Introduction: To improve comprehension of medical care, the Joint Commission recommends that patient education materials (PEMS) be written at a fifth-grade reading level or below. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the compliance of commonly used tertiary drug references to Joint Commission standards. Methods: PEMs for the top 100 most prescribed medications in 2017 were obtained from commonly used drug information tertiary references (Lexi-comp patient drug information, Micromedex Care Notes, Micromedex Med Essential Fact Sheets, Medline Plus, and Drugs.com) to evaluate readability. The grade reading level of each medication-related PEM was evaluated using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test and compared with a one-way analysis of variance using correlated samples and Tukey's post-hoc test for significance between groups. Results: The mean grade reading levels of Lexi-comp, Micromedex Care Notes, Micromedex Med Essential Fact Sheets, Medline Plus, and Drugs.com were 4.2, 7.5, 7.8, 9.3, and 10.4, respectively. Lexi-comp achieved a reading level at or below fifth grade for 99% of medications while Micromedex Med Essential Fact sheets was the next highest at 33%. No other reference contained drug information at or below a fifth-grade reading level. Conclusion: Lexi-comp patient drug information consistently met the Joint Commission recommendation for medical information at or below a fifth-grade reading level, whereas Micromedex Med Essential Fact Sheets met this recommendation approximately one-third of the time. When providing drug information resources to patients, health-care providers should be diligent in selecting sources that meet the Joint Commission recommendations.

Introduction: The American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit was created by the 2008 ACCP Educational Affairs Committee to provide guidance to schools and colleges of pharmacy for didactic pharmacotherapy curricular development. The toolkit was revised and updated by the 2016 ACCP Educational Affairs Committee. Objectives: In accordance with the ACCP Board of Regents decision to update the toolkit every 3 years, the 2019 ACCP Publications Committee was charged with updating the 2016 toolkit to guide adequate disease state inclusion and depth of pharmacotherapy coverage in pharmacy curricula. Methods: The committee retained the competency-based tier definitions and organization of the 2016 toolkit. Multiple literature resources were reviewed to assess medical conditions responsive to drug therapy for inclusion in the 2019 toolkit. The committee also reviewed the tier designation for all toolkit entries for appropriateness, given recent advances in medical care and evolving patient care responsibilities of clinical pharmacists. Updates to the toolkit were made by consensus with electronic voting when required. Results: The 2019 toolkit contains 302 topics, including 94 (31%) tier 1, 133 (44%) tier 2, and 75 (25%) tier 3 entries. There are 26 additional topics in the updated toolkit, including 12 new tier 1 topics that are generally treated with nonprescription medications. Eleven new topics were added to tier 2, and 20 topics were added to tier 3 (including 11 topics in the Oncologic Disorders section). The tier classification of some conditions was changed to reflect current pharmacy practice expectations. Conclusion: As with the 2016 toolkit, the large number of tier 1 topics will require schools and colleges to employ creative teaching strategies to achieve practice competence in all graduates. The large number of tier 2 topics highlights the importance of postgraduate training and experience for pharmacy graduates desiring to provide direct patient care.

<p>The opioid epidemic is an ongoing public health crisis in the United States (US). Although many treatment options exist for opioid use disorder (OUD), including evidence-based counseling, medications, rehabilitation programs, and support groups, access to care is a significant barrier. Pharmacists can play an important role in increasing patient access to OUD care; however, insufficient training is a well-documented barrier. Integrating comprehensive training into Doctor of Pharmacy coursework is a practical approach to preparing pharmacists to provide appropriate OUD care in a variety of practice settings. A shared OUD curriculum is one strategy to facilitate the integration of comprehensive training into Doctor of Pharmacy coursework.</p> <p><br></p> <p>My current research aimed to collect data from four key stakeholder groups – Doctor of Pharmacy program faculty, community pharmacists, multidisciplinary professionals, and patients experiencing OUD – to inform a shared OUD curriculum through a convergent, parallel, mixed methods study design. Specifically comprising this thesis are the quantitative findings from telephone surveys with Doctor of Pharmacy program faculty (“Study One”) and community pharmacists (“Study Two”); qualitative findings from multidisciplinary professional focus groups and patient interviews, as well as synthesized findings across quantitative and qualitative data sources, will be reported in future publications. Collectively, the results presented in this thesis provide a “snapshot” of the current pharmacy landscape with respect to the OUD education delivered to student pharmacists and opioid-related practices in community pharmacies.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The findings from Study One and Study Two indicate that OUD education in Doctor of Pharmacy programs and pharmacist-provided opioid interventions are inconsistent at best. The three main areas identified as needing future emphasis were: (1) the disease model of addiction and accompanying stigma of OUD; (2) harm reduction-, prescription-, screening-, and resource referral-related opioid interventions; and (3) skills-based, experiential education (vs. didactic education) for opioid intervention delivery and communication techniques. A shared OUD curriculum was of interest to faculty and is a viable solution to addressing OUD education gaps in Doctor of Pharmacy programs. Once qualitative data analyses are completed and findings from all four stakeholder groups are synthesized, development of the proposed shared OUD curriculum will commence.</p>

Yes

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a worldwide problem, with more than 34 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in 2011. At the end of 2011, in Nigeria, an estimated 3.7% of the adult population were living with HIV/AIDS. HIV services in Nigeria are secondary-care led, involving multidisciplinary teams and access to free antiretroviral. However, evaluations of service provision from both patient and healthcare professional perspectives, especially, pharmacists in Nigeria have never been conducted, and are the aims of this research. This study involved grounded theory methodology, using In-depth semi-structured interviews with adults infected with HIV, pharmacists, and administrators involved in the management and care of those patients at Maitama District Hospital in Abuja. HIV pharmacists working for the NHS in the UK were interviewed for comparative purposes. Thirty-five patients were interviewed. Five concepts were identified that influenced how they accessed hospital services after diagnosis. These include faith in God and antiretroviral, social issues with emphasis on HIV stigma and discrimination, patient journeys at the hospital with delays and repeat visits, obstacles such as ARV unavailability and their expectations. Also, five concepts were identified from the pharmacists’ interviews which include clinical service, impressions of service provided, social issues the patients encountered, the obstacles faced with clinical service provided and expectations for improvement. Ten patients were shadowed on their clinic days to observe the patient journey articulated. Furthermore, the administrators interviewed re-affirmed the opinions of the patients and pharmacists about many patients attending HIV clinic, few staff attending to patients, medicines unavailability, especially ARV drugs, and lack of working space for staff. Delays, few pharmacists/many patients and shortage of ART as barriers to service provision ii emerged as dominant themes across the three groups of interviewees in Nigeria. Also, it has been found that there is a wide gap between HIV patients’ hospital management in the UK and Nigeria as regards availability of antiretroviral, staff strength, number of patients in attendance on clinic days and weekly clinic days. Pharmacy was found to have a substantial role in the management of HIV/AID patients but it appears from this study that service improvements, both human and material resources are needed. Twenty three recommendations, which are further synthesised into six potential areas, are made, which, if implemented, would dramatically improve the service provision for HIV/AIDS patients at Maitama District Hospital.

The aim of this research programme was to explore ehealth technology in pharmacy practice in Scotland and, by doing so, contribute original knowledge to this area. Strategists worldwide believe technology has the potential to promote quality, safety and efficiency in healthcare. This has been reflected in national ehealth policies designed to support collaborative working between medical and non-medical healthcare practitioners and, more recently, the whole health and social care team. A meta-narrative systematic review was conducted to explore and contextualise research related to healthcare professionals’ views of the adoption of ehealth technologies to support shared care. Findings indicate the importance of organisational development and training for core and optional ehealth services with pharmacists particularly under-represented in ehealth research. Socio-technical systems theory and the computer supported cooperative working framework were adopted to explore healthcare practitioners’ perceptions of ehealth in relation to integrated care. Findings from the review indicate ehealth research continues to focus on doctors and nurses. No ehealth application was perceived to be an unqualified success with the socio-technical gap still evident. Multiple case studies were conducted to develop explanatory theory around the digital literacy experiences, education and training related needs of pharmacy staff in the NHS Grampian area. Digital literacy levels were self-reported as basic with mixed views on the need for formal education and training. Findings indicate organisational and social factors may act as restraining forces against implementation of technology in pharmacy and associated digital literacy training. A final theory testing, systematic review was conducted into digital literacy training experiences of pharmacy staff applying Kirkpatrick’s four level model. It found a lack of evidence of specific, measurable digital literacy levels but indications that suggest digital literacy should be included in pharmacy education at all levels and career stages. This research provides novel insight into ehealth and digital literacy in pharmacy practice. Combined ehealth, education and pharmacy research has been demonstrated to be an under-researched area therefore these findings contribute original knowledge.

Class of 2017 Abstract / Objectives: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effect of using advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) students in the collection of admission medication history at an academic teaching hospital prior to pharmacist review. Methods: The study is a retrospective, descriptive study. Using electronic medical records, the study looked at patients admitted to specific floors during a two-month period. The primary outcome was number of discrepancies found by the APPE students. The secondary outcome was the type of discrepancy found (omission, duplication, wrong dose, wrong frequency, wrong dosage form, and medications the subject no longer takes). Results: Over eight weeks, the APPE students identified 2,666 discrepancies, which equates to approximately 4.71 ± 4.76 discrepancies per patient. The majority of these discrepancies were identified as omissions of therapy (39.1%), followed by medications the patients were no longer taking (29.8%), and wrong dosing frequencies (18.1%). Conclusions: APPE students assisted the medication reconciliation process by identifying numerous medication discrepancies which may have prevented patient harm. APPE students are an underutilized resource and prove to be an asset to the healthcare team.

English version Subject: Pharmacy in the Czech lands between 1938/39 and 1945. Objective: Study of pharmacy in the Czech Lands between 1938 and 1945 and study of the pharmaceutical branches, especially pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical education, pharmaceutical industry and professional organizations during the World War II. Methods: Processing of the historical pharmaceutical press from Czech pharmaceutical museum in Kuks. Results: The financial situation of pharmaceutical staff between 1939 and 1945 was increased by pay rise and turnover rise in pharmacy. Short supply of ingredients was equalized by increase in drug production in pharmaceutical industry. University education of pharmacists was stopped by Germans in 1939. Jewish companies in pharmaceutical industry were impouded by german merchants. Conclusion: Business in pharmacy during the World War II was successful for pharmacy owners and their employees. Many pharmaceutical problems such as increase in pharmaceutical rates, build up of Pharmaceutical centre and particular unification of professional organizations was resolved.

PHARMACIES IN GREECE Author: Georgios Zacharakis Tutor: RNDr. Jana Kotlářová, Ph.D. Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Aim of diploma thesis: The aim is to get current facts and knowledge about the situation of pharmacies in Greece, including their basic problems, and to compare it with the Czech Republic. Methods: Data collection through appreciation of information and studying of literature, esp. Greek legislation. Results: It was given necessary information on the National Health System in Greece and about place and role of pharmacies in this. The main part of thesis deals wits pharmacies in Greece (legislation, statistics, pharmacists, activities in pharmacy). There are many private community pharmacies and low amount of hospital pharmacies which are only for inpatients. Both Greece and Czech Republic made considerable efforts in latest years to harmonize their legislation to the European standards. However, a significant difference between Greece and Czech Republic is profit margins of wholesalers, which are higher in the Czech Republic in comparison to Greece, while the production of drugs in Greece is significant higher than Czech Republic, which based more in its neighboring countries for the supply...

<div>My PhD thesis evolves around the potential protective effects of sex hormones progesterone and testosterone against drug-induced QT interval prolongation in premenopasual women and older men.<br></div>