Introduction: Prescribing by non medical personnel (NMP) has been introduced in the UK. The objectives of this study were to a) describe pharmacist discharge prescription transcription service (PDPTS) provided in UK hospitals prior to NMP, b) investigate the implementation of supplementary prescribing (SP) by pharmacists in England, c) explore patient opinions on development of pharmacists and nurses as independent prescribers (IP). Methods: Two postal questionnaires were undertaken, one of hospital clinical pharmacy managers (Q1) and one of PCTPs and CPs (Q2). Depth interviews with patients were also used. Ethics approval was obtained. Key Findings: For Q1 the response rate was 66% (135/206). PDPTS was offered by 49/135 (36%) of hospitals and was the most common prescribing activity undertaken. The majority of pharmacists wrote

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 123 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Donald J. Cigala, Dept. of Communication. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-123).

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2001.

Class of 2015 Abstract / Objectives: To assess pharmacists’ perspectives on patient safety in relation to their working conditions. Methods: The survey was sent to 1000 pharmacists within Arizona. Results for the item evaluating pharmacists’ level of agreement with the statement regarding their employers providing a work environment optimized for safe patient care were compared to those from the Oregon Working Conditions Survey using Mann Whitney U. Mann Whitney U was also used to compare agreement between Arizona pharmacists who filled less than and more than 200 prescriptions per shift, and between Arizona community and hospital pharmacists. Chi-squared test was used to compare community pharmacists in Arizona and Oregon. A priori alpha level was 0.05 for all statistical tests. Results: Arizona pharmacists were significantly more likely than Oregon pharmacists to agree with the statement that their employer provided a work environment conducive to patient safety (p < 0.001). Arizona pharmacists who filled less than 200 prescriptions per shift agreed significantly more than those who filled more than 200 prescriptions per shift (p < 0.001). Hospital pharmacists were significantly more likely to agree with the patient safety statement than community pharmacists (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The pharmaceutical climate may play a role in the difference between Oregon and Arizona. With a lower percentage of chain/mass merchandiser community pharmacy respondents in Arizona, the overall agreement with the patient safety statement could have been influenced by practice type. Regardless, higher prescription volume still remains as a factor that can have potentially deleterious effects on optimization of patient safety.

Class of 2014 Abstract / Specific Aims: It has been demonstrated through numerous studies that pharmacists have the ability to significantly impact patient outcomes. It is especially important to measure the effect that pharmacists have on psychiatric patient care as this is a population that is often underserved and can potentially benefit from pharmacist intervention. To date, there has been little research on pharmacist led patient medication education groups for patients with psychiatric diagnoses. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a pharmacist led medication education group in reducing adult psychiatric hospital readmission rates due to medication non-adherence. Methods: Patients admitted to an acute adult inpatient psychiatric unit at an academic medical center between September 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012 were included. A random sample of 100 patients that attended the medication education group (intervention group) and 100 patients that did not attend the group were selected (control group). The following data were collected: patient age, gender, ethnicity, insurance benefits, primary diagnosis, substance abuse history, number of medications at first discharge, length of stay on initial admission, time to first readmission, length of stay on first readmission, and reason for readmission (medication non-adherence versus other). A chi square analysis was conducted to determine if admission rates as well as reason for readmission were different between the two groups. An independent t test was conducted to determine if time to first readmission or length of stay on first readmission was different between the two groups. Main Results: There were 28 psychiatric hospital readmissions in the intervention group and 28 readmissions in the control group. Although these numbers were similar, there was a statistically significant difference in the number readmitted due to medication non-adherence, 11 in the intervention group vs. 19 in the control group (p=0.032). There was also a clinically significant difference in the time to readmission between the two groups (an average of 94.43 days in the intervention group vs. 60.70 days in the control group.) Conclusion: The pharmacist-led medication education group did not have an impact on readmission rate. However, the group did reduce the number of readmissions for medication non-adherence. There is a clinically significant increase in the time to readmission in patients that attended the medication education group. The data in this study support the implementation of pharmacist-led medication education groups to improve outcomes in adults admitted to acute inpatient psychiatry units.

Pharmacy is an information-driven profession that requires effective face-to-face pharmacist-client communication. With the addition of corporate community pharmacies to traditional independent community pharmacies in South Africa (SA), new challenges may hamper pharmacist-client interactions. This study aimed to identify, adapt and improve the communication skills pharmacists require for a changing community pharmacy environment. Specific objectives were to identify basic communication skills, to evaluate the use of these skills by community pharmacists in the Nelson Mandela Metropole (NMM), to identify communication barriers, and to identify any differences in pharmacist-client communication in the two community pharmacy sectors. A mixed methods research design was implemented. The empirical activities consisted of three client focus groups (17 citizens from the NMM), a client survey (220 clients visiting seven independent and seven corporate community pharmacies in the NMM), a pseudo-client study (the same 14 community pharmacies in NMM), and a Delphi study. Twenty-one pharmacists from the 14 community pharmacies participated in Phase one of the Delphi study; nine academic pharmacists from five pharmacy departments/schools/faculties in SA participated in Phase two. Various qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to analyse and interpret the results. Results indicated that clients consult on many occasions with community pharmacists. Community and academic pharmacists listed listening and nonverbal skills as most important communication skills to ensure effective pharmacist-client communication. Counselling privacy and language barriers were listed as major problems influencing the interaction. The results obtained allowed the researcher to propose a practical communication model to assist future community pharmacists in communication skills training

Background: In Great Britain (GB), international recruitment has been one of the methods used to tackle the shortage of healthcare professionals. Although research has been conducted on internationally trained nurses and doctors, studies on internationally trained pharmacists (ITPs) is limited. In the first stage of this programme of work, reasons for migration, experiences of work and future intentions of ITPs in GB were explored. Communicative proficiency of ITPs was then explored in the subsequent stages from the perspective of ITPs themselves, as well as that of pharmacy employers to see whether and how this has negative implications for patient safety. Methodology: For stage one 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 11 adjudication, 14 EU and four reciprocal pharmacists in Manchester and London. For stage two eight focus groups and two semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 EU and 11 adjudication pharmacists in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. For stage three, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven community and two hospital ITPs' employers. Findings: The findings confirmed that reasons for migration of ITPs are multifactorial. Motives were often, but not exclusively, economic or professional. In general, adjudication pharmacists are happy with the Overseas Pharmacists' Assessment Programme and the pre-registration training that they had received, while the EU pharmacists tended to be more critical of their adaptation programmes. While overall the reciprocal pharmacists were happy with their work experience in GB, EU and adjudication pharmacists' narratives included some dissatisfactory experiences. Communication was described as a daunting challenge, especially during the initial period after their arrival. ITPs experienced communication difficulties through new dialects, use of idioms, abbreviations and colloquial language. Most, however, were adamant that communication problems did not compromise patient safety. ITPs' employers described the importance of having processes in place to assure EU pharmacists' overall language proficiency in the workplace. However, strategies used varied in type and rigorousness. Conclusion: This novel research provides a foundation for future work on ITPs in GB, and could assist employers to better target their efforts in development of standards to support the recruitment and the working experiences of ITPs in GB.

No description available.

Background In 2010, a pilot program was implemented by the Medication Assessment Consultants (MAC) to provide comprehensive medication management (CMM) services to patients in the community of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Clinical pharmacists working as consultants, independent of any retail pharmacy or health system organization, delivered the program. The goal of the MAC CMM service was to optimize therapeutic outcomes for individual patients through improved medication use, and to reduce the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the independent consultant pharmacist model for delivering comprehensive medication management (CMM) services employed by the Medication Assessment Consultants (MAC) pilot program. Methods A program evaluation was performed on MAC, consisting of a document review of program materials (e.g., MAC Policy and Procedure Manual, electronic patient records) along with stakeholder interviews. The document review consisted of the collection of existing MAC documents, followed by an analysis of the information contained within each document. Patients, physicians and MAC staff were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach. Patient and physician interviews were conducted by phone and by an interviewer external to the study. Interviews were continued until saturation was reached. The MAC staff was interviewed in person by the investigator. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to identify common themes by having three individuals independently review each group of stakeholder interview transcripts. Results During the 17-month pilot, 53 patients were referred to MAC, mostly from family physicians (79.2%). Patients were elderly (mean 71 years) and mostly female (67.9%). On average, patients were taking 13.3 medications and had 9.2 medical conditions. For the 42 patients for whom an assessment was completed, an average of 5.1 drug therapy problems (DTPs) per patient was identified. The document review revealed that MAC did not achieve all of its internal program objectives (e.g., to generate a consistent flow of patient referrals; to promote the service to physicians and patients; and to improve medication-related short-term outcomes for patients). All three interview groups reported a high level of satisfaction and support for the program. Interviewees described various ways in which they felt that they benefitted from the program, including medication regimen optimization (patients), support in dealing with complex medication regimens (physicians), and a strong sense of personal and professional satisfaction and fulfilment (MAC staff). The evaluation of the MAC program resulted in the identification of several program strengths (e.g., a strong, well-defined patient care process; an accessible service location; MAC pharmacist mentorship and support program), along with opportunities for improvement (e.g., expanded promotional activities; administrative support for the program; implementation of a formal satisfaction survey to obtain regular feedback from key stakeholders). Conclusion The results of this study suggest the independent consultant pharmacist model for the provision of CMM services has potential to be utilized as a new service delivery model (in addition to community pharmacies and primary health care teams) to provide CMM services in the primary health care system (PHCS). The study findings have identified several strengths and opportunities for improvement, which may be useful for future attempts at implementing the CMM service model.

Introduction: In 2003, Purdue University College of Pharmacy (PUCOP) in West Lafayette, Indiana, began the Purdue Kenya Partnership (PKP) in collaboration with the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare, Moi University, and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, in Eldoret, Kenya. PUCOP's involvement utilized a tripartite approach of engagement, education, and scholarship to provide and expand sustainable access to high quality care. Objective: This paper discusses outcomes and impacts of this academic partnership. Methods: Purdue Kenya Partnership's progress in achieving its stated mission was evaluated using an outcome-approach logic model. This model highlighted inputs, activities, and results which encompassed outputs, outcomes, and impact. A comprehensive set of ratios were calculated to quantify annual change in PKP investments against estimated metrics for engagement, education, and scholarship. These metrics were weighted by involvement level and pharmacist effort in various clinical domains. Descriptive statistics were completed that identified cumulative and totals per year for each collected data type of data collected. Results: Purdue Kenya Partnership implementation utilized initial inputs of human resources, financial capital, and strategic partnerships. These inputs supported pharmacy involvement in 16 distinct care programs in both inpatient and outpatient settings which supported the care of 457 833 individual patients and grown a clinical pharmacy staff from 0 to 22 practicing clinical pharmacists. Five unique educational programs have been established which have graduated 457 trainees. Purdue Kenya Partnership has generated over $6.2 million in grant funding and disseminated 302 peer reviewed manuscripts, posters, and oral presentations combined. Ratios describing trends in engagement, education, and scholarship as a result of using the locally focused PKP approach highlight higher initial costs compared with much lower costs per outcome several years into the partnership. Conclusion: The PKP's global health approach of prioritizing the population's care needs (“leading with care”) has enabled the development of sustainable engagement, education, and scholarship infrastructure with significant gains in all three domains.