Community Medical Center

The Department of Pharmacy takes care of inpatients and outpatients of the hospital. Our Pharmacy Department is committed to ensure patient satisfaction and continuity of care. The outpatients we care for are registered to radiology, laboratory, surgery, cardiology, outpatient infusion centers and the emergency department. The department takes care of a very large outpatient oncology/hematology population at the J. Phillip Citta Cancer Center. The Outpatient Infusion Center is part of the hospital, and has three pharmacists, that work in a dedicated chemotherapy clean room, a non-chemotherapy clean room and ante-room. The pharmacists in the Outpatient Infusion Center also prepare and dispense chemotherapy for inpatients on the oncology unit.

The inpatient pharmacy supports and maintains automatic dispensing cabinets (ADC) on the patient care units. The Clinical Information System supports bedside barcode medication administration performed by nursing. Clinical pharmacists in the main pharmacy verify medication orders placed by prescriber through the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. Centralized clinical pharmacists answer phones, verify orders, and oversee technician activities and IV room compounding. There is also an Operating Room Pharmacy Satellite staffed by one pharmacist and one technician Monday through Friday. Pharmacists are also assigned to each floor to perform patient counseling, provide feedback to prescribers on optimizing medication therapy management, and assist the medical and nursing staff with education regarding medications. Pharmacy technicians in the main pharmacy work in conjunction with pharmacists to prepare medications and ensure timely delivery of medications to inpatient and outpatient patient care areas. Technicians support the decentralized pharmacists by restocking the ADC’s and delivering non-stocked medications to the units from the central pharmacy. In the central pharmacy, the technicians assist pharmacists by answering phones, filling labels, compounding and picking medications, and performing deliveries.

The pharmacy has 5 clinical specialists who provide additional resources to the pharmacy, nurses, physicians and patients. The two full time clinical specialists that cover the emergency department, are double board certified in both Pharmacotherapy and Critical Care Pharmacotherapy and focus on management of the critically ill patient being admitted to the hospital. The pharmacy department has two inpatient Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Pharmacy Faculty, providing internal medicine and critical care services. The hospital also has a Transitions of Care Clinical Specialist that works closely with the Transitions of Care nursing team to ensure accurate and appropriate medication therapy management during care transitions when patients are admitted to and discharged from the hospital. All staff members are expected to promote the care values of the pharmacy and document their value and contribution.

The hospital services supported by the pharmacy department include pediatrics, neonatal, gynecology/maternity, critical care, general medicine, emergency medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, general surgery, robotic surgery, geriatrics, hospice, telemetry, and oncology. The department is involved in several interdisciplinary committees including the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, Medication Safety Committee, Performance Improvement Council, Quality Council, Policy and Procedure Committee, Institutional Review Board, Cancer Committee, Support Services Division Committee, CAT committee (Cerner Clinical Information System), Falls Committee, Pain Domain Committee, and the Accreditation and Licensure Committee. In addition to precepting a multitude of pharmacy students each year, the pharmacy department also maintains ASHP pharmacy residency programs. Community Medical Center provides training to two post-graduate year one residents each year and is beginning a specialized second year residency training program in Critical Care for 2016.

Community Medical Center Pharmacy Leadership

Lynne Goldstein, PharmD

Director of Pharmacy

Jessica Nodzon, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP

Assistant Director of Clinical Pharmacy & PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency Program Director

Patricia Chenenko, RPh

Operations Supervisor

Anne Ficalora, PharmD

Sterile Products Supervisor

Justin Liou, RPh

Information Technology Pharmacist

Janine Tarricone

Pharmacy Technician Supervisor