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Beginning in March 2020, New York City began the fight against coronavirus disease 2019. Health care workers were faced with a disease that led to significant morbidity and mortality with no proven therapies. As hospitals became inundated with patients and underwent rapid expansion of capacity, resources such as drugs, protective and medical equipment, and hospital staff became limited. Pharmacists played a critical role in the management of clinical care and drug delivery during the pandemic. As members of the department of pharmacy within NewYork‐Presbyterian Hospital, we describe our experiences and processes to overcome challenges faced during the pandemic. Strict inventory management through the use of daily usage reports, frequent communication, and minimization of waste was critical for the management of drug shortages. The creation of guidelines, protocols, and restrictions were not only used to mitigate drug shortages, but also helped educate health care providers and guided medication use. Managing technology through setting up new automatic dispensing cabinets to address hospital expansions and modifying the electronic order entry system to include new protocols and drug shortage information were also vital. Additional key pharmacist functions included provision of investigational drug service support and training of pharmacists, prescribers, nurses, and respiratory therapists to educate and standardize medication use. Through implementation of operational and clinical processes, pharmacists managed critical drug inventory and guided patient treatment. As the pandemic continues, pharmacists will remain vital members of the multidisciplinary team dedicated to the fight against the virus. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Background: Patients with a history of alcohol use disorder are at an increased risk of hematoma expansion following intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) due to the effects of alcohol on platelet aggregation. Desmopressin (DDAVP) improves platelet aggregation and may decrease hematoma expansion in patients with ICH. However, DDAVP may also increase the risk of hyponatremia and thrombotic events. Evidence is limited regarding the safety and efficacy of DDAVP in alcohol use (AU)-associated ICH. Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of adult patients with radiographic evidence of ICH and a confirmed or suspected history of alcohol use upon admission. Patients were categorized into groups based on DDAVP administration. Safety outcomes included hyponatremia (serum sodium Results: In total, 52 patients were included in the safety analysis (27 DDAVP and 25 non-DDAVP). Although hyponatremia was numerically higher in the DDAVP group, there was no significant difference between groups (19.2% vs 4.2%, P = 0.192). Thrombotic complications were similar between the DDAVP and non-DDAVP groups (11.1% vs. 8%, P = 1.0). Thirty-nine patients met criteria for hemostatic efficacy analysis. There was no difference in hematoma expansion between the DDAVP and non-DDAVP groups (23.1% vs 34.6%, P = 0.71) and these findings were consistent after adjusting for differences in baseline characteristics (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.1-3.3). Conclusion: The administration of DDAVP was not associated with adverse safety events, but did not significantly reduce the incidence of hematoma expansion in patients with AU-associated ICH.

Zusammenfassung Ein Gebäudeautomationssystem (GA-System) ist durch eine Vielzahl von automatisierten Funktionen geprägt. Die Planung und Auslegung eines GA-Systems ist daher ein aufwändiger und fehlerträchtiger Vorgang. Dabei werden Planungsfehler oft erst bei der Inbetriebnahme des Gebäudes erkannt. Um eine frühzeitige Funktionsanalyse und Fehlererkennung zu gewährleisten, wurde ein Ansatz für eine effiziente Erstellung eines funktionalen Modells für die GA entwickelt, mit welchem ein GA-System simuliert, ausgelegt und konfiguriert werden kann.

The planning and layout of a building automation and control system (BACS) is a complex process characterised by the application and interconnection of several different functions. Such a complex process is prone to planning errors that are often only recognised during the initial operation of the building. In order to guarantee earlier fault detection and function analysis, a basic approach for efficient production of functional models of BACS was developed. This approach combines an AutomationML-based manufacturer-independent description of the BACS with a manufacturer-specific room-automation function database to generate a Petri net model enabling simulation of the BACS. This functional model enables an early analysis of the system behaviour and performance.