Pilot Evaluation of Generation Rx Ambassadors Virtual Training to Prepare Students for Medication Safety Outreach.

Objective. To describe the creation of a virtual training program (Generation Rx Ambassadors) and evaluate a pilot offering's impact on knowledge and perceived abilities in delivering medication safety outreach through the Generation Rx program.Methods. Generation Rx (GenRx) is a prevention education program used by student pharmacists to teach safe medication practices in the community. An asynchronous virtual course, called Generation Rx Ambassadors (Ambassadors), was developed to train facilitators on best practices for GenRx delivery. The training was piloted in a mixed student cohort and evaluated using a preprogram/postprogram survey assessing participants' objective knowledge gains and self-perceived abilities to appropriately deliver GenRx education.Results. Fifty-two health sciences undergraduate and graduate students as well as Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students completed the pilot offering of Ambassadors. Regardless of degree status or discipline, participants demonstrated significant knowledge gains for all outcomes except defining medication misuse behaviors (for which there was initial strong mastery). Prior to Ambassadors training, many participants indicated a perceived ability to effectively deliver GenRx education; however, corresponding objective knowledge assessment did not support this belief. Training through the Ambassadors program appropriately aligned participants' perceived abilities with actual content knowledge for most program learning outcomes.Conclusion. These pilot findings suggest that Ambassadors is an effective training tool on best practices for GenRx delivery. More generally, this work reiterates a need to formally train student pharmacists ahead of community outreach activities, particularly in the prevention education arena. Future evaluation will focus on replicating this study with an expanded cohort size and assessing participants' ability to deliver GenRx education in community-based settings.

Extracellular dopamine kinetic parameters consistent with amphetamine effects.

Published behavioral experiments document that amphetamine-induced increases in locomotor activity are preserved or enhanced in animals with major depletions of stored dopamine but intact dopamine synthesis. Conversely, amphetamine effects are substantially attenuated after inhibition of dopamine synthesis when most of the dopamine stores are preserved. Such data suggest that amphetamine mobilizes newly synthesized dopamine into extracellular signaling space. The first goal of this project is to determine kinetic parameters of dopamine secretion into and removal from extracellular space compatible with the majority of amphetamine-elicited increases in extracellular dopamine deriving from newly synthesized dopamine. The strategy uses a computational model of extracellular space surrounding a single dopamine varicosity. Model output was compared to published micro-dialysis data for effects of amphetamine on levels of extracellular dopamine. A family of solutions was found, characterized by a biphasic dose-response relationship for rate of dopamine release. Maximum rates of dopamine release occurred at doses of 0.5-1.0 mg/kg amphetamine. The second goal is to develop a hypothesis by which newly synthesized dopamine gains access to extracellular space. The model chosen involves amphetamine-induced shunting of DOPAC secretion to dopamine secretion into extracellular space. The quality of the hypothesis was evaluated by goodness of match of model output to published data for amphetamine alone and after inhibition of dopamine synthesis or storage. In summary, the results provide conditions required for and a potential mechanism for newly synthesized dopamine to be a major fraction of amphetamine-elicited increases in extracellular dopamine.