The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have released new consensus Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure. These new guidelines incorporate the New York Heart Association’s functional classifications to describe severity of symptoms. This new system recognizes risk factors for the development of heart failure and recommends earlier therapeutic interventions to prevent heart failure or slow its progression, including ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers. The executive summary can be found on their website at www.acc.org/clinical/guidelines/failure/exec_summ/pdfs/hf_execsumm.pdf.

The American Pharmaceutical Association has developed the Pharmacist Response Center, a web-based resource to help pharmacists better understand the threat of bioterrorism and how they can assist in community emergency preparedness activities. The “In the News” section lists products available in pharmacies that could be used as ingredients in an explosive mixture. For more information visit their website at
 www.aphanet.org/pharmcare/ResponseCenter.htm.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has developed Guidelines on Managing Drug Product Shortages that advise pharmacists how to develop strategies well in advance of the unavailability of a product. They also maintain a Drug Product Shortage Management Resource Center on their website. This service provides pharmacists with the information they need, including research results that recommend acceptable alternatives to use as substitutes for drug products in short supply. The Resource Center also provides a direct link to the FDA Drug Shortages website. For more information visit the ASHP website at www.ashp.org or view the guidelines at
www.ashp.org/shortage/mgtguideline.pdf.

The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists recommends that pharmacists review security measures in their Long Term Care facilities in light of the increase seen in illegal abuse of OxyContin products. For more information on how to prepare, read ASCP’s policy statement on the Role of the Consultant Pharmacist in Preventing and Detecting Diversion of Controlled Substances in Nursing Facilities available on their website at www.ascp.com/public/pr/policy/control.shtml.

The American Pharmaceutical Association has released the fourth edition of the Pocket Guide to Evaluations of Drug Interactions. This peer-reviewed publication is a condensed version of First DataBank’s Evaluations of Drug Interactions that contains over 1,000 drug interaction monographs organized by drug class. The pocket-sized book is designed to facilitate quick access to the information most frequently needed by busy health practitioners. This publication is available from APhA Publication Sales for $39.00 ($31.00 for members) by calling 1-800-878-0729.