Yes / The New Medicines Service (NMS) is provided by community pharmacists in England to support patient adherence after the initiation of a new treatment. It is provided as part of the National Health Service (NHS) pharmacy contractual framework and involves a three-stage process: patient engagement, intervention and follow-up. The study aims to explore community pharmacists’ experiences and perceptions of NMS within one area of the United Kingdom. Methods In-depth semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 14 community pharmacists. Interviews were audio-recorded, independently transcribed and thematically analysed. Key findings Pharmacists gave a mixed response to the operationalisation, ranging from positive opportunities for improving adherence and enhancement of practice to difficulties in terms of its administration. Pharmacists generallywelcomed opportunities to utilise their professional expertise to achieve better patient engagement and for pharmacy practice to develop as a patient resource. There was a perceived need for better publicity about the service. Different levels of collaborative working were reported. Some pharmacists were working closely with local general practices most were not. Collaboration with nurses in the management of long-term conditions was rarely reported but desired by pharmacists. Where relationships with general practitioners (GPs) and nurses were established, NMS was an opportunity for further collaboration; however, others reported a lack of feedback and recognition of their role. Conclusions Community pharmacists perceived the NMS service as beneficial to patients by providing additional advice and reassurance, but perceptions of its operationalisation were mixed.Overall, our findings indicate that NMS provides an opportunity for patient benefit and the development of contemporary pharmacy practice, but better collaboration with GPs and practice nurses could enhance the service.

Yes / Aims and Objectives The vision for the future Great Britain pharmacy workforce development has been proposed as of August 2015 and this starts/reignites discussions as to how pharmacists continue to operate as a body whilst maintaining and extending their professional acumen and experience [1]. The pharmacy sector has grown substantially and qualified pharmacists are often assumed to be managers, without having completed management modules during their degree [2]. The aim of this study was to determine how CPD supports management skills development (MSD) of pharmacists in these sectors. / The full text will be available on permission from the publisher.

In recent years, a significant change in the pharmacist’s scope of practice is the expansion of prescriptive authority (PA). In Saskatchewan, pharmacists adopted an interdependent prescribing model to support interprofessional collaboration, public safety though the optimal use of drug therapy, and the optimization of pharmacy competencies. In acquiring this new prescriptive authority, the community pharmacist also assumes new responsibilities and obligations, as well as transforming their relationships with patients and physicians. The purpose of this research is to assess rates of adoption by pharmacists of PA (Level 1 and Minor Ailments Prescribing) within community pharmacy practice in Saskatchewan. To gain a better understanding of how pharmacists are responding to new and evolving models of practice, this study proposes to measure their experiences with PA services and how it is affected by aspects of their professional practice. To investigate the study’s research questions, a cross-sectional study using a mail-in questionnaire with an online option was initiated. All registered community pharmacists in Saskatchewan (998) were asked to participate in the study. Of the 998 distributed questionnaires, 501 were returned back by the respondents yielding a response rate of 51.3 percent. The results disclose that a vast majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were confident in their ability to provide Level 1 (94%) and Minor Ailment (75%) prescribing. Respondents indicated that 74.2 percent of the time they actually provide Level 1 (L1) prescribing services to their patients and slightly more than half (52.5%) of the time provided Minor Ailment (MA) prescribing services. The majority of respondents (81.4 %) indicated that on average it took twenty minutes or less to provide MA prescribing service to their patients. Most pharmacist respondents strongly supported the statement that the pharmacies they worked at consistently provided Prescriptive Authority services (L1- 90% Strongly Agreed or Agreed, MA- 52.9% Strongly Agreed or Agreed) and that they get full support from managers (L1- 95.6% Strongly Agreed or Agreed, MA- 88% Strongly Agreed or Agreed) for their involvement in PA services. Respondents indicated some concern regarding the limited knowledge of patients on what pharmacists can do for them as a prescriber. In terms of overall relationships with patients, respondents indicated that patients were satisfied with the services pharmacists provide as a prescriber. Respondents reported that they had a good relationship with physicians. However, they did express concerns about their limited interactions with physicians as MA prescribers. Respondents generally reported supportive environments and positive interactions with patients and physicians. However, while expressing confidence in their ability to provide all prescriptive authority services, Level 1 services that supported traditional dispensing services were generally more consistently provided, supported, and perceived as being valued by patients and physicians compared to Minor Ailment Prescribing. The results also support the notion that pharmacists are highly confident to provide PA services to the patients and their relationships with the patients and physician improved day by day. Nevertheless, there is little evidence to suggest that patient’s level of knowledge about pharmacist’s new role; pharmacist’s interaction with physicians and physicians’ knowledge on PA have affected the provision of Prescriptive Authority services.

This aim of the research was to explore pharmacist prescribing (PP) with a focus on antimicrobials, in hospitals in Scotland. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect, generate and synthesise data. A systematic review of peer-reviewed published literature on evidence-based roles for the pharmacist as part of an antimicrobial multidisciplinary team, identified roles for pharmacists within the teams but limited evidence relating to outcomes associated with these roles. Six qualitative focus groups, with 37 hospital pharmacists in 5 Scottish Health Boards, contextualised perceptions of barriers to, and facilitators of, implementation of PP in hospitals. Key themes were: perceived lack of pharmacy management support to take on a prescribing role and little strategic attention paid to PP implementation and sustainability. These issues were discussed in relation to PP in general and not only for antimicrobials. Participants perceived successful implementation of PP to be associated with factors including ward type and patient’s clinical condition. None of the pharmacists were prescribing antimicrobials and consequently further studies focused on PP in general. A scoping exercise, utilising various sources of information, reinforced findings from Phase 1; it highlighted the absence of any national or Health Board frameworks to support implementation of PP in secondary care in Scotland. Consensus-based research was undertaken, therefore, to provide guidance to facilitate service redesign involving PP in secondary care in Scotland. A Delphi approach undertaken with 40 experts, mainly in strategic posts, resulted in a high level of agreement in areas relating to succession planning, rather than role development; more variability was obtained in areas relating to future orientation of service, competencies required by prescribers and potential development of non-medical prescribing teams. The guidance was developed into a self-assessment toolkit providing an analytical strategy for implementation and role development of PP in secondary care. While the results and conclusions generated through this research need to be interpreted with caution, the data generated is an original contribution to the evidence base relating to PP.

Class of 2012 Abstract / Specific Aims: To assess the use of PDA/smartphone based electronic drug databases among pharmacists as it has changed over time. The working hypothesis is that the use of PDA/Smartphone based electronic drug databases has increased over time. Methods: A systematic review of the literature regarding the usage of PDA/smartphone based electronic drug databases among pharmacists using data that was obtained through literature searches. Main Results: Since 2006, the percentage of pharmacists that are using PDA/smartphone based electronic drug databases has increased. Conclusions: The usage of smartphones and PDA based electronic drug databases has increased among pharmacists since 2006 (p<0.05). Easier and cheaper access to the technology has likely led to the products being available to more pharmacists.

Class of 2010 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: To identify and describe practical incentives and barriers for community health center pharmacists in adopting a practice based research network (PBRN) that facilitates sustainable collaboration. METHODS: Directors of pharmacy at Community health centers listed as members of Arizona Association of Community Health Centers (AACHC), with on-site pharmacies, were contacted via telephone. During initial contact an IRB approved script was used to recruit the pharmacy director’s participation, at which time the subject’s disclaimer form was read and an appointment for a future phone interview was scheduled. Phone Interviews were conducted using a standardized questionnaire, and all results were manually recorded on a standardized data collection form. Data collected included, site specific information including the: educational background of the pharmacy director, and his or her perceived inducements and barriers to participating in a pharmacy based PBRN with the University of Arizona. RESULTS: Phone interviews were completed by 8 directors of pharmacy, 4 women (50%) and 4 men (50%). A total of 5 participants (62.5%) had a BS degree, 2 (25%) had PharmD degrees and 1 (12.5%) had both as BS and a PharmD degree. The mean length of time in current position was 5.56 yrs (SD= 4 yrs.). 75% of the participants indicated that they considered working with the University of Arizona (UofA) as an inducement, the same number of participants felt that their staff and practice as a whole would also consider it an inducement. Overall participants indicated that both their personal (75%) and staff‘s (87.5%) motivation to improve the pharmacy profession was considered an inducement, as well as their opportunity for professional growth (75%). All of the participants (100%) indicated they did not have adequate staffing to support research at this time and therefore felt it was a barrier to participation. When asked about resources as a whole, including staff, time and technology 87.5% of the participants felt this was a barrier. Other common barriers were; anticipated time requirements (75%), current schedule/time allowances (75%), staff’s outside commitments (75%). Out of the 8 participants only 2 (25%) are currently participating in PBRNS at this time, 3(37.5%) have research ideas that they are interested in working on, and 3(37.5%) indicated that they were not currently participating nor did they have any current interests. The major themes identified as inducements to participation were patient benefit, time/staffing involvement, and professional growth. CONCLUSIONS: The most common barriers to participating in a PBRN were: working with the UofA, motivation to improve the profession of pharmacy and the opportunity for professional growth. The most common inducements were staffing, current resources, anticipated time requirements, current schedules and outside commitments.

Class of 2010 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: Describe the characteristics and research interests of Community Health Centers (CHC) pharmacists and pharmacies in a pharmacy based practice based research network (PBRN). METHODS: Pharmacy directors of eight Arizona CHC pharmacies were initially contacted by telephone and asked to participate in a survey. The survey was then sent to these directors via email and a second telephone conversation was set up to re-­‐administer the survey and gather the answers to the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of demographic, clinical and practice related questions targeted at identifying areas of interest for research in developing a community pharmacy practice based research network (PBRN). RESULTS: The data regarding the demographics and characteristics of the Arizona CHC pharmacies, pharmacists, and patients showed that only two pharmacies served more than 300 patients per day and dispensed more than 400 prescriptions per day. The data found that an average of 46% of the patients that went to these pharmacies did not consider English as their primary language and that an average of 49% of the patients were Hispanic/Latino. The data collected regarding the clinical interests of these pharmacies showed that asthma had the highest level of clinical interest among the eight CHC pharmacies (average rank = 3.1). For the public health interests of the CHC pharmacies, patient adherence/compliance was ranked the most important (average rank = 3.1). In regards to internal practice site interests job satisfaction was the most highly ranked interests among these CHC pharmacies (average rank = 3.1). CONCLUSIONS: The data suggests asthma, job satisfaction and patient compliance/adherence are the top areas of interest in the clinical, internal worksite, and public health sectors. The data collected from this study will help to establish a pharmacy based PBRN in Arizona and provide a starting point in terms of research topics that will be explored. The establishment of an Arizona pharmacy based PBRN is very important since it will provide cohesiveness between research and community based practice of Community Health Centers in Arizona and is a step in the right direction in terms of growth of these centers.

Mini-dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Homeopathy, Durban Institute of Technology, 2006. / It was my perception, after having worked in the Complementary and Alternative Medicines Industry, that the knowledge and understanding of homeopathy by retail providers, was poor. Considering that pharmacies also sold over-the- counter homeopathic medicine, I felt it would be of value to do an empirical study in order to obtain more accurate data on this topic. / M

Class of 2017 Abstract / Objectives: Specific Aim 1: Pharmacist will use pharmacological pain self-management strategies over non- pharmacological strategies. Specific Aim 2: Pharmacist pain self-management strategies will differ based on whether or not the pharmacist has chronic pain. Specific Aim 3: Pharmacist pain self-management strategies will differ across age. Specific Aim 4: Pharmacist pain self-management strategies will differ across gender. Methods: A survey was sent to all pharmacists with an email address registered with the State Board of Pharmacy in a single Southwestern state. The survey asked about characteristics of pain, strategies for managing pain, outcomes, and demographics. The primary outcome was severity of pain after treatment. Results: Responses were received from 417 pharmacists; 219 reported acute, 206 reported chronic pain, and 55 reported no pain. The chronic pain group was more likely to have a disability with poor/fair health status (P<0.006) and to report higher levels of pain before treatment (6.9 versus 5.8). Both groups reported similar relief from all strategies (76% versus 78% ; P equals 0.397), but the chronic pain group reported higher levels of pain after treatment (3.2 versus 2.0), less confidence in pain management, and less satisfaction (P less than 0.004). Conclusions: Age and gender did not affect the use of specific pain management strategies or the amount of pain relief received from all strategies used by participants with either acute or chronic pain. However, participants with chronic pain had higher levels of pain before and after treatment.

Mini-dissertation'submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Homoeopathy, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005. / Homoeopathy in South Africa is a relatively new health profession, and there seems to be limited awareness of homoeopathy amongst the public and healthcare authorities. The national health care system in South Africa is currently undergoing major restructuring, with the focus on primary health care. The homoeopathic community needs to reflect on its role in public health care. However, in order to gain acceptance and understanding from other health care professions, meaningful research needs to be conducted. There is an urgent need to investigate the views of conventional health care professionals towards homoeopathy. A survey method was employed to investigate the perceptions of homoeopathy of two major groups in the medical community in the Greater Durban area: General Practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists. The study was carried out by using a questionnaire as a measuring tool. The sample of GPs was drawn from the medical pages of the Durban Telephone Directory (October 2003/2004) and the sample of pharmacists was drawn from the Durban Yellow Pages (October 2003/2004). A total of 484 questionnaires were distributed and a total of 155 responses were received. The percentage of return of questionnaires was 32,02%. The original sample size was 370 for GPs and 114 for pharmacists. A total of 97 GPs and 58 pharmacists responded. The response rate was 26,22% for GPs and 50,87% for pharmacists. / M