SMART Pharmacists Serving the New Needs of the Post-COVID Patients, Leaving No-One Behind.

This study aims to demonstrate the improvements in clinical symptoms in patients with post-COVID syndrome after a community pharmacy-based intervention in Serbia. The Pharmaceutical Chamber of Serbia ("Chamber") invited pharmacists to deliver post-COVID patient care counselling, supported by the SMART Pharmacist Program, offering education and guidance. Present symptoms, duration and patient self-reported severity of symptoms on a scale of 1-5 on the first visit were recorded. After the counselling and proposed self-medication treatment, the time of the follow-up visit and the severity of the recorded symptoms were also recorded. The prospective data collection lasted from December 2021 to September 2022. In total, 871 patients with post-COVID symptoms were included in the study, served by 53 pharmacists. The most frequently reported post-COVID symptoms coincided with the literature, mostly related to the respiratory system (51.2%), immunity status (32.2%), fatigue and exhaustion (30.7%), skin, hair and nails (27.4%) and cognitive functions (27.9%). A total of 26.5% of patients were referred to their family physician (general practitioner), and 69.5% returned to the pharmacist for a follow-up visit. On the first visit, the median severity of patients' symptoms was three, while on the second visit it dropped to one. The pharmacists' intervention led to a significant improvement in the post-COVID patients' condition.

Learn Today-Apply Tomorrow: The SMART Pharmacist Program.

The SMART Pharmacist Program was initiated by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and Pharma Expert in 2014. It was designed to introduce a new continuing education model for pharmacists for the Turkish Pharmacists' Association, and to support development of competencies for future practice. After successful implementation in Turkey, the Program spread to 16 additional countries. To assure quality, globally adopted and validated tools and best practices were used, respecting the national context. National competency frameworks and quality indicators for pharmaceutical care delivery were developed. Pharmacists' learning portfolios were introduced and patient care modules created. Under the sub-title "Learn Today-Apply Tomorrow," the changes in practice were introduced under the leadership of national host organizations. The Program showed an impact on the patient level in several countries, especially in areas of patient care in Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Hypertension and Dyslipidemia, Diabetes, and the patient care process in general (e.g., identifying drug-related problems, improving patient safety, collaborating with medical doctors). Changes are visible at the individual (pharmacists) and organizational levels. Barriers and facilitators to the change-management process during Program implementation are identified. In some countries, the Program is recognized as one of the most important initiatives in pharmacy education and practice, with visible support of national medicines agencies, academia, government, and WHO regional offices.

The Development of an Accreditation Framework for Continuing Education Activities for Pharmacists.

Accreditation is the recognition that an educational activity meets certain standards. The processes for accreditation vary considerably depending on the type of activity, and currently there are differing accreditation systems in place for pharmacy continuing education (CE) across different countries. Research was carried out on a selection of these systems with the aim of developing a catalogue of accreditation approaches, and exploring the possibility of developing a common framework for the accreditation of pharmacy CE activities. Accreditation processes from the countries represented by the Global Forum on Quality Assurance of Continuing Education and Continuing Professional Development (GFQACE) were reviewed to explore the themes and patterns in them. This informed the development of a proposed accreditation framework for CE activities for pharmacists. A Delphi method over four rounds involving seven participants from each GFQACE organisation was used as a consensus building technique. Agreement was achieved on including 15 items in the framework within four stages (Input, Process, Output, and Quality Improvement). The GFQACE steering group indicated their intention to use the resultant framework as the basis for the exploration of mutual recognition of accreditation between member countries.

Advancing learning to advance pharmacy practice.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this commentary are to: 1) describe advancements in the continuing professional development (CPD) model over the past decade; 2) detail an updated CPD cycle; and 3) describe how practitioners' adoption of the CPD approach may facilitate the advancement of pharmacy practice. SUMMARY: CPD is a self-directed, ongoing, systematic, and outcomes-focused approach to an individual's lifelong learning that is applied into practice. The 6 components of reflect, plan, learn, evaluate, apply, and record + review, described in a revised depiction of the CPD cycle, have evolved over the past 10 years alongside the evolution of the profession of pharmacy. The thinking around the value of building CPD habits has also advanced. New emphasis is being placed on mechanisms for applying and sharing CPD-related work, as well as the importance of employer support of CPD. CONCLUSION: As practice change has progressed, the individual's need to learn has also changed. To succeed in the evolving health care system, regular, robust, and intentional CPD is needed. Moreover, for learning to have maximum impact, it must facilitate, motivate and result in changes in learner behavior. Employers, educators, and pharmacy organizations should facilitate lifelong learning by creating CPD supportive environments that foster learner success and community. The adoption of a CPD approach by pharmacy practitioners may facilitate the advancement of pharmacy practice.

A conceptual framework toward identifying and analyzing challenges to the advancement of pharmacy.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacists and health care professionals are faced with increasing and changing health care needs around the world. To meet these demands, they are required to continuously upgrade and develop their professions. Reprofessionalization is therefore crucial to the successful delivery of health services, but traditional theories might provide little practical guidance to evaluating the overall status of a profession. OBJECTIVE: This study proposes a new conceptual framework of three interrelated professional sectors: education, regulation and practice, and uses it to identify and analyze challenges facing the pharmacy profession in Jordan. METHODS: A multiple-method qualitative study comprised of semi-structured interviews and focus groups was conducted in Amman, Jordan. To explore and identify the challenges, a purposively recruited cross-sector sample of 53 key informants, stakeholders and pharmacists were interviewed. Interview transcripts were translated and analyzed using QSR NVivo 10. Thematic analysis identified eight main challenges facing pharmacy in Jordan. The original participants were then invited to participate in focus groups, the purpose of which was to validate the interview findings, map them against the conceptual framework and discuss recommendations for development. RESULTS: The eight validated challenges span the following areas: graduates preparedness for practice, pharmacy education accreditation and quality assurance, pre-registration requirements, workforce development, workforce planning, remuneration and wage rate, pharmacy assistants, and Pharm.D. pharmacists. Focus group participants used the framework to map each of the challenges to the primary sector-to-sector disconnect that they perceived to explain it. A list of recommendations addressing each of the challenges was also devised. CONCLUSIONS: The framework was found to offer valuable insight as an explanatory and diagnostic tool in policy-relevant research. By emphasizing the processual and contextual nature of reprofessionalization, the framework presents an alternative approach to traditional theories. This study also raises important questions regarding the status of pharmacy in Jordan and aims to provide guidance for local development and much-needed reprofessionalization drives.

A Shared Focus: Comparing the Australian, Canadian, United Kingdom and United States Pharmacy Learning Outcome Frameworks and the Global Competency Framework.

This paper presents an analysis of the end of degree expectations, expressed as learning outcomes, for pharmacy graduates from Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. The authors compare the end of degree expectations, through mapping these requirements to the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Global Competency Framework (GbCF). The anticipated end of degree expectations are similar but also reveal some individual characteristics. Irrespective of degree title, achievement of learning outcomes specified in any one of the four jurisdictions should enable students to become pharmacists who are patient-orientated medicines experts. The mapping provides impetus for cross-border institutional networking to generate a dependable set of assessment tools across national borders developing a common metric for outcome assessment irrespective of different program delivery.

Quality assurance in European pharmacy education and training / Aseguramiento de la calidad en la educación y formación en farmacia en Europa

A survey of quality assurance (QA) systems in European faculties of pharmacy was carried out under the auspices of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy PHARMINE consortium. A questionnaire based on the quality criteria of the International Pharmaceutical Federation and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (USA) was sent out to European faculties. Replies were obtained from 28 countries. Just above half has a working QA system. QA scores were high concerning matters such as complete curriculum and training, use of European Credit Transfer System, students’ representation and promotion of professional behavior. QA scores were low concerning matters such as evaluation of achievement of mission and goals, and financial resources. The PHARMINE consortium now has a basis upon which to elaborate and promote QA in European pharmacy faculties (AU)

Se realizó bajo los auspicios del consorcio PHARMINE de la Asociación Europea de Facultades de Farmacia una encuesta sobre los sistemas de aseguramiento de la calidad (QA) en las facultades de farmacia europeas. Se envió a las facultades europeas un cuestionario basado en los criterios de calidad de la Federación Internacional de Farmacia y el Consejo de Acreditación para la Educación en Farmacia (USA). Se obtuvieron respuestas de 28 países. Ligeramente más de la mitad tiene un sistema en funcionamiento de QA. Las puntuaciones de QA fueron altas en asuntos como currículo y formación completo, uso del Sistema Europeo de Transferencia de Créditos, representación de los estudiantes y promoción de la actuación profesional. Las puntuaciones de QA fueron bajas en asuntos como la evaluación de la consecución de misión y metas y recursos financieros. El consorcio PHARMINE tiene ahora una base sobre la que elaborar y promover la QA en las facultades de farmacia europeas (AU)