Mitchell Buckley

Mitchell’s Story

Dr. Buckley received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in May 2002. He completed a PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Residency at Shawnee Mission Medical Center in June 2003 and a PGY2 Critical Care Specialty Residency at the University of Arizona in June 2004.

Dr. Buckley has served as Program Chair of several education sessions at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting. These program topics included stress ulcer prophylaxis in the ICU, inhaled prostacyclins for pulmonary arterial hypertension, and medication safety. He is currently serving in the role of Network Facilitator for Critical Care (2013-2015). Lastly, he has been a literature awards reviewer for the ASHP Foundation since 2011.

Facility

Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center is a 700+ bed quaternary care, teaching facility located in downtown Phoenix, AZ with an average daily admission rate of about 93.8 adult patients per day and over 34,000 adult inpatient admissions annually. This nonprofit hospital serves as the flagship of Banner Health, which is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and operates 25 hospitals as well as other related health entities and services in seven states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming).The Department of Pharmacy provides 24-hour services and has over 100 staff members including pharmacists, technicians, and supporting staff. Comprehensive clinical pharmacy services provided to inpatients include anticoagulation management, medication pharmacokinetic monitoring and dosing, pain management, sedation consults for mechanically ventilated patients,patient education, medication reconciliation, a novel stress ulcer prophylaxis management program, and a robust antimicrobial stewardship program. In addition, clinical pharmacists participate in a comprehensive patient safety surveillance program based on an automated medication monitoring system utilizing trigger alerts (Discern Alerts) based on logic-based rules to identify and/or prevent adverse drug events.

Significant Projects

Dr. Buckley serves as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and PGY1 Residency Program Director. He has authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications in pharmacy and medical journals as well as book chapters relating to critical care. He is actively involved in national as well as regional pharmacy organizations. He has served as Chair of the Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology (CPP) Patient Safety Committee as well as the CPP Research Committee within the Society of Critical Care Medicine. He is currently Chair of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Critical Care PRN. Dr. Buckley served as the project leader in the development of institutional clinical practice guidelines regarding the appropriate utilization of erythropoietin-stimulating agents and implemented a pharmacy target-drug management program involving clinical pharmacists who evaluated epoetin indications for use. This clinical pharmacy formulary program significantly reduced inappropriate use by 25% resulting in an estimated annual cost savings of $198,352. He also served as the project leader in implementing a novel clinical pharmacist-managed acid suppression therapy (AST) program at his institution.

Dr. Buckley was instrumental in establishing clinical pharmacists with prescriptive authority for AST at his hospital. This allowed pharmacists to initiate, modify, or discontinue AST within the context of the defined institutional protocol. He observed the rate of inappropriate AST use following implementation of the clinical program significantly decreased by 58% and 84.1% in the ICU and general ward populations, respectively. This novel program also resulted in decreasing the duration of inappropriate AST use in the hospital by about 2 days and reduced inappropriate AST continuation upon hospital discharge by over 80%. Furthermore, the estimated annual hospital cost-savings associated with the implementation of this clinical pharmacist-managed AST program is over $200,000. He is currently co-leading a pharmacy task force on improving cost-effective use of albumin at his institution as well as within Banner Health. In addition, he has served as principle investigator for several research projects involving PGY1 pharmacy residents. Some of these projects have involved evaluating the use of vancomycin in obese patient on continuous renal replacement therapy, evaluating the impact of a trigger tool on adverse drug events, the correlation of free vs. total phenytoin serum concentrations in ICU patients, and the off-label use of medications in the ICU.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

“Networking will be of significant value throughout your career. Clinical pharmacists new to the Critical Care Specialty regardless of background and training should find a mentor in this area. You will be more successful in achieving professional goals and developing a robust clinical pharmacy practice if you are able to learn from seasoned Critical Care pharmacists in their respective area of expertise. My professional goals upon completing my PGY2 residency was to continue to improve my knowledge and skills in ICU patient care activities, contribute new knowledge relevant to clinical pharmacy practice through research and publication, and serve as an educator of healthcare professionals. In order to achieve these goals, I have identified several experienced ICU clinical pharmacists to help mentor me in each of these areas.”

“However, I largely owe my success to Dr. Sandra Kane-Gill, Pharm.D., M.S., FCCP, FCCM, a friend and colleague who has guided me over the overs to develop my skills in these areas.”

ASHP’s Value to Members

“ASHP is an organization representing Health System Pharmacy. It provides several opportunities for promoting leadership, advocacy, networking, education, and residency training. One of the greatest values of membership has been networking.”