Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2021 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 6 Articles
This study reports the process of telephonic medication reviews conducted by community pharmacists for patients with asthma. The study occurred at an independent community chain in association with a Missouri Medicaid consulting group. Participants were identified utilizing claims data and met the National Quality Forum criteria for uncontrolled moderate-to-severe persistent asthma. A pharmacist performed the initial encounter via telephone which included a knowledge questionnaire, symptom control assessment, and medication review. Pharmacists identified drugrelated problems (DRPs) and faxed recommendations to patients’ primary care providers (PCPs). Thirty days later, pharmacists called to follow up with the patients and faxed PCPs to resolve any outstanding DRPs, new DRPs, or recommendations. Questionnaire scores and symptom control assessments were compared and analyzed utilizing a paired t-test, Chi-squared test, or Fisher’s exact test. The number and categories of DRPs, recommendations made by pharmacists, and intervention time were reported. Fourteen participants completed initial encounters with twelve completing follow-up. The majority answered ‘yes’ to at least one symptom control assessment question indicating partially controlled to uncontrolled asthma. The average knowledge assessment score was 5.17 out of 7 initially and 5.42 for the follow-up. Pharmacists identified 43 DRPs and made 41 recommendations with a mean intervention time of 65 min....
Inappropriate use of antibiotics has been reported to contribute to the emergence and increase of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the world. The pharmacist has the responsibility to supervise the dispensing of antibiotics with prescriptions to ensure rational use. An online semi-structured questionnaire was shared with approximately 1100 licensed pharmacists in Tanzania. Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools before use for analysis. Of the 226 (20.5%) received responses, 197 had given consent and provided complete surveys. Notably, 153 (77.7%) of the 197 pharmacists had excellent knowledge about the legal requirements for dispensing antibiotics and the AMR challenge. Of the 197 surveyed pharmacists, 143 (72.6%) admitted to dispensing antibiotics without a prescription in their daily practice. Notably, 84.1% (37/44) of pharmacists with masters or PhD education were more likely to dispense without a prescription compared to 69.3% (106/153) among bachelor holders (p-value = 0.04). The reasons for administering antibiotics without a prescription included the pharmacy business looking for more profit, patient failure to obtain a prescription and the lack of stringent inspection of pharmacies by the regulatory authorities. Penicillins, macrolides and fluoroquinolones were the classes of antibiotics most commonly dispensed without a prescription. Stringent inspections by the regulatory authorities should detect and reduce dispensing antibiotics without a prescription. The community should be educated on the importance of medication prescription from a qualified medical practitioner....
This study aimed to assess public knowledge about medicine information, safety, and adverse drug reaction reporting (ADR) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. A cross sectional study was conducted using purposive stratified sampling in different settings of Dammam city for three months (January–March 2020). The target population was identified as consumers who had used the medicines in the last 3 months. The questionnaire was adopted from the literature and was validated. Content and face validities were established, and reliability was assessed. The study was approved by the concerned ethics committee. A total of 915 participants returned completed questionnaires. A total of 54.4% participants aged between 18 and 30 years, 65.8% were females and 53.1% had obtained bachelor level education. The mean score for knowledge of medicines (K1) was 5.46 ± 1.07. The mean score for knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) was 5.94 ± 1.73. The mean score for tendency to report a suspected ADR (T1) was 3.43 ± 1.57. Gender was a determinant of knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) (p < 0.01) and ADR reporting tendency (T1) (p < 0.01). The marital status of patients was a determinant for both knowledge of medicines (K1) (p < 0.01) and, knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) (p < 0.01). The results of this study highlighted that although the scores for knowledge of medicines, and tendency to report ADR were better, the score for knowledge regarding medication safety was unsatisfactory....
The movement to integrate pharmacists into primary care team-based settings is growing in countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In the province of Ontario in Canada, almost 200 pharmacists have positions within interdisciplinary primary care team settings, including Family Health Teams and Community Health Centers. This article provides a narrative review of the evolving roles of pharmacists working in primary care teams, with a focus on evidence from Ontario, as well as drawing from other jurisdictions around the world. Pharmacists within primary care teams are uniquely positioned to facilitate the expansion of the pharmacist’s scope of practice, through a collaborative care model that leverages, integrates, and transforms the medication expertise of pharmacists into a reliable asset and resource for physicians, as well as improves the health outcomes for patients and optimizes healthcare utilization....
Multidose drug dispensing (MDD) is an adherence aid used by one-third of patients receiving home care services in Norway. The system can increase patient safety by reducing dispensing errors and increase adherence, however it has also been criticised for unclear routines and distribution of responsibilities. We investigated prescription problems which pharmacists have detected, and the responsibilities they adopt regarding MDD. For two consecutive weeks, 11 pharmacies used a self-completion form to register prescription problems identified with MDD. Of the 4121 MDD prescriptions, problems were identified on 424 (11%). The most common issues were expired prescriptions (29%), drug shortages (19%), missing prescriber signatures (10%) and unclear/missing medication names or strengths (10%). Compared to ordinary prescriptions, the pharmacist took on additional responsibility for renewing MDD prescriptions. However, because these patients received their medications via the home care service, there was limited patient counselling during dispensing. To increase the efficiency and patient safety of the MDD system, the roles and responsibilities of the pharmacist, GP, and home care nurses in the MDD system should be clearly defined. This seems most urgent for the renewal of prescriptions and patient counselling, where the responsibilities and work practice seem to differ from ordinary prescriptions....
Fixed dose combination (FDCâ??s) market recently faced a ban on 349 FDCâ??s due to unclear therapeutic rationality. The present study aims to assess the therapeutic rationality of FDCâ??s enlisted in CDSCO list 2020 approved in the last 5 years. List of 119 FDCâ??s approved in India from 2015-2020 by CDSCO was evaluated. In this assessment: WHO EML listing 2019, Efficacy of API, Efficacy of FDC, PKPD, Advantage of reduced dosing and Schedule of FDC was noted. In this evaluation we found that advantage of dose reduction was not offered by any FDC. There were 22.68% FDCâ??s that had chances of increased ADRs due to its API. 81.51% FDCâ??s were found to be rational, 17.65% semi-rational and 0.84% irrational. We reveal that 17.65% FDCâ??s approved in last five years were semi-rational and advantage of dose reduction was not offered by any FDC and 22.68% FDCâ??s had increased chances of ADRâ??s. Therefore, more stringent regulatory control is required by the CDSCO to ascertain therapeutic rationality....
Loading....