Understanding pharmacist success in practice: A scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to identify literature providing a description of characteristics contributing to pharmacists' individual level success in providing advanced patient care. DESIGN: An interpretive scoping review was conducted to synthesize knowledge and address the study objective. SETTING: Searches were undertaken in Ovid MEDLINE (1946-2015), EMBASE (1974-2015), and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970-2015). PARTICIPANTS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Specific keywords used in the search included: motivation, attitude, career, clinical competence, certification, pursuit of an expanded scope of practice, pharmacist, and success. This was not intended to be an exhaustive list, and every effort was made to be inclusive as the search revealed additional words and phrases of interest. RESULTS: A total of 93 articles were initially identified, 10 articles met inclusion criteria and were retained for full-text analysis. Most of the included articles were published in the United States (70%). One-third of the articles conducted semi-structured interviews, one-third of the articles were editorials or commentaries, and the remaining articles collected data using surveys, knowledge assessments, and observation. Content analysis of the extracted definitions of success yielded 2 themes; "what successful pharmacists do" and "what successful pharmacists should be." CONCLUSION: Professional organizations representing pharmacy have made significant strides in advocating for pharmacists' provision of advanced patient care. If pharmacists are to successfully provide advanced patient care a more specific and practically-oriented understanding that accounts for individual and environmental factors of how to achieve individual-level success is needed.

Nicole J. Brandt: Always Another Mountain to Climb.

Incoming 2015-2016 ASCP President Nicole "Nicki" Brandt juggles a demanding schedule: She teaches at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, participates in research at the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, consults at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center's geriatric assessment and Alzheimer's disease and dementia clinic, and works as a consultant pharmacist at the Pickersgill Retirement Community Center in Baltimore. In recent years, she has also become active in a new sphere: health policy.

Report of the 2023-2024 Strategic Engagement Standing Committee.

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy has long emphasized the value of strategic engagement, recognizing that it is critical to the success of pharmacy education, contributing to the expansion of pharmacy and public health practice, the fulfillment of institutional missions, and the meeting of programmatic needs. The 2023-2024 Strategic Engagement Committee was charged with operationalizing advocacy champions, creating an advocacy resource guide to support advocacy champions in their engagement with diverse public and private stakeholders, offering formal training to advocacy champions in the form of a new connect community and webinar series, and conducting focus groups at the 2024 Annual Meeting to determine strengths of the advocacy guide and opportunities to support advocacy champions further.

Health information technology: how we got where we are.

Consultant and senior care pharmacists probably have already encountered some sort of health information technology (HIT) system in one or more of the facilities they service, whether it is an electronic medication administration record or some version of an electronic health record (EHR). This article will address national HIT initiatives and the role of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists in HIT activities, HIT adoption statistics in the long-term and postacute care settings, certification of EHR systems, the use of standards in exchanging information between settings and health care providers, and the role of consultant pharmacists and long-term care pharmacies in implementation of HIT.

A survey of the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy members' research involvement, and associated enablers and barriers.

Background Building research capacity of European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) members aligns to the organisation's aim of advancing research. Objective To determine members' aspirations and needs in research training and practice, and to explore ways in which ESCP could provide support. Setting ESCP's international membership. Method Cross-sectional survey of members in 2018, followed by focus groups with samples of respondents attending an ESCP symposium. Survey items were: research activities; interests, experience and confidence; and Likert statements on research conduct. Principal component analysis (PCA) clustering of Likert statements from a previous study was used, with scores for each component calculated. Focus groups discussed barriers to research and how ESCP could provide support. Data analysis involved collating and comparing all themes. Main outcome measures Research interest, experience and confidence; attitudinal items; barriers to research; ESCP support. Results The response rate was 16.7% (83/499), with 89.2% (n = 74) involved in research and 79.5% (n = 66) publishing research in the preceding 2 years. While overwhelmingly positive, responses were more positive for research interest than experience or confidence. PCA component scores (support/opportunities, motivation/outcomes, and roles/characteristics) were positive. Thirteen members participated in focus groups, identifying barriers of: insufficient collaboration; lack of knowledge, skills, training; unsupportive environment; insufficient time; and limited resources. ESCP could support through mentorship, collaboration, education and funding. Conclusion Study participants were highly active, interested, experienced, confident and positive regarding research. There is an opportunity for ESCP to harness these activities and provide support in the form of mentoring, education and training, and facilitating collaboration.

An Unparalleled Spirit of Collaboration Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact across the United States and the rest of the world. Health care professionals, including pharmacists, are working on the frontlines and across the spectrum of public health and research. To fully optimize the contribution of pharmacists during this crisis, state and federal policies and regulations that limit pharmacists' roles had to be identified and modified. A strong coalition of national pharmacy organizations, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, embarked upon an unprecedented level of collaboration to produce a joint statement identifying key policy recommendations. This collective continued working together as the full force of the pandemic was realized and engaged with policy makers at the state and national levels to advocate for these policy recommendations. Ideally the lessons learned in terms of the power of working together in a crisis will reframe future collaborations to the benefit of the profession and ultimately to the patients we serve.

Stability testing of vaccines: Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers' Network (DCVMN) perspective.

Stability testing is an integral part of the vaccine manufacturing process and is crucial for the success of immunization programs. WHO (World Health Organization) has recently published guidelines on the stability testing of vaccines. These guidelines enlist scientific basis and principles for stability testing at various stages like development, pre-clinical, clinical, licensing, lot release and post-licensure monitoring. DCVMN (Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers' Network) is an international body of developing countries vaccine manufacturers and has viewpoints on technical and administrative issues in stability testing of vaccines. We here highlight viewpoints, possible roles and global expectations of DCVMN in the area of stability testing of vaccines.

Obtaining patient test results from clinical laboratories: a survey of state law for pharmacists.

OBJECTIVES: To identify states with laws that restrict to whom clinical laboratories may release copies of laboratory test results and to describe how these laws may affect pharmacists' ability to obtain patient laboratory test results. METHODS: Researchers examined state statutes and administrative codes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia at the University of Iowa Law Library between June and July 2007. Researchers also consulted with lawyers, state Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments officers, and law librarians. Laws relating to the study objective were analyzed. RESULTS: 34 jurisdictions do not restrict the release of laboratory test results, while 17 states have laws that restrict to whom clinical laboratories can send copies of test results. In these states, pharmacists will have to use alternative sources, such as physician offices, to obtain test results. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists must consider state law before requesting copies of laboratory test results from clinical laboratories. This may be an issue that state pharmacy associations can address to increase pharmacist access to important patient information.