Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2019 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 6 Articles
As the pharmacy profession evolves, good communication skills are vital for securing the\nsafer and more rational use of medicines. Currently there is a lack of qualitative studies researching\nEuropean student pharmacistsâ?? and their experience with communication skills training (CST).\nThis qualitative study aimed to fill this gap by exploring Danish student pharmacistsâ?? attitudes\ntowards, and experiences of, CST. Focus group interviews were conducted with a heterogeneous\nsample of Danish student pharmacists in 2016. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim\nand analyzed inductively. Fifteen students participated in three focus groups. Five categories\nidentified as key aspects were: professional communication vs. normal conversation, motivation to\nengage in training, how to learn communication skills, experience with CST and universitiesâ?? role in\nteaching communication skills. In conclusion, there were both positive and negative attitudes towards\nCST among the participants. However, they had little experience with CST. Bloomâ??s taxonomy of\nthe aective domain and Kolbâ??s experiential learning model appear to be useful in understanding\nstudentsâ?? attitudes towards CST. Pharmacy educators can use this study to structure and improve\ntheir CST curricula by knowing what influences studentsâ?? attitudes towards CST....
Background: The aim of this study was to determine the type, quantity, and cost of\nmedications being disposed of by clients in a specifically-set pharmaceutical disposal bin at a village\ncommunity pharmacy. Methods: Medicines placed in a medication disposal bin by clients were\nexamined during a nine-month period from April to December 2018. The data recorded included\nthe active ingredient, trade name, dose, dosage form, disposed quantity, and the actual expiry date\non the pack. The medications were classified according to ATC (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical\nClassification System) code, and the cost of the amount wasted was calculated using the pharmacyâ??s\nprice list. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 411 medications\nwere collected, amounting to a total cost of approximately EUR 2600. The largest group of medications\nbelonged to the alimentary group, and this also represented the group with the highest monetary value.\nThe number of months that medicinal products were retained by patients beyond the expiry date\nranged from 1 to 232. Conclusion: This small study provides a glimpse of what clients dispose of in a\nmedication bin when this is readily available in their community pharmacy, a simple measure which,\nif adopted on a national level, could aid in ensuring the appropriate disposal of wasted medication....
This paper proposes that co-located retail clinics (RCs) and community pharmacies\ncan increase opportunities to provide more accessible, affordable, and patient-friendly primary\ncare services in the United States. RCs are small businesses of about 150-250 square feet with\na clientele of about 10-30 patients each day and most frequently staffed by nurse practitioners\n(NPs). Community pharmacies in the U.S. at approximately equal to 67,000 far outnumber RCs \nat approximately equal to 2800, thereby opening substantial opportunity for growth. Community \npharmacies and pharmacists have been working to increase on-site clinical services, but progress\n has been slowed by the relative isolation from other practitioners. An ideal merged facility based on\n an integrated platform is proposed. NPs and pharmacists could share functions that fulfill documented\n consumer preferences and still maintain separate practice domains. Potential benefits include a broader\n inventory of clinical services including laboratory tests, immunizations, patient education, and physical \nassessment, as well as better patient access, inter professional training opportunities, and economies \nrelated to the use of resources, day-to-day operations, and performance metrics. Challenges include the \navailability of suffcient, appropriately trained staff; limitations imposed by scope of practice and other laws;\n forging of collaborative relationships between NPs and pharmacists; and evidence that the merged\n operations provide economic benefits beyond those of separate enterprises....
With approximately 300 prescriptions dispensed per day in a typical community pharmacy,\nseveral activities take place to ensure the safe dispensing of medicines. While some of these activities\nare common for all prescriptions, others need further activities such as prescription clarification.\nThese activities are important to avoid any potential harm to the patient and improve medication\nadherence. The objective of this study was to measure the impact of these additional dispensing\nservices in a community pharmacy by evaluating the documented patient notes. Two-hundred patients\nwith annotations on their profiles between 1 July and 31 August 2018 were randomly selected and\n322 notes were analyzed. The average number of notes per patient was 1.6. The majority of the notes\nwere about contacting the patient/caregiver for prescription clarification (86.8%). When analyzed\nbased on Medication Therapy Problems, 54.7% were related to adherence and 35.4% to safety.\nUsing the cost saving estimate from the literature for each averted adverse event, these activities\nresulted in a minimum cost saving of $10,458. This study was able to show the positive impacts that\neveryday dispensing services in an independent community pharmacy have on ensuring the safe use\nof medication, thus potentially preventing adverse drug events and reducing health care costs....
Osteoporosis is characterised by low bone mass density or deterioration of micro-architecture of the bone, which cannot be identified in the early stages unless there is a fracture due to minor fall or other diagnostic tests. The major risk factors associated to osteoporosis are age, gender, menopausal history, family history of osteoporosis, past medications, lack of exercise and dietary calcium. Proper awareness regarding the risk factors will help in reducing the complications. Data was collected by direct interaction with 120 female patients using a specially designed data collection form and counselling was provided to improve the awareness about the disease using self-designed brochure. The study reveals that most of the osteoporotic patients were in the range 35-55 years. 75% of the women were post-menopausal. The comorbid osteoporotic patients found were about 36.67% and 58.33% were hysterectomized. 56.17% patients were taking dietary calcium. Considering past medication history patients were taking calcium supplements (36.67%), antihypertensive drugs (27.5%), steroids (15%) and thyroid drugs (12.5%). 40% of the patients have family history of osteoporosis showing a positive correlation with the same and more than half of the patients (59.17%) lack exercise. Post-menopausal women, hysterectomy, family and medication history, dietary calcium and lack of exercise were found to be the predisposing factors of osteoporosis and its complications. Therefore providing counselling can benefit to have a better quality of life....
Pharmacy practice is changing to accommodate the need for pharmacists to be better team\nmembers in newly emerging collaborative care and integrated health systems. Pharmacy schools\ncould lead this change by educating students to be effective participants in these relatively new\nmodels of care. Schools are encouraged to follow the approach outlined in the recent guidance\npublished by the Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC) for interprofessional practice\nand education (â??the new IPEâ?). This approach includes articulating an IPE plan, establishing goals,\nassessing student achievement of the necessary IPE competencies, developing educational plans\nthat are multi-faceted and longitudinal, and modifying the existing assessment/evaluation process\nto ensure the quality of the IPE effort. These curricular decisions should be based on existing and\nnew research on the effectiveness of IPE on studentâ??s attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behavior.\nA key decision is how to create effective interactions between pharmacy students and those of\nother professions. Educational emphasis should be directed toward team building skills, not just\nindividual competencies. The pharmacy faculty probably need to enhance their teaching abilities\nto accommodate this change, such as learning new technology (e.g., simulations, managing online\nexchanges) and demonstrating a willingness to teach students from other professions....
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