diamond’s Medical Supply division in early 2020, transitioning out of a 20-year career in long-term care. She was on the job but a few months when the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States. Suddenly, Audra found herself jumping through procurement hoops to secure crucial personal protective equipment, comforting panicked customers, and facing unprecedented...

Vaccines are one of the greatest success stories in all of medical history. As the World Health Organization points out, there are now vaccines to protect us from over 20 potentially deadly diseases. Vaccination saves 2-3 million lives each year from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza and measles, to name but a few. And now as the world comes to grips with a historic pandemic, the anticipat...

Debbie Yackuboskey is a registered nurse practitioner, a nursing consultant and Diamond’s infection control coordinator for the past 17 years. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Debbie suddenly found her infection control expertise put to the test in unprecedented ways as she worked to protect Diamond staff and customers against the novel coronavirus. She joins us to talk about these plan...

Biologic medications are some of the most innovative drugs on the market and some of the most expensive. In their place, biosimilar medications promise to make the treatment benefits of biologic drugs more accessible. While biosimilars bear no significant clinical difference to their biologic counterparts and face rigorous FDA approval pathways, biosimilars lack utilization, lack confidence from h...

Hey everyone. Thanks again for listening to PodcastRx. As you know, our favorite thing about this show is the chance to bring on expert guests who work right here at Diamond Pharmacy. But with the outbreak of COVID-19 affecting the vulnerable populations we serve, our staff members are understandably busy during this difficult and uncertain time. So new episodes are on an indefinite hiatus. We did...

No matter who is doing it, the illicit transfer and misuse of medications is an issue that greatly threatens the safety of both patients and healthcare providers. Chris Bender and Erica Gray of the Diamond Drug Information center join us to discuss drug diversion across institutional care settings and what providers can do to defend against it. In the first segment, we define drug diversion and ge...

How do you optimize medication safety across different care settings, especially in the skilled nursing environment? To get some insight, we talked with Deborah Milito, Pharm. D. She is the director of clinical and consultant services for Diamond’s skilled nursing division. We discuss how medication reconciliation, drug regimen reviews, the IMPACT Act, and pharmacists themselves all work together...

A Holiday Message from PodcastRx by PodcastRx by Diamond Pharmacy Services

It’s unlikely that you’d ever think of a healthcare professional as someone who cares “too much”. After all, that’s the objective of their calling. But make no mistake, compassion fatigue is a real phenomenon and can take its toll on even the most seasoned healthcare professional. In this episode, we’re joined by Karen Harrell. She’s a registered nurse with decades of experience in managing assist...

Diabetes is one of the fastest-growing chronic disease states in the United States. With more than 30 million people diagnosed, it affects a sizable portion of our population. And because diabetes is so prevalent in the general population, it, of course, is highly prevalent in the incarcerated population as well. Managing this disease in a corrections setting is full of challenges from both a secu...

With the legalization of medical marijuana and the growing popularity of over-the-counter CBD oil, many older adults are turning to these cannabis cousins to treat a variety of ailments. But what does the research say about their efficacy? And what risks might be associated with them? To help answer these and other questions, we turned to Erica Gray, Pharm. D. She’s a pharmacist in the Diamond Dru...

Chris Cicuto, Pharm. D. has been with Diamond just four-and-a-half years, starting his career in the Drug Information Center before taking on the role of consultant pharmacist for correctional facilities in several states. His relatively fresh perspectives on correctional medicine and consulting made him an ideal guest for the show. In this episode, Chris gives us plenty of insight into building r...

In this episode, we speak with Chris Bender, Pharm. D. about medication assisted treatment (MAT) of opioid addiction. Chris guides us through the clinical, controversial, and corrections-focused aspects of MAT. If you don't know methadone from suboxone, you'll want to listen. Chris Bender, Pharm. D. is a pharmacist with the Diamond Drug Information Center. Links to articles referenced in this epis...

Lauren Lichtenfels, Pharm. D. is a true homegrown talent at Diamond, starting with the company as a pill packer before ultimately joining the staff as a production and compounding pharmacist. We learn all about this professional journey and get a glimpse into her daily life as a pharmacist on this short, but sweet episode of PodcastRx.

On this episode, we sit down with Nick McFerron, a sales representative for our long-term care division. Nick was an EMT who started working at Diamond in the marketing department before transitioning to sales. We chat about his professional journey, get a glimpse into building relationships with potential clients, learn how technology is impacting pharmacy delivery in personal care and assisted l...

For the past 15 years, the Diamond Educational Conferences have given long-term care professionals in Pennsylvania and Ohio the chance to earn free continuing education credit from courses taught primarily by Diamond personnel. This episode is an informal and immersive look at one of those conferences. We brought our microphones to record live at the Ohio Educational Conference in October of 2018....