Factors influencing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists' membership in professional organisations: an international survey.

BACKGROUND: Professional organisations exist as international or national organisations, with each country establishing at least one national professional association. There remains a knowledge gap about factors that influence professional organisational involvement of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. This study aims to explore the motivators and barriers of pharmacy professionals holding organisation membership from a global perspective. METHODS: An online questionnaire was developed and disseminated between May and July 2021. The survey was open to all pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. The survey consisted of four sections; demographic information, questions about professional organisations, about the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and its impact on the members. Data were analysed descriptively. RESULTS: A total of 1033 complete survey responses were received and included in the analysis. Of all respondents, 761 (73.7%) respondents were current members of a professional organisation and 272 (26.3%) were not members of any professional organisation. Overall, findings demonstrated networking, education, training and professional development opportunities as the main interests and anticipated activities, while the lack of clarity or need to join organisation, time, and financial constraints as the main barriers of pharmacy professionals holding membership. The majority of FIP members are satisfied with current FIP activities, and anticipate further networking opportunities, educational resources and grants made available to members. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the perceptions and needs, as well as factors that influence engagement of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists is the key to enhancing membership. Professional organisations are highly encouraged to strengthen and target activities according to the identified motivators and barriers.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Malay Satisfaction Questionnaire for Osteoporosis Prevention in Malaysia.

PURPOSE: The English Satisfaction Questionnaire for Osteoporosis Prevention (SQOP) is validated in Malaysia. However, Malay is the national language of Malaysia spoken by the majority of Malaysians. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt and validate the Malay Satisfaction Questionnaire for Osteoporosis Prevention (SQOP-M) in Malaysia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was carried out from March to October 2018 at a tertiary hospital in Kuala Lumpur. The SQOP was translated from English to Malay according to international guidelines. Malay-speaking postmenopausal women ≥50 years were recruited and randomized into control and intervention groups. The intervention group received an osteoporosis prevention information booklet and a 15-minute pharmacist counselling session. All patients were asked to answer the SQOP-M questionnaire at baseline and two weeks later. The control group received the intervention after the study was completed. RESULTS: Overall, 230/348 patients were recruited (C=115, I=115, response rate=66.1%). Exploratory factor analysis extracted four domains. Cronbach's α ranged from 0.230 to 0.938. Kappa measurement of agreement values ranged from 0.124 to 0.627, where 10/23 (43.5%) items were in moderate to substantial agreement. Wilcoxon signed rank test values were statistically significant (p<0.005) for 4/23 items. Item 17 was an optional question and excluded from analysis. Total satisfaction score was significantly higher for intervention group patients [76.9 (47.6-53.9) vs 50.4 (47.6-53.9), p<0.001] indicating higher satisfaction compared to control group. CONCLUSION: The SQOP-M was found to be valid and reliable in assessing patient satisfaction of osteoporosis screening and prevention services provided to Malay-speaking patients in Malaysia.

Using Simulation to Teach Methods for Improving Patient Literacy about Medicines.

Pharmacists have a role in educating patients on the self-management of their medications, using accurate medicines lists. Thus, pharmacy students need to be adequately trained and assessed in health-literacy skills to be competent for future patient-education consultations using medicines lists. Performance-based assessments using patient simulation are often utilized to examine students' competence in clinical knowledge and communication skills. Due to COVID-19, education systems changed to remote online delivery utilizing video conferencing platforms (i.e., ZoomTM), which proved challenging for performance-based assessments. These challenges include difficulty in observing non-verbal cues over ZoomTM and not having adequate internet access. Adaptations to reduce reliance on internet access were made where students submitted a video-recording task wherein they educated a simulated patient on a medicines list, under lockdown restrictions during the pandemic. A total of 304 submissions were received where students performed the role-play with a simulated patient, such as their family members, housemates or peers either at home in person or via ZoomTM. Although it was not an original goal of the task, the collaborative effort between pharmacy instructors, students and the public helped increase awareness of medicines lists through this task.