CHS Pharmacy News 

November 2021

Upcoming Holiday Hours

Thanksgiving Day: Closed
Christmas Eve: 9 AM – 3 PM
Christmas Day: Closed
New Year’s Eve: Normal Business Hours
New Year’s Day: Closed
Normal business hours are 9 AM – 5:30 PM M-F, and 9 AM – 3PM Saturday and Closed on Sunday
*Emergency services available 24/7/365

November is National Diabetes Month*

Tips to help with prevention, prediabetes, and manage diabetes:

• Take small steps: adjusting lifestyle and daily habits
• Move more: getting at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week
• Choose healthier foods and drinks: increased fiber and lower fat and sugar
• Lose weight: improve diabetes or risk by losing 5 to 7 pounds
• Seek support: support from family and health providers can help make necessary lifestyle changes
• Get vaccinated: Stay up to date on vaccinations such as influenza, pneumococcal, COVID-19, hepatitis B

SAFETY: Insulin Pen Usage**

Important points when using insulin pen devices:

• Make sure to remove both caps of the insulin needle tips once attached to the insulin pen
• Prime the insulin pen to remove air bubbles from the needle. It also allows one to ensure that the needle is open and working.
• The pen must be primed before each injections
• Lose weight: improve diabetes or risk by losing 5 to 7 pounds
• To prime, turn the dosage knob to 2 units, or up to 5 units depending on pen manufacturer. Press the plunger to verify that at least one drop of insulin appears.
• Dial the pen for dosage and verify correct before injection.
• DO NOT USE A INSULIN SYRINGE TO DRAW INSULIN FROM AN INSULIN PEN. Newer insulins may be of a higher concentration and the pen is specifically calibrated to deliver the selected units for administration.

CMS Appendix PP: In the Know***

Medication Access and Storage
A facility is required to secure all medications in a locked storage area and to limit access to authorized personnel (for example, nursing, pharmacy technicians, or assistants who have been delegated access to medications by the facility’s pharmacist as a function of their jobs) consistent with state or federal requirements and professional standards of practice.

Storage areas may include, but are not limited to, drawers, cabinets, medication rooms, refrigerators, and carts. Depending on how the facility locks and stores medications, access to a medication room may not necessarily provide access to the medications (for example, medications stored in a locked cart, locked cabinets, a locked refrigerator, or locked drawers within the medication room). When medications are not stored in separately locked compartments within a storage area, only appropriately authorized staff may have access to the storage area.

12p -1p CST; 1-hour CE Programs for Administrators & Nursing

Presented by National Institute for Health Education & Training; Contact CHS Pharmacy to find out more.

• November 3: COVID CRISIS – WHAT’S NEXT?
• November 30: Simplify Your P.D.P.M Payment Audit Process
• December 1: Growing Occupancy in the Post-COVID World

1. *nih.gov
2. **clevelandclinic.org
3. ***KDADs, Appendix PP, page 515