Class of 2016 Abstract / Objectives: To describe the prices of brand versus generic OTC drug products in a variety of pharmacies and to compare the differences in lower income areas. Subjects: Over-the-counter products available in both brand and house generic forms in all pharmacies. House generic was defined as a line of products sold strictly by a company and its affiliates. Methods: Prices were collected across one week from all stores and locations, in each identical product. Once all the data was collected for the brand and generic medications, the data was evaluated using t tests. Results: The house generic brands (mean = $6.21) were significantly cheaper (p=2.14 x 10^-23) than the brand products (mean = $10.84 ). Also, generic drug prices are significantly cheaper at grocery stores (p=2.19 x 10^-11). Lastly, The price differences in all four areas were not significantly different in each of the brand and generic calculations (p=0.837 and p=0.910, respectively). Conclusions: House generic brands are significantly cheaper than brand products in all pharmacies in Arizona. In addition, all four areas of Arizona had similar brand and generic OTC prices.

Class of 2016 Abstracts / Objectives: To compare the minimum vaccination age to receive an influenza vaccine of rural and urban pharmacies. Rural pharmacies are defined in all Arizona pharmacies in counties other than Pima or Maricopa, urban pharmacies are defined as all pharmacies within the Tucson city limits. Methods: Pharmacies were called for a phone interview asking what the minimum age someone needs to be to receive an influenza vaccination from their store is. Pharmacies were called during their operating hours during a 4-week period at the end of January and early February. Results: 269 pharmacies were included in the study. Pharmacies consisted of 153 rural pharmacies and 116 urban pharmacies. The median minimum vaccination age for both rural and urban pharmacies was 8. Overall, there was found to be no significant difference between the minimum vaccination age between rural and urban pharmacies (p = 0.242). Conclusions: The minimum age to receive an influenza appears to be similar between rural and urban pharmacies.

Class of 2016 Abstract / Objectives: To determine the prevalence and incidence of community pharmacies not vaccinating children down to six years of age and to identify the reasons for non-compliance with Arizona State Board administrative rule R4-23-411. Subjects: 103 community retail pharmacies from six corporations in the Tucson metropolitan area established by December 2014. Methods: Funnel questionnaire administered via phone call to collect pharmacist response if he or she would vaccinate a six-year-old child; data for reasons why he or she would or would not vaccinate and gender of pharmacist was also collected. Results: Responses were collected from 103 pharmacists (male n = 55, female n = 48). 87% (n =90) of pharmacies stated they would not vaccinate a six-year-old, while 13% (n =13) would vaccinate. The rationale for not vaccinating varied from corporate policy (45%) to state law (37%). Conclusions: The majority of six retail pharmacy chains in Tucson, Arizona are not vaccinating down to six-years old, although Arizona administrative amendments allow pharmacists to do so. More pharmacies that would choose not to vaccinate may be related to a better understanding of corporate policies versus state administrative rule change.

Class of 2011 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: To investigate if the drug content of several different antibiotic products, obtained in Mexico, fall within the USP specification range for a given drug. METHODS: Ten antibiotic products containing either amoxicillin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, or sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim were obtained from three random pharmacies in Mexico. The concentrations of the active ingredient(s) in these antibiotics were determined by high performance liquid chromatography, utilizing assays from the USP monographs for each drug. Weight variation within each product was also considered. Ten units from each product were analyzed. RESULTS: More than half of the capsules for each of the amoxicillin lots analyzed were outside of the acceptable USP limits (90-120% label claim) with the average calculated % label claim for each being 89.96 and 87.25%, respectively. One lot of ampicillin had two capsules out of range, while all of the capsules tested from the second lot were within the specification range. Both lots of ciprofloxacin passed. For the sulfamethoxazole/triemthoprim tablets, the sulfamethoxazole content for each lot was in range, however 20-30% of the units analyzed were out of range for trimethoprim. Interestingly, weight variation within each product was less than 3% RSD for all products, with the exception of the ampicillin lot which had two capsules out of spec (% RSD- 6.14). CONCLUSION: Most of the Mexican acquired antibiotics had content uniformity that fit within the USP guidelines. Although amoxicillin displayed significant variability, the capsules fell outside of the USP limits by a slim margin. While these findings are not a representation of all antibiotics obtained from Mexico, they do suggest the importance of continued research of the quality of internationally obtained products.

Class of 2005 Abstract / Objectives: To determine the impact of tightly controlled inventory reduction on customer satisfaction and partial fill costs. Methods: The project was a cross-sectional study employing two survey instruments and a time in motion analysis to determine the number of “we-owes” filled by pharmacies due to inventory reduction, the costs that arise from such reductions, and the impact on customer satisfaction. The first survey instrument was sent to four pharmacies in the Fry’s Food and Drug chain. The survey assessed number of “we-owes” per pharmacy and reasons for having them. The second survey consisted of several statements concerning customer satisfaction. The participants were asked to rate their agreement with each statement using a response scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A time-in-motion analysis was performed at two pharmacies averaging 350 prescriptions per day to record the amount of labor involved in filling “we-owes". Results: Medium to high volume Fry’s pharmacy fills an average of forty “we owes” each week. The average yearly costs for filling the “we owes” ranges from $171,579 to $568,796 per year depending on the job status of people filling the “we owes.” The main reason for these partially filled prescriptions was the minimum order point was incorrect accounted for 53.8% of the “we owes Almost half of customers owed medication felt it was not inconvenient them to pick the remainder of their prescription and that over half have had this happen more than once. Implications: The costs of tight inventory control need to be compared with the savings obtained from maintaining marginal inventories.

Class of 2013 Abstract / Specific Aims: The objective of this study was to examine the availability of immunizations in community pharmacies and the out-of-pocket cost for those immunizations. Methods: Twelve community pharmacies in the Tucson area were examined and one pharmacist in each store was asked to complete a questionnaire. This questionnaire aimed to determine individual immunizations offered at each pharmacy and the out-of-pocket cost for those immunizations. Main Results: Differences in the availability and cost of immunizations were compiled for each category of community pharmacy. The categories included Supermarket/grocery store, chain, Mass merchant/big box, and independent pharmacy. Seven of the twelve (58%) pharmacies included in the analysis participated in pharmacist-based immunizations. Three out of the four (75%) supermarket based pharmacies, both chain pharmacies, and two of the four (50%) mass merchant pharmacies, provided immunizations. Neither of the independent pharmacies included in the analysis provided immunizations. The pharmacies that did not currently provide immunizations, none had plans in the future to provide immunizations. There were no other non-prescription immunizations provided at the pharmacies in the study. All seven pharmacies that provided immunization services stated they would accept insurance and only one of the chain pharmacies had a walk in clinic. Conclusion: Overall this study demonstrated that there are differences associated with cost and availability of immunization services offered between pharmacies. Further research is needed to determine what hinders community pharmacy from offering immunization services and how to develop a form of commonality between all immunizations offered.

Class of 2008 Abstract / Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify how community pharmacies have integrated medication therapy management (MTM) programs into their workflow and specifically determine the changes that were made in order to deliver such services. Methods: This was a descriptive study on the implementation of MTM programs in community pharmacies. Pharmacy managers associated with Cardinal Health, Medicine Shoppe International, United Drugs, the Iowa Pharmacy Association (IPA) and 10 additional selected pharmacists were invited to take an online survey regarding MTM program implementation in their pharmacy. Exclusion criteria were those pharmacists that did not provide any MTM services from January 2006 through December 2007. The primary dependent variables included time spent training, time to complete clinical pharmacy program sessions, scheduling and implementing clinical pharmacy sessions, staffing, and cost for additional equipment. Data analysis included percents and frequencies for categorical variables addressed in the internet survey. Results: Pharmacists that participated in this survey were mostly male (82%) and had been practicing for greater than 10 years. Only 3 out of 17 participants were female and all were a part of the group practicing for less than 10 years. The majority of participants in both groups completed 0-2 MTM sessions per week (p=0.65). In order to complete these sessions, the hiring of additional staff was not required (82%) nor was the purchase of additional equipment (70%). Conclusions: The implementation of MTM programs in community pharmacies requires little to no additional time or money. With this data, more pharmacists should be inclined to provide MTM sessions.

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