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High morbidity and mortality related to the use of drugs resulted in demand for clinical pharmacy services (CPS) globally. In developed countries, the evolution of pharmacists' role in direct patient care started in the 1960s. The participation of pharmacists in CPS has resulted in positive clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes. In developing countries, efforts have started to ensure pharmacists are engaged in the provision of CPS. However, the efforts are hampered by poorly defined pharmacist career paths, financial constraints, and a lack of political willingness. In Tanzania, efforts started in 2008, in which CPS was introduced into the Bachelor of Pharmacy curriculum, followed by the initiation of a postgraduate program on hospital and clinical pharmacy in 2013. A regulation was released by the Tanzania Ministry of Health in 2020 to enforce pharmacists' engagement in providing CPS. In 2021, a project was launched in the country, aiming to strengthen the provision of CPS in public and faith-based hospitals by training on-job pharmacists. The project was implemented in phases, including stakeholders' engagement, baseline survey, training, and supportive supervision of the trained pharmacists. Therefore, this commentary aims to share what we experienced during project implementation, the achievements, challenges, and key lessons learned.
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Farmácias , Serviço de Farmácia Hospitalar , Farmácia , Humanos , Currículo , HospitaisRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Primary care health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) lack sufficient primary care providers to meet their health care needs, which contributes to worse health outcomes within underserved populations. Community pharmacies are commonly located in HPSAs and provide nondispensing services that can help address unmet health care needs. However, there is limited data on the nature, scope, and reimbursement for community pharmacy services. OBJECTIVES: Using survey data from the state of Wisconsin, this study compares the prevalence of and reimbursement for services provided by community pharmacies in primary care HPSAs and non-HPSAs and describes barriers to pharmacy service implementation. METHODS: A survey tool on pharmacy services, reimbursement, and barriers to service implementation was developed, pilot tested, and administered to every community pharmacy in Wisconsin. Data were collected via mail and online over two waves of survey administration from November 2021 to May 2022. Pearson's chi-squared and t tests were used to compare the prevalence of and reimbursement for services between HPSA and non-HPSA pharmacies. Content analysis was used to identify themes that described barriers to pharmacy service implementation. RESULTS: Responses were received from 287 of 774 eligible community pharmacies (37.1%). HPSA pharmacies were significantly more likely to be in rural areas. Regardless of pharmacy location, community pharmacies reported commonly providing a variety of services, but reimbursement for these services was considerably less frequent. The prevalence of reimbursement was <50% for two-thirds of services. Pharmacy staffing, time, and financial issues were the most commonly reported barriers to service implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Community pharmacies provide a diverse set of services to meet the health care needs of their patients, but often do so with inadequate staffing or reimbursement. Action is needed to support community pharmacies in meeting the health care needs of their communities and to ensure patient access to medications and pharmacy services.
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Serviços Comunitários de Farmácia , Farmácias , Farmácia , Humanos , Wisconsin , Farmacêuticos , Pessoal de SaúdeRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) investigate the expectations and preferences of PharmD students and practitioners regarding their role in the health care system, and (2) to contrast those expectations and preferences of PharmD practitioners with real-life practice in Jordan. METHODS: Two cross-sectional descriptive questionnaires were used to collect data from PharmD students and PharmD practitioners in Jordan. A total number of 330 students and 280 practitioners were interviewed. The responses to all questions were encoded, entered, and summarized as frequencies and percentages or as means and standard deviations. Comparisons between groups were performed using Chi-square test. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Both PharmD students and practitioners chose working as a clinical pharmacist in a hospital as their first-choice job. However, their second and third jobs choices were significantly different as practitioners opted for income as a main criterion for job selection. Interestingly, salary expectations by PharmD students were significantly higher than the reality as reported by PharmD practitioners. Both students and practitioners placed the work environment as the highest priority criterion for making a work choice on the work environment. In general, both students and practitioners agree on the ideal roles of PharmD graduate with the issues of prescribing and compounding responsibilities being the ones with the highest disparity between practitioners and students. Significant differences were found between the student's and practitioner's perceptions of the ideal role of a PharmD in and the current professional practice in Jordan. CONCLUSION: Job preferences and salary expectations differ significantly between students and practitioners. Professional orientation of PharmD. students should be implemented to minimize misconceptions of their job nature, availability, and compensations. The fact that students do not prefer to work in a community pharmacy should be addressed by educational institutions and professional organizations. The prescribing and compounding responsibilities of pharmacists should be also emphasized in the curricula of pharmacy schools and worked in by professional organization to achieve optimal implementation in real-life practice.
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Educação de Pós-Graduação em Farmácia , Farmácia , Humanos , Estudos Transversais , Jordânia , Motivação , Inquéritos e Questionários , Estudantes , Escolha da ProfissãoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Critical care pharmacists improve the quality and efficiency of medication therapy whilst reducing treatment costs where they are available. UK critical care pharmacist deployment was described in 2015, highlighting a deficit in numbers, experience level, and critical care access to pharmacy services over the 7-day week. Since then, national workforce standards have been emphasised, quality indicators published, and service commissioning documents produced, reinforced by care quality assessments. Whether these initiatives have resulted in further development of the UK critical care pharmacy workforce is unknown. This evaluation provides a 2020 status update. METHODS: The 2015 electronic data entry tool was updated and circulated for completion by UK critical care pharmacists. The tool captured workforce data disposition as it was just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, at critical care unit level. MAIN FINDINGS: Data were received for 334 critical care units from 203 organisations (96% of UK critical care units). Overall, 98.2% of UK critical care units had specific clinical pharmacist time dedicated to the unit. The median weekday pharmacist input to each level 3 equivalent bed was 0.066 (0.043-0.088) whole time equivalents, a significant increase from the median position in 2015 (+ 0.021, p < 0.0001). Despite this progress, pharmacist availability remains below national minimum standards (0.1/level 3 equivalent bed). Most units (71.9%) had access to prescribing pharmacists. Geographical variation in pharmacist staffing levels were evident, and weekend services remain extremely limited. CONCLUSIONS: Availability of clinical pharmacists in UK adult critical care units is improving. However, national standards are not routinely met despite widely publicised quality indicators, commissioning specifications, and assessments. Additional measures are needed to address persistent deficits and realise gains in organisational and patient-level outcomes. These measures must include promotion of cross-professional collaborative working, adjusted funding models, and a nationally recognised training pathway for critical care pharmacists.
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COVID-19 , Serviço de Farmácia Hospitalar , Farmácia , Adulto , Humanos , Pandemias , COVID-19/epidemiologia , Cuidados Críticos/métodos , Farmacêuticos , Recursos Humanos , Reino UnidoRESUMO
A major regulatory impediment to achieving multistate pharmacist licensure is state-specific Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) mandates. States vary on CPE requirements in 6 key domains, presenting a potentially significant administrative burden for multistate pharmacists. In the short term, replicating the nursing compact model of CPE regulation is the most viable model for the pharmacy profession. In this model, a pharmacist would have to follow just the CPE requirements for the state where the pharmacist maintains primary residence, and maintenance of this home state license would be automatically recognized by other states in which the pharmacist practices.
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Educação em Farmácia , Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Humanos , Educação Continuada em Farmácia , Farmacêuticos , LicenciamentoRESUMO
The designation of health care providers is limited to physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, clinical psychologists, dietitians, and social workers. Pharmacists are not federally recognized health care providers and, therefore, are not eligible for cognitive service reimbursements. This commentary explains the intentions of adding pharmacists as Medicare Part B providers, evaluates current state pharmacist provider status, and calls pharmacists, technicians, and other key stakeholders to advocate on behalf of the profession of pharmacy. If federal provider status is granted to pharmacists, patients will gain better access to care, health spending will decline, and physician lead care teams will have an expert in medications readily available for consultation or other medication-related needs. Reimbursement would provide more resources to administer these needed services to more patients in areas with limited access to health care resources.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Idoso , Humanos , Estados Unidos , Farmacêuticos , Medicare , Pessoal de SaúdeRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (PPS) implemented a system of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for pharmacists in 2004. This system has evolved throughout the years, and currently all active pharmacists in Portugal are required to participate in the CPD program. Each CPD cycle takes 5 years. In each cycle, pharmacists must collect 15 CPD points, through participation in educational activities. The PPS accreditation process is managed via an online platform, where education/training providers, as well as pharmacists themselves, can submit educational activities for accreditation. Pharmacists may access their CPD status and assess their development at any point. The objective of this study was to analyze and review the educational activities submitted by providers over a 11-year period (2009-2019). METHODS: Data from activities were retrieved from the PPS CPD online platform. All educational activities were labeled according to the area of pharmaceutical professional focus, type of promoter, and activity type. RESULTS: During the study 3685 activities were analyzed. Over the last decade, submitted activities for accreditation increased in 52.6%. A significantly high proportion (98.9%) of these activities has been accredited. Promoters of activities were mostly pharmacies sectoral associations (29.6%), consultancy/training companies (19.6%), the PPS (18.5%), pharmaceutical industry (17.7%) and wholesalers' consortia (9.0%). Academia represented only 2.3% of the total amount of educational activities. The most frequent topics were related to "pharmacology & pharmacotherapy" (9.9%), followed by "counselling" (9.8%) and "management & administration" (7.2%). The most accredited type of activities was face-to-face (68.9%) and e-learning trainings (13.1%). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows increasing interest in submitting CPD activities for accreditation between 2009 and 2019, but it also demonstrates that Academia could play a more interventive role in the lifelong learning education of Portuguese pharmacists.
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Farmácias , Farmácia , Acreditação , Educação Continuada em Farmácia , Humanos , FarmacêuticosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Pharmacists play a fundamental role in healthcare systems and achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through quality primary healthcare service provision. While the World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts a global shortage of health workforce by 2030, mainly affecting low- and middle-income nations (LMICs), limited published literature is found regarding pharmacy workforce capacity in LMICs, including Indonesia. This paper aims to analyse pharmacists' capacity in Indonesia to identify emerging workforce planning gaps for future workforce planning and policies in Indonesia. METHOD: Several data sources were accessed, including a database from the National Pharmacy Committee and the professional leadership body in Indonesia. Descriptive (frequencies, percentages, and mean), correlational and time-series analysis using curve estimation were conducted. Secondary data on the number of programmes, pharmacy students, pharmacy workforce (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians) per province were obtained from the Ministry websites and reports. RESULT: There were a total of 77 191 registered pharmacists in Indonesia in 2019. The pharmacists' pyramid showed a youth bulge as a general indication of market expansion in the education sector correlating to the pharmacy programme's number and size. There was a variation in pharmacy workforce density and access to pharmacy programmes across islands, which also were strongly correlated. Forecasting estimates that by 2030, women will represent around 86% of pharmacists in Indonesia. More female pharmacists were found working in the hospital and primary healthcare (providing direct services to patients) than male pharmacists. Younger pharmacists worked in the industrial sector, while older pharmacists worked in governmental and educational institutions. CONCLUSION: This study signposted workforce planning gaps for policy development in Indonesia, including a need to develop structured training to support early career pharmacists in their practice. There is also a need for better access to professional development programmes designed to support female pharmacists return to the regulated workforce following career breaks. National policy to promote equitable distribution and retention of pharmacists is recommended.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácias , Farmácia , Adolescente , Feminino , Humanos , Indonésia , Masculino , Farmacêuticos , Papel Profissional , Recursos HumanosRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Student pharmacists contribute meaningfully to patient care during Advanced Practice Pharmacy Experiences (APPEs) in varied settings. We aimed to characterize and evaluate the impact of student participation in hematology-oncology (hem-onc) APPEs on the practice site, and on student professionalization. METHODS: For students completing hem-onc APPEs during 2016-2019, rotation activities and post-APPE self-reflections describing meaningful impact were reviewed; activities were categorized into direct and indirect patient care, and up to three reflection themes of professionalization impact were extracted from each self-reflection. Hem-onc preceptor cohort was surveyed to assess impact of student contributions on the practice site. RESULTS: 171 students completed hem-onc APPEs in ambulatory care (133) and/or inpatient (38) settings. Of 932 student-reported activities, the most common were: evaluating patient pharmacotherapy (209), providing education to medical staff (132), patient counseling [non-chemotherapy (99); chemotherapy (82)], and providing drug information (96); 89% involved direct patient care/education. Survey results from 16 of 33 preceptors identified the most impactful student activities as evaluating pharmacotherapy, medication education/adherence resources, and in-service presentations. Of 392 student self-reflections, themes of impact focused on professionalization/self-awareness (39.3%), counseling/communication skills (27.8%), practice skills development (20.4%) and collaborative teamwork (12.5%). CONCLUSION: Pharmacy students make significant direct patient care contributions to hem-onc practice settings by evaluating pharmacotherapy and providing education to patients and healthcare personnel. Participation in hem-onc APPEs is highly influential to the professionalization of students, particularly in developing skills in oncology practice, patient interactions/communications, and developing self-awareness.
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Educação em Farmácia , Hematologia , Farmácia , Estudantes de Farmácia , Humanos , FarmacêuticosRESUMO
Due to the effects of structural racism, disproportionately lower numbers of Black, Hispanic or LatinX, American Indian, and Alaska Native students pursue a career in pharmacy and successfully matriculate into the profession. Despite these disparities being present for many years, little progress has been achieved in diversifying the pharmacy profession, resulting in a persistent lack of diversity within pharmacy leadership across employers and pharmacy organizations. Consistent with recent recommendations for improving diversity in pharmacy, the PharmGradWishlist (PGWL) initiative was created as a way for practicing pharmacists and organizations to provide direct financial sponsorship to racially and ethnically minoritized trainees to offset costs incurred during training and during the transition from student to practicing pharmacist. Many of these costs, such as residency and fellowship application fees, job interview travel costs, board exam and licensing fees, and moving expenses, are not typically subsidized by federal student funding. Offsetting these costs is an important way to reduce barriers to entering the profession and postgraduate training, the latter of which may be particularly important in trainees' pursuit of academic and leadership positions in pharmacy. The initial development and advertisement of the initiative occurred through social media and the grassroots efforts of the PGWL team, a group of 10 volunteer pharmacists from across the country, and resulted in generous donations from a small proportion of practicing pharmacists nationwide. It is now time for the profession as a whole to embrace the role of direct sponsorship in improving diversity in the profession. We call upon pharmacists and pharmacy organizations to advocate for and participate in financial sponsorship of racially and ethnically minoritized trainees and pharmacists as a way to increase diversity and promote health equity.
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Educação em Farmácia , Farmácia , Estudantes de Farmácia , Promoção da Saúde , Humanos , FarmacêuticosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The pharmacy marketplace has shifted considerably in recent years. The decline in job openings and stagnant growth in wages, along with public reports about adverse working conditions for some pharmacists, may have tarnished the optimism of young pharmacists toward the profession of pharmacy. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to analyze the trend among graduating student pharmacists regarding their positivity toward a career in pharmacy. METHODS: Data for this study were extracted from the Graduating Student Survey that is maintained by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. This set of analyses focused on respondents' agreement with the statement "If I was starting my college career over again, I would choose to study pharmacy." Descriptive statistics are reported for this item across 2014 to 2021, and chi-square analyses were used to compare the trend in agreement rates across years and to compare responses between public and private colleges of pharmacy. RESULTS: Survey response rates ranged from 71.1%-80.2% across years and categories (public vs. private). Across 2014-2021, there was an overall decline in the percentage of graduating student pharmacists who indicated that they would choose pharmacy again if they were starting over in college with the greatest decline occurring after 2016. Across all colleges, agreement declined from 81.8% (2014) to 72.2% (2021) (χ2 = 398.2; P < 0.001). The percentage of agreement responses for private college graduates declined from 80.7% (2014) to 74.8% (2021) whereas the percentage of agreement responses for public college graduates declined from 83.0% (2014) to 69.8% (2020). In 2021, public college graduates had lower agreement than private college graduates (χ2 = 33.8; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The positivity of graduating student pharmacists toward a career in pharmacy has deteriorated since 2014. Further investigation of this phenomenon is warranted.
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Educação em Farmácia , Farmácia , Estudantes de Farmácia , Humanos , Farmacêuticos , Faculdades de FarmáciaRESUMO
During the twentieth century, French colonial rule in West Africa was marked by the establishment of a homogeneous health organization in the colonies. It was based on the health service of the colonial troops, the hospital service under the general service and other services such as health police, epidemics and hygiene. This health system made it possible to protect the colonizers and indigenous populations from the major endemics of the time, to conduct research on new diseases hitherto unrecognized and to bring "civilization" to the overseas territories. The pharmacist's missions in the colonial health system were manifold. Our study aims to shed light on the profession of colonial pharmacist in the health history of French West Africa. To do this, it concerned the period between the creation of the Federation of French West Africa (1895) and the end of colonization (1960). Drawing on the available documentation, including archival material and bibliographic sources, this article shows that the colonial pharmacist was already exercising a multidisciplinary profession. He was in fact hospital manager, wholesaler-distributor, pharmacy, biologist, chemist, botanist, teacher, central actor in public health.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , África Ocidental , História do Século XX , Humanos , Masculino , Farmacêuticos/história , Saúde PúblicaRESUMO
The continued advancement of pharmacy practice demands highly skilled and knowledgeable pharmacy technicians to enhance the services provided. As technician responsibilities continue to evolve to include more advanced roles, the need for standardized technician training and certification is essential to advance the profession of pharmacy technicians and pharmacy practice. With only 45% of states requiring technician certification, great variation exists in the education and training competencies required for technicians practicing in the health system setting. While the gap in certified pharmacy technician workforce is significant, the advancing skills demanded of our technician workforce underscore the need for national standardization of technician certification requirements in the health system setting. Pharmacists, health systems, and legislators must commit to advancing the profession of pharmacy and advocate for a uniform, certified technician workforce as a professional standard.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Certificação , Humanos , Farmacêuticos , Técnicos em FarmáciaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Second-generation antipsychotics are associated with lower risks of extrapyramidal symptoms, including tardive dyskinesia. However, many second-generation antipsychotics are associated with metabolic adverse effects, including weight gain, impaired blood glucose control, and hyperlipidemia. Metabolic monitoring for patients prescribed antipsychotic medication is 1 of several measures of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting program. Screening for metabolic disorders (SMD) must be obtained within the previous 365 days before the hospital discharge date. National data suggest that compliance with this measure is low. OBJECTIVE: To improve compliance of metabolic monitoring by 20% while ensuring that the quality improvement interventions did not cause any unintended adverse effects on other aspects of our system. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: This quality initiative was conducted at a large, 2000-bed academic medical center with approximately 80 inpatient psychiatric beds. PRACTICE INNOVATION: To improve the metabolic screening rates, a pharmacist collaborative practice agreement (CPA) was established as part of a quality improvement project. Previously, there were no formal processes at the institution to ensure that appropriate laboratory tests were conducted. EVALUATION METHODS: Using an uncontrolled before-and-after design, SMD data were gathered from 6 months before and 6 months after CPA implementation. Pearson chi-square test or Fisher exact test were used to compare the pre- and postintervention groups in this quasi-experimental design. RESULTS: Compared with the preintervention period, compliance of SMD monitoring increased by 21.2% in the postintervention phase-from 69.2% to 90.4% (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The empowerment of clinical pharmacists with a CPA significantly improved guideline-concordant metabolic monitoring of antipsychotics. These findings may have significant impact on the approach to the safe use of these essential psychotropic medications and provide a framework for other inpatient mental health facilities to optimally use the skills of their interdisciplinary team.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Idoso , Humanos , Pacientes Internados , Medicare , Farmacêuticos , Estados UnidosRESUMO
Pharmacists are well-respected health care practitioners tasked with providing optimal patient care while operating under an assigned code of ethics. Pharmacists know their responsibility regarding improving patients' health in the examination room, pharmacy, and hospital, but several factors influence the well-being of a patient that are not directly related to their therapy regimens. A patient's actions regarding political and social issues can have an indirect effect on their health and the health of others. As health professionals, are pharmacists duty-bound to alert patients to the impact of public policies on the health care system and their individual health? In addition, should pharmacists be able to assess when interventions are necessary and provide this education? As a profession, pharmacy must work toward creating guidance to help practitioners identify and address these issues with patients and encourage positive outcomes for individual patients and communities as a whole. Political and social issues will continue to become intertwined in the patient-practitioner relationship, and tools must be created to best navigate these delicate topics.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Atenção à Saúde , Humanos , Farmacêuticos , PolíticaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim: To analyze, summarize and substantiate modern approaches to the formation of the professional competencies of pharmacists on issues of medicine quality assurance in Ukraine. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: In this study, we performed systematic review, systematic and comparative analysis, content analysis, generalization, document analysis, logical and graphical modeling to address those issues. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: We showed that the curriculum and program of the «Basic foundations of the functioning of quality systems in pharmacy institutions¼ thematic improvement cycle for pharmacists have been substantiated and developed. The content of the program provides an opportunity to prepare pharmacists for independent work in the field of implementation and support of effective quality systems in pharmacy institutions and hospital pharmacy services. In the context of substantiation of modern approaches to the preparation of pharmacists in the field of medicines quality assurance, the experience and advantages of such modern forms of training of pharmacists as the use of training bases and blended learning have been studied. The modern approaches to the formation of the professional competencies of pharmacists on issues of medicine quality assurance in Ukraine have been analyzed, summarize and substantiated.
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Farmacêuticos , Farmácia , Currículo , Humanos , Competência Profissional , UcrâniaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The pharmacy profession has promoted the value of board certification, yet the impact of board certification on employment opportunities for pharmacists is largely unknown. This study aims to report employer preferences for board certification as indicated on job listings. DESIGN: A national search for pharmacy job postings from November 16, 2018, to March 8, 2019 was performed by reviewing websites and attending conferences. For each listing, data on the status of required, preferred, or neither for board certification, type of specialty, and the practice setting were recorded. Employers listing a preference or requirement for board certification were asked to complete a questionnaire to ascertain reasons for requiring or preferring board certification. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study includes job listings from various non-community pharmacy employers. OUTCOME MEASURES: The outcome measures were to (1) assess if board certification is required/preferred by pharmacist employers, (2) determine if predominantly clinical versus nonclinical job listings include board certification as a requirement or preference, (3) differentiate practice area and specialty with regard to requirement or preference for board certification, and (4) evaluate reasons behind the requirement or preference. RESULTS: More employers did not prefer or require board certification compared with those who listed such preferences (51% vs. 49%). Employers of jobs with a predominantly clinical component were more likely to require or prefer board certification (53% vs. 27% [no clinical component]). The board certification most often requested was pharmacotherapy, followed by oncology and psychiatry. Most employers (98%) who prefer board certification and those who require board certification (79%) believe that credentialing verifies competence in a specialty practice (P = 0.03) and ensures acquisition of knowledge and skills within the specialized field (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: More pharmacy employers do not require or prefer board certification. Employers are more likely to prefer or require board certification for predominantly clinical jobs.
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Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Certificação , Credenciamento , Humanos , FarmacêuticosRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To maximize the time pharmacists providing comprehensive medication management (CMM) services spend providing direct patient care by tracking their time spent on various activities. SETTING: Fifteen primary care clinics within an integrated health care system in Minnesota. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: Eleven pharmacists provide comprehensive medication management services in 15 clinic sites; 12 primary care clinics, 1 family medicine residency training clinic, and 2 specialty clinics. PRACTICE INNOVATION: A team of pharmacists providing CMM developed and completed a self-reported workload sheet to document how much time they spent on various activities. These sheets were completed at 4 different points over 6 years to guide efficiency efforts to increase pharmacists' time spent in value-added activities such as direct patient care. EVALUATION: Beginning in 2014, each CMM pharmacist was asked to complete the workload tally sheet to track the time they spent on all their daily activities for a 5-day period. The workload sheets were collected in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 and represent a snapshot of activity at 1 point during each year. Workload sheets from each pharmacist were compiled and analyzed each year to assess time spent in direct patient care and other value-added activities. RESULTS: From 2014 to 2019, CMM pharmacists increased their time providing value-added services from 47.1% to 72% and increased time in direct patient care from 26.7% to 52.5%. This was achieved through a number of workflow optimization strategies, including appropriation of staff to schedule and recruit CMM patients, developing expanded collaborative practice agreements, and creating documentation efficiencies. CONCLUSION: Collecting CMM pharmacist workload data across the years demonstrated the amount of time pharmacists were spending on various clinic-related activities and served to identify areas where workflow and processes could be improved to increase the time pharmacists spend in value-added services. As CMM practices continue to develop and expand, tracking and optimizing pharmacists' time is essential to leverage efficiency and value of pharmacy services.
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Conduta do Tratamento Medicamentoso , Assistência Farmacêutica , Farmácia , Melhoria de Qualidade , Humanos , Minnesota , FarmacêuticosRESUMO
The evolution of patient management has led the pharmacist to change gear and get closer to the patient. To better ensure these missions, several educational and support programs have emerged: "Advice", "consultations" and "pharmaceutical interviews", "shared medication report" or "therapeutic patient education", all these programs are intended "guarantee the best conditions for initiation, monitoring and compliance as well as evaluation of treatment", taking into account the wishes and needs of patients. Although these programs have similarities, there are significant differences (i.e. regulatory, functional, organisational, educational). The aim here is to clarify the various support programs in order to better know their fields of application and put them into practice.
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Administração dos Cuidados ao Paciente/organização & administração , Farmacêuticos , Farmácia , Humanos , Educação de Pacientes como Assunto , Encaminhamento e ConsultaRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To conduct a systematic review of cost-utility studies of community-based services provided by pharmacists and to examine their reporting and methodological quality. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed in February 2019 using a replicable search strategy in bibliographic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the NHS Economic Evaluations Database from their inception onwards. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, abstracted data from full-text articles, and assessed reporting and methodological quality using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards and Quality of Health Economic Studies checklists. RESULTS: Twenty studies were included in this review, representing the healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Canada, the United States of America, and Brazil. Descriptions of the context in which the studies were done, justification of data sources on patient and process outcomes, choices of model, and generalizability of study findings were often inadequately reported. Seven studies (35%) were deemed of high methodological quality, 11 studies (55%) of fair quality, and 2 studies (10%) of poor quality. In addition, various methodological issues related to the randomized controlled trials and observational studies used to generate effectiveness estimates were identified. CONCLUSIONS: In view of the lack of standardized definitions of expanded services, heterogeneity in study objectives, settings, comparators, methodology, outcomes, and the variable quality of these studies, the value of these services (in terms of costs) compared with quality-adjusted survival remains inconclusive.