Community pharmacy practice is changing, putting a greater emphasis on patient involvement and empowerment than on physical drug products. Developing practice philosophies, such as pharmaceutical care, are operationalised through an ever-evolving service proliferation. There is, however, a paucity of studies addressing the patients’ subjective perceptions of pharmacy services. The few studies that measure the impact of pharmacy services on humanistic outcomes show little or no effect. This might be due to the services, or the assessment instruments used. The aim of this thesis was to enhance the understanding of how patients perceive community pharmacy services, their preferences for community pharmacy services, and how these services could be evaluated from the patient perspective. This was done by: 1.exploring patients’ perceptions of an existing pharmaceutical care service using in-depth interviews; 2. exploring patient preferences for the ideal pharmacy visit using Q methodology, and characterising those patient groups that have different preferences and; 3. testing the validity of the Swedish version of the Pharmaceutical Therapy-Related Quality of Life (PTRQoL)-instrument, using think aloud methodology. Patients had vague, and sometimes erroneous, understandings about a pharmaceutical care service that they were currently receiving. They reported that the service had increased their feeling of safety, enhanced their knowledge, provided drug treatment control, and empowered them. Seven different viewpoints of the ideal pharmacy service were identified, which could be broadly divided into two groups, those emphasising the physical drug products as central to the encounter and those seeking a relationship with the pharmacist. Some differences between the group characteristics were identified, but not specific enough to guide individualised care practice. Several problems with the validity of the PTRQoL-instrument were detected. Overall, the thesis has highlighted various aspects of patient perspectives on community pharmacy services that could be used for the development andassessment of such services.

Abstract Medicines are substances used to prevent, alleviate or cure diseases which is an important part of health care. The role of the pharmacist in the healthcare chain is important because they are the patients last contact with healthcare professionals. After this contact they must assume responsibility over their own treatment. The pharmacist's responsibility is to make sure that the patient has received essential information about their drugs and to check that the prescribed dose is correct. The increased digitalization of society brings an opportunity for the patients to increase participation and understanding of their drug treatment. Decision support systems are different methods used to obtain a basis for decision making. Pharmacists use these systems to check if prescriptions are correct, for example by ensuring that the right medication, in the correct dose, has been prescribed to the right patient at the right time. In Sweden there is a decision support system called elektroniskt expertstöd (EES). This system offers pharmacy customers further drug control in addition to other controls that are available through the pharmacy's other systems. The benefit of this system is that the pharmacist has better support in detecting incorrect doses, interactions, duplicate medications and if the drug is inappropriate for the patient's gender or age. When the system alerts, the pharmacist makes an assessment which may be discussed with the patient or the physician if needed. Purpose The purpose of this survey study was to investigate what the pharmacy customers knows about EES and the pharmacists use of the system. Method Before the study started, approval from the southeast ethic committee was obtained which said that there were no ethical barriers for the performance of the study. The surveys were handed out to anyone who would receive prescriptions at different pharmacies in Luleå, Grängesberg, Värnamo, Kalmar and Torsås. The common goal was to spend 20 hours of handing out surveys per student. The results were put together and analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistics with descriptive statistics.  Results and discussion The results show that most of the respondents did not know about EES and did not know if the pharmacists are using this support system. The results also show that most of the respondents had not given their consent to EES and did not know if EES could support the pharmacists work. More than half of the survey population answered “do not know” on a question asking if they wanted the pharmacist to use EES when dispensing drugs. Almost a quarter of the total population wanted the pharmacist to use EES and close to three quarters of the total population had no knowledge of the system. This could mean that the customers who have knowledge wants the system to be used. A reason for wanting the system to be used without having knowledge of it could be that customers trust it is beneficial for themselves and for the pharmacists. Building trust and showing care in each customer meeting is important to make the customer susceptible to information. Sufficient information can lead to better compliance in drug treatments. Before the pharmacist can use EES for the first time the customer must consent. Although it was a few years since the introduction of EES into pharmacies, some pharmacists find it difficult to connect customers to the system. It is a relatively new way of working with drug analysis at the pharmacies in Sweden. More practice in the system could provide increased use of it and help the pharmacists decision making.   Conclusion Only a small proportion of the pharmacy customers have knowledge of EES. But even so, one fourth of them wanted the system to be used to analyze their medication which is considered positive.

Abstract Background and Objective: An accurate medication history list is an integral part of the patient assessment at hospital admission. The objective of the study was to describe the frequency, type, and predictors of unintentional medication errors and to evaluate the quality of the clinical pharmacy services focusing on the acceptance of the recommendations made by the clinical pharmacist. Setting and methods: A descriptive study was conducted at two internal medicine wards at Baghdad Teaching Hospital in Iraq using Lund Integrated Medicines Management (LIMM)-based medication reconciliation. The study pharmacist conducted medication interviews for patients shortly after hospital admission to obtain the most accurate pre-admission medication history list. This list was compared with the medication list in the patient’s medical chart. Intended addition, withdrawal of a drug, or changes to the dose/ dosage form in the patient’s medical list was considered as medication discrepancies. However, medication discrepancies were considered as medication errors based on no identified clinical reason. Results: A total of 114 patients were included in this study. Over two-thirds of the study patients (73.7%) experienced 215 medication errors identified by a clinical pharmacist conducting medication reconciliation. Most errors were omission (87.9%). Cardiovascular agents followed by NSAID were commonly in error (53%) and (10.2%) respectively. In a logistic regression model, age (odds ratio (OR), 1.055: 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.010 - 1.102), female gender (OR, 3.468: 95% CI 1.232- 9.761) and number of medications at admission (OR, 0.810: 95% CI 0.681-0.963) were predictors for medication history errors at admission. Conclusions: Medication errors at the time of hospital admission are common and undetected.  A structured approach like the LIMM-based medication reconciliation at Iraqi hospital is needed to detect these errors.

Abstract Elective urological patients’ medication usage at the time of admission Author: Nygren. J. Supervisor: Gillespie. U. Examiner: Nielsen. E. Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, division of pharmacokinetics and drug therapy. Faculty of pharmacy. Uppsala University, Sweden.   Background and Objective: Information about the patient’s current medication treatment before elective urologic surgery has been based upon a prefilled self-reported health declaration or a patient provided medication list. A new work procedure has recently been adopted where a pharmacist performs a medication reconciliation in order to increase the patient safety, receive deeper insight into the patients ongoing treatment and to reduce the physician’s workload. The objective of the study was to map out how well the patients could account for their medication usage at the time of admission and to identify discrepancies between the health declaration/patient’s medication list and the medication list after medication reconciliation. Design: The study population consisted of adult men and women scheduled for elective urological surgery.  A clinical pharmacist performed a medication reconciliation and stored appurtenant patient data and medication lists in anonymised forma. Data was then analysed by a student undertaking his degree project (MSc Clinical pharmacy). The population and discrepancies were divided into sub-groups and a t-test was performed to identify any statistical difference between selected sub-groups of the population. Setting: Urology department, Uppsala University Hospital Main outcome measures: The proportion of patients having at least one discrepancy were studied. Distribution of discrepancies per patient was compared between sub-groups; number of medications, age and county of residence. Results: At least one discrepancy (range 1-7) was observed in 51 (66%) out of the 77 patients included in the study. Patients using >5 medications at the time of admission had more discrepancies per patient than those using 0-5 medications (3.2 vs 1.0; p=5.6x10-6) and there was a trend towards Uppsala patients having more discrepancies per patient than those residing outside the region (2.4 vs 1.5; p=0.057). There was no significant difference observed between the age groups. Conclusion: The health declaration/medication list presented at the time of admission did not provide enough information to determine the patient’s complete medication usage.

Bakgrund: Användning av läkemedel ökar och därmed ökar också läkemedelsrelaterade problem. För att patienter ska kunna ha en säker läkemedelsbehandling krävs bland annat korrekt och fullständig läkemedelsinformation. I dagsläget finns det olika informationskällor som patienter använder för att hålla koll på sin läkemedelsbehandling men i många av dem förekommer avvikelser som gör att risken för felmedicinering eller överdosering ökar. Syfte: Syftet med det här arbetet var att undersöka prevalensen av avvikelser i läkemedelslista ”Mina sparade recept på apotek” (MSR), samt att se om vissa läkemedelsgrupper skulle förekomma oftare än andra bland avvikelserna. Även andra variabler, såsom informationskällor som patienter använder för att hålla reda på sin läkemedelsbehandling, avsaknad av receptbelagda läkemedel i MSR och användning av receptfria läkemedel mättes. Metod: Data for studien samlades in genom speciellt utformade läkemedelsintervjuer med patienter på ett öppenvårdsapotek i Sverige under veckorna 3–5 i början av 2021. Patienterna som inkluderades var vuxna patienter som hade åtminstone tre receptbelagda läkemedel i sin MSR och som hämtade ut läkemedel åt sig själva. Innan läkemedelsintervjuerna påbörjade erhölls också ett skriftligt samtycke från alla deltagare. Resultat: Nästan 70 procent av 69 intervjuade patienter hade minst en typ av avvikelse i MSR, därav dubbla och inaktuella recept var vanligaste. Bland avvikelserna var de vanligaste läkemedel för behandling av sjukdomar som rör nervsystemet, hjärta och kretslopp samt matsmältningsorgan och ämnesomsättning. En del av patienterna (35 procent) saknade receptbelagda läkemedel i sin MSR, medan 30 procent av dem uppgav att de använde receptfria läkemedel. Informationskällan som användes av de flesta patienterna för att hålla koll på deras läkemedelsbehandling var just MSR.  Slutsats: Avvikelser i MSR förekommer hos nästan 7 av 10 patienter och de läkemedelsgrupperna som var vanligare bland avvikelser är också läkemedelsgrupper som orsakar mest läkemedelsrelaterade problem. Dessa avvikelser måste åtgärdas eftersom de påverkar patienternas säkerhet och förhoppningsvis kommer implementering av den nya nationella läkemedelslistan (NLL) kunna förbättra situationen för både patienten och hälso- och sjukvårdspersonalen. / Background: The use of medicines has increased in the past few years, which has also led to increased amount of drug-related problems (DRP), such as drug-drug interactions and serious adverse effects which lead to hospitalization. In order to decrease the amount of DRP, the medication lists of individual patients need to be accurate and updated. The most used medication list among those available is the one that is printed out at a pharmacy “My stored prescriptions at pharmacy”.  It is also called “Prescription List” (PL). Even though a lot of patients use the PL, there are a lot of discrepancies in it, such as noncurrent and missing prescriptions, but also prescription duplicates. Aim: The aim of this study was to study the prevalence of discrepancies in the PL, such as noncurrent or duplicate prescriptions, wrong dosage or other unclarities, but also to see if there are some particular drug groups which are more common among the discrepancies. Secondary outcomes that were measured included the amount of missing prescriptions in the PL, as well as the usage of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and primary information sources that patients use to keep track of their prescriptions. Methods: Data needed for the study was collected by interviewing patients at a local pharmacy. The interview was specially designed to answer to all the outcomes and the patient’s individual PL was also used to identify the discrepancies. In order to be included in the study patients needed to be at least 18 years old, have three or more prescriptions in the national prescription repository (NPR) and pick up their own medication, as well as provide a written consent to participate. Pharmacists that were dispensing patient’s prescriptions were also in charge of the recruitment of patients. Result: Out of the 103 patients that were informed about the study, 69 patients were included. Almost 70 percent of them had at least one type of discrepancy in the PL. The most common discrepancy was prescription duplicates (46 percent), followed by noncurrent prescriptions (44 percent). Drug groups which were common among the discrepancies were the drugs used to treat diseases in the nervous system, cardiovascular system and digestive system (including metabolism). Secondary outcomes showed that 35 percent of the patients had at least one missing prescription in the PL, but also that 30 percent of the patients used OTC medicines, the most common being paracetamol (acetaminophen). The most used information source was the PL with 32 percent of patients using it as their primary information source for their medication therapy. Conclusions: Prescription duplicates and noncurrent prescriptions are frequent in the PL and are a major source of medication errors for patients and health-care workers. Drug groups which where the most common among the discrepancies are also the ones responsible for half of the hospitalizations in Sweden. This implies that they could probably be prevented by improving the PL. The number of the missing prescriptions was quite low. The usage of OTC medicines showed that most of patients used painkillers. These are the drugs that Swedes often overuse and therefore, for future safety, monitoring of OTC sales should be implemented. Although it had 21 percent of inaccuracies, the PL was the most used information source for the patients, which gives the conclusion that the improvement of it is needed as soon as possible in order to prevent and decrease the frequency of DRP.

Introduction: Infections caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics. One type of antibiotic used to fight bacteria is ciprofloxacin, a group of fluoroquinolones. To prevent this, bacteria have developed resistance by mutating in various ways. Negative bacterial cultures, short- and long-term treatments, all favor the progression of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, as a consequence of mutation. Compared to other antibiotics, the resistance development has increased more extensively for ciprofloxacin. Also, ciprofloxacin is incorrectly prescribed in primary care, which contributes to the increase in resistance development. Because of this, doctors wish to be more restrictive with the prescription of ciprofloxacin. Aim: This study aimed to determine if ciprofloxacin in primary care in Sörmland is prescribed correctly by examining whether the prescriptions are in compliance with the treatment recommendations in Sweden. Methods: The study was conducted as a survey research and executed under two months; from start of February to middle of April. The inclusion criteria were the primary care in Sörmland and the prescribers who prescribed ciprofloxacin with ATC code J01MA02 from January 2020. Firstly, the head of the care unit was contacted. Prescribers were then contacted individually to take part in a phone interview. The collection of data was compiled and compared to the treatment recommendations in Sweden to determine if the prescriptions were correct, regarding indication, dosage, and treatment time. Results: A total of 236 prescriptions were obtained, of which 89 were included in this study. Out of these, 32 prescriptions (36%) were in accordance with the correct choice of preparation regarding indication, dosage and treatment time and were, therefore, considered to be correct. Prescriptions that were not in accordance with the Swedish treatment recommendations, regarding the use of correct preparation for a single indication, dosage or treatment time, amounted to 57 prescriptions (64%). These prescriptions were, thereby, considered incorrect. Conclusion: This study concludes that it appears that less than half of the prescriptions of ciprofloxacin in the primary care in Sörmland were correct during this time period.

Extravasation is a condition that can occur during an intravenous administration. This means that the solution administered intravenously goes extravascular. Depending on physiochemical properties of the substance and solution, this can cause different severity of the damage. Extravasation of acyclovir, potassium phosphate and potassium chloride causes severe tissue damage that can, in worst case, lead to tissue necrosis. The purpose was therefore to investigate how acyclovir, potassium phosphate and potassium chloride causes tissue damage due to pH and osmolality and how the tissue damage can be avoided. To answer the purpose, a comprehensive literature search was conducted on three different databases; Pubmed, CINAHL and Cochrane. The literature search was in progress from February 4 to May 14 2020. The literature search generated a total of 42 articles and case reports, of which 13 of these were relevant for the purpose. These 13 articles consisted of two animal studies, three experimental observational studies, two guidelines from Västra Götalands Region, three case reports about acyclovir and three case reports of potassium phosphate and potassium chloride.   Two of the experimental observational studies showed that potassium chloride could be diluted with 100 mL of 0,9% sodium chloride or 5% dextrose in water to possibly avoid tissue damage due to extravasation. Such results were not found for either acyclovir or potassium phosphate. The conclusion that could be drawn was that acyclovir caused tissue damage because of its alkaline pH, potassium phosphate because of its hyperosmolality and potassium chloride because of its acidic pH and its hyperosmolality. One way to possibly avoid tissue damage caused by extravasation is to dilute the substances with higher dilution volumes. However, due to the lack of reliability of the included studies, it cannot be safely concluded that tissue damage can be avoided.

Dysfagi är ett vanligt förekommande och mindre uppmärksammat tillstånd som påverkar patientens hälsa och livskvalité. Dysfagi innebär en försämrad ät- och sväljförmåga som kan leda till undernäring, ökad sjuklighet och uttorkning, som i sin tur kan leda till ökad dödlighet. Patienter med sväljsvårigheter har oftast svårt med intag av orala läkemedel som tabletter/kapslar, vilket gör att läkemedel kan behöva manipuleras (krossas/delas) för att underlätta nedsväljningen. Därför är syftet med detta projekt att studera sjuksköterskornas och klinikapotekarnas beskrivning av hur sväljbedömningen, läkemedelshanteringen och uppföljningen går till för patienter med dysfagi. Projektet gjordes genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie med hjälp av en innehållsanalys. Totalt intervjuades sex sjuksköterskor och två klinikapotekare som arbetar inom Region Västmanland år 202. Resultatet presenterades under sex huvudkategorier; “Bedömning av sväljsvårigheter i praktiken”, “Tillvägagångssätt vid läkemedelshantering”, “Källor vid manipulering av läkemedel”, “Teamarbetets betydelse i vården”, “Läkemedelsgenomgångar för patienter med dysfagi” och “Förbättringsförslag”. Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskorna inte utför några djupgående bedömningar av sväljförmågan. Det visade även att majoriteten av sjuksköterskorna hanterade läkemedelsmanipulation på likartat sätt och använde gemensamma informationskällor. En regelbunden uppföljning av patienternas sväljförmåga fanns inte. Klinikapotekarna bidrog till en minskad läkemedelsmanipulering genom att utföra läkemedelsgenomgångar. Slutsatsen som kan dras är att det finns ett behov av fler insatser av vården som skulle kunna optimera läkemedelsbehandlingen till patienter med dysfagi. Detta kan ske genom ett ökat samarbete mellan olika professioner i vården och tydligare rutiner, informationskällor och utbildningar.

I samband med att den äldre populationen blir en större andel av jordens befolkning ökar även sväljningsproblematiken i befolkningen. Dysfagi är ett tillstånd som försvårar både födo- och vätskeintaget, följden av detta är att administreringen av fasta orala läkemedel (tabletter/kapslar) försvåras. Genom läkemedelsmanipulering, det vill säga krossning och delning av tabletter/kapslar kan läkemedelsadministreringen underlättas till dessa patienter. Riskerna med att krossa/dela fasta orala läkemedel kan bland annat ge upphov till irritation i magslemhinnan, obehaglig smak och i värsta fall förstärkt eller utebliven effekt. Syftet med detta fördjupningsprojekt är att få kunskap om olika professioners (läkare, logoped, klinisk farmakolog och klinisk apotekare) erfarenheter kring sväljbedömning, förskrivning och uppföljning av peroral läkemedelsbehandling till patienter med sväljsvårigheter. Denna kvalitativa intervjustudie utformades år 2021 och analyserades med en manifest innehållsanalys, där åtta studiedeltagare rekryterades.   Resultatet visar att bedömning av sväljförmågan kan utföras av läkare och annan inblandad personal men att logopeden anses ha den centrala rollen. Vid förskrivning ser läkarna över läkemedelslistan med avseende på sväljsvårigheter och möjlighet till krossa/dela om det framkommer att patienten har sväljproblematik. För att inhämta information kring krossning/delning och alternativa beredningsformer utgår läkarna från ungefär samma källor och som stöd finns kliniska farmakologer och apotekare. Samtliga nämner att det kan finnas risker med krossa/dela som exempelvis ökad risk för biverkan.  Det framkom även att uppföljningen av läkemedelsbehandlingen till patienter med dysfagi är bristande. Slutsatsen som kan dras är att det finns förbättringspotential kring sväljbedömning, förskrivning och uppföljning av peroral läkemedelsbehandling till patienter med sväljsvårigheter, detta genom exempelvis tillämpning av rutiner, utbildningsinsatser och ett tydligare teamsamarbete.

Introduction: The kidneys' ability to filter drug substances deteriorates with age. Some diseases accelerate this degradation. Patients with renal impairment are at increased risk of drug-related adverse reactions if dose adjustments are not made. Aim: To investigate the purchase and dosage of newly introduced opioids, gabapentinoids and NSAIDs between 2014 and 2019 for patients with impaired kidney function in the Stockholm Region. Method: A register-based cross-sectional study where data has been obtained from the database SCREAM (The Stockholm CREAtinine Measurements project). All patients ≥ 18 years of age, who live in Stockholm and have performed at least one creatinine measurement from January 2013 and received a prescription for selected drugs were included. The number of people and the dosage (DDD/prescription) were studied annually, by age, sex, and CKD. Results: The total number of patients was 362,964 with a mean age of 56 (SD 19) years. The study included 202,762 women (56%) and 160,201 men (44%). The mean value of eGFR was 88 (SD 24). Gabapentinoids were prescribed significantly less than NSAIDs and opioids, however, prescribing increased between 2014-2018. It was the only class of drugs with a clear reduction in dosage with respect to CKD level. NSAIDs were prescribed on few occasions to patients with impaired renal function, at the same time a reduction in the total number of prescriptions was seen between 2014-2018. No major difference in dosage was seen based on the patient's CKD level. Opioids were prescribed on most occasions with an increase in the number of prescriptions between 2014-2018. Only minor differences in dosage were noted between the different CKD levels. However, for all CKD levels, there had been a gradually reduced dosage from 2014 to 2018. Conclusion: Patients with renal impairment belong to a fragile group with a number of different comorbidities. Painkillers are prescribed on fewer occasions to patients with renal impairment. Prescribers, however, do not appear to adjust the dose with respect to renal function when re-introducing NSAIDs and opioids