Driving factors of community pharmacist weight management service: A structural equation modeling.

BACKGROUND: Even though the effectiveness of community pharmacists in helping customers to reduce weight has been evident, few pharmacists provided weight management services (WMS). To drive community pharmacist WMS provision, factors affecting their intention and WMS provision were important to be investigated. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to explore relationships among pharmacist authority, perceived customer obstruction, WMS performance support, obstacles, and facilitators with intention to provide WMS and WMS rovision using structural equation modeling (WMS. METHOD: Self-administered questionnaires were utilized to collect data from 302 Thai community pharmacists from December 2022 to March 2023. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore the influencing factors on pharmacist WMS intention and WMS provision. RESULTS: Pharmacist authority (r = 0.35), WMS performance support (r = 0.24), and facilitators (r = 0.22) were significantly correlated with community pharmacist WMS provision. Pharmacist authority (r = 0.50), facilitators (r = 0.46), and WMS performance support (r = 0.42) were significantly correlated with community pharmacist intention to provide WMS e structural equation model (SEM), pharmacist authority (ß = 0.34) and intention (ß = 0.16) significantly influenced WMS provision (R2 = 0.20). Authority (ß = 0.49) and WMS performance support (ß = 0.28) significantly influenced pharmacist intention to WMS (R2 = 0.42). The model from empirical data indicated a good fit with the hypothetical model (p-value = 0.000, Comparatively Fit Index = 0.9, and Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.878). CONCLUSION: Pharmacist authority had direct effects with both their intention to provide WMS and WMS provision. WMS performance support had a direct effect on intention to provide WMS and an indirect effect on WMS provision. Facilitators also had significant correlations with intention to provide WMS and WMS provision.

Factors contributing to pharmacists’ intention to provide weight management service in community pharmacy settings: A systematic review

Background: Obesity is one of the health problems which could cause health impacts, as well as economic and social impacts. Community pharmacists are accessible primary health care providers who can play a role in counselling on diet and exercise to control weight and correcting medication misuse for weight control. Literature has shown the effectiveness of weight management services (WMS) provided by community pharmacists, but the percentages of this service provision were low. Objective: To systematically review contributing factors for community pharmacists’ intention to provide weight management services. Results: The systematic review included 3,884 participants from 24 studies. There were four major dimensions of weight management service in community pharmacies: 1) patient recruitment, 2) problem identification and referral, 3) counselling, and 4) monitoring. Pharmacists indicated difficulty in starting a conversation about weight with patients. Most pharmacists performed diet and weight-loss product counselling, but few pharmacists monitored patients’ progress and adherence to WMS because of the follow-up difficulty. They recommended the use of mobile applications and social media to facilitate monitoring. Pharmacists viewed that those weight-loss products needed to be better regulated. Therefore, it should be pharmacists’ responsibility to correct the irrational use of these products. Pharmacists’ authority, inadequate pharmacist staff, lack of patient awareness, patients’ demand, and private counselling areas were the barriers to weight management service. Knowledge and training, accreditation, time for pharmacists to study, reimbursement, multidisciplinary collaboration, and health resource support could motivate pharmacists to provide WMS. To start WMS, pharmacists reported the need for knowledge about diet, lifestyle modification, weight-loss products, and improving patient engagement in weight management programs. (AU)

A systematic review of community pharmacist practices in complementary medicine

Background: The people who use complementary medicines (CMs) believe that these medicines are safe and harmless. They could easily access CMs like herbal or traditional medicines in community pharmacies. Therefore, community pharmacists are important professionals in advising the safe choices of CMs and providing evidence-based information for customers to decrease adverse effects of CMs. Objectives: To systematically review knowledge, attitude, and practices of community pharmacists about CMs, and the factors associated with CM practices of dispensing, recommending and counseling patients, and answering the patients’ queries. Method: An electronic search was performed with four databases: PubMed, Scopus, SpringerLink and ScienceDirect, from 1990 to 19th May 2022. The inclusion criteria were studies 1) about knowledge, attitude, and/or practices of community pharmacists about CMs, 2) written in English, 3) conducted with quantitative methods, and 4) able to retrieve full text. (AU)

A systematic review on pharmacists' turnover and turnover intention.

BACKGROUND: Turnover is an important issue in all healthcare professions including pharmacy practice settings. A high turnover rate of pharmacists, not only has negative financial impact, but also reduces quality of care and patient safety. The high turnover also increases workload and job stress which can increase job errors and decrease job efficiency and performance in pharmacy practices. OBJECTIVES: To systematically review the extent of pharmacists' turnover and their intention to leave their jobs or the pharmacy profession. METHODS: An electronic search was performed from database inception to December 19, 2020 using the following 6 databases; PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, ERIC, and ERIC-EBSCO. Articles were included if they were relevant to reports of pharmacist turnover or turnover intention. Only research studies were included, but not editorials, letters, or review articles. RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies were contained within this systematic review. Using the QualSyst assessment tool to assess the included article qualities, all studies demonstrated good quality with quality assessment score of 0.75. Fifteen studies (53.6%) were conducted from the US, 3 studies (10.7%) from Taiwan, 2 studies (7.1%) from the UK, and the remaining studies from Lithuania, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Jamaica. The turnover of the pharmacists from their jobs ranged from 8.6 to 17%, and the turnover from the pharmacy profession was in the range of 6-9%. The turnover intention of the pharmacists in their jobs was from 13% to 61.2%, and the turnover intention in the pharmacy profession was 6.5%-18.8%. Hospital pharmacists had significantly higher turnover intentions than community ones. The turnover intention rates of both hospital and community pharmacists have gradually increased over time in both European countries and Asian countries. CONCLUSION: Based on the included articles, pharmacists' turnover rate appeared to increase over time. However, based on the heterogeneity of studies, further research is warranted to confirm this and to help to identify the potential causes of turnover intention since intention was related to behavior.

A systematic review of community pharmacist practices in complementary medicine.

Background: The people who use complementary medicines (CMs) believe that these medicines are safe and harmless. They could easily access CMs like herbal or traditional medicines in community pharmacies. Therefore, community pharmacists are important professionals in advising the safe choices of CMs and providing evidence-based information for customers to decrease adverse effects of CMs. Objectives: To systematically review knowledge, attitude, and practices of community pharmacists about CMs, and the factors associated with CM practices of dispensing, recommending and counseling patients, and answering the patients' queries. Method: An electronic search was performed with four databases: PubMed, Scopus, SpringerLink and ScienceDirect, from 1990 to 19th May 2022. The inclusion criteria were studies 1) about knowledge, attitude, and/or practices of community pharmacists about CMs, 2) written in English, 3) conducted with quantitative methods, and 4) able to retrieve full text. Results: Twenty-three studies were included in this systematic review. Some studies showed that less than half of the pharmacists asked or counselled about CMs to their patients and answered the patients' queries about CMs. Only 20% of the pharmacists did report CM side-effects. Training or education about CMs was a common factor associated with the CM practice of dispensing, recommending, counseling, and answering the patients' queries about CMs. CMs recommended most by community pharmacists were vitamins & minerals, food or dietary supplements, fish oil and probiotics. The most common dispensed CMs were vitamins & minerals, herbs, food or dietary supplements, fish oil and essential oils. Lacks of reliable information sources and scientific evidence were common barriers for the CM practices. Being less expensive than conventional medicines motivated the pharmacists to recommend and discuss about CMs. The community pharmacists that participated in included studies suggested strengthening CM trainings and highlight the pharmacist role in CM therapy. Conclusion: A high percentage of community pharmacists did dispense CMs to their patients, while a low percentage of the pharmacists did report CM side effects. Pharmacists were most comfortable recommending and responding the patients' CM queries. Training or education about CMs associated with CM dispensing, recommending, discussing, and answering the patients' queries about CMs was recommended.

What drives pharmacists’ turnover intention: A systematic review

Background: Pharmacist turnover can negatively impact not only on work efficiency, organizational performance, work productivity and customer satisfaction, but also on the quality of pharmaceutical services and patient safety. Turnover intention is a core antecedent of turnover. Turnover intention of the pharmacists is affected by many factors related to their organization or job. Objective: To elaborate the factors affecting the pharmacists’ turnover intention and their associations. Studies related to any factors affecting pharmacists’ turnover intention in all pharmacy settings were included. The QualSyst assessment tool was used for assessing the quality of the included studies. Result: For this systematic review, 3,822 studies were identified. Of these studies, 20 studies were included. Thirty factors were explored and a model for pharmacists’ turnover intention was produced. Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, career commitment, job stress, perceived organizational support, and work climate were frequently found as drivers to pharmacist turnover intention. Some of 24 other factors had both direct and indirect effects on pharmacist turnover intention via organizational commitment, job satisfaction, career commitment, job stress, and perceived organizational support. Many studies have reported that organizational commitment and job satisfaction had significant influence on pharmacist turnover intention in all settings. Job stress and work climate had direct and indirect effects on turnover intention of hospital pharmacists. Career commitment and perceived organizational support had direct and indirect effects on community pharmacist turnover intention (AU)

What drives pharmacists' turnover intention: A systematic review.

Background: Pharmacist turnover can negatively impact not only on work efficiency, organizational performance, work productivity and customer satisfaction, but also on the quality of pharmaceutical services and patient safety. Turnover intention is a core antecedent of turnover. Turnover intention of the pharmacists is affected by many factors related to their organization or job. Objective: To elaborate the factors affecting the pharmacists' turnover intention and their associations. Studies related to any factors affecting pharmacists' turnover intention in all pharmacy settings were included. The QualSyst assessment tool was used for assessing the quality of the included studies. Result: For this systematic review, 3,822 studies were identified. Of these studies,20 studies were included. Thirty factors were explored and a model for pharmacists' turnover intention was produced. Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, career commitment, job stress, perceived organizational support, and work climate were frequently found as drivers to pharmacist turnover intention. Some of 24 other factors had both direct and indirect effects on pharmacist turnover intention via organizational commitment, job satisfaction, career commitment, job stress, and perceived organizational support. Many studies have reported that organizational commitment and job satisfaction had significant influence on pharmacist turnover intention in all settings. Job stress and work climate had direct and indirect effects on turnover intention of hospital pharmacists. Career commitment and perceived organizational support had direct and indirect effects on community pharmacist turnover intention. Conclusion: The factors driving the turnover intention of the pharmacists in different pharmacy practices were different. It indicated that the further interventions should be different to improve the pharmacists' retention in each pharmacy practice setting. Our systematic review is beneficial to guide human resource management in pharmacy and useful for guiding the conceptual framework of future research studies.

Alcohol use disorder and alcohol withdrawal syndrome in Vietnamese hospitalized patients.

AIMS: To identify the extent to which patients admitted to a general hospital in Vietnam meet the criteria for risky alcohol drinking, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS), describe problems and behavior of alcohol use such as types and quantity of alcohol drinking in a hospitalized population in Vietnam, and investigate the association among age, disease-related factors, and alcohol consumption with AWS. METHODS: This study was conducted prospectively in 1340 patients admitted to a general hospital. All patients were screened for risky alcohol drinking. Risky alcohol drinkers were assessed by using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) to identify AUD patients. The diagnosis of AWS was based on criteria defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, version 5. The AWS scale was used to quantitate AWS severity level. RESULTS: Prevalence of risky alcohol drinkers, AUD patients, and AWS patients among hospitalized patients was 15.5%, 13.1%, and 7.3%, respectively. All of the AUD and AWS patients were male. The majority of risky alcohol drinkers, patients with AUD, and patients with AWS were 40-60-year-old men. Almost all patients (98.3%) drank homemade alcohol. Hospitalized patients were more likely to develop AWS if they had liver disease or past experience with AWS. CONCLUSIONS: AUD and AWS are common in hospitalized patients. Formulating a protocol to identify and care for patients with alcohol-related disorders is urgent.

Factors affecting pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in community pharmacy: A structural equation modeling approach.

BACKGROUND: The concept of customer engagement and devotion has been applied in various service businesses to keep the customers with business However, a limited number of studies were performed to examine the context of customer engagement and devotion in pharmacy business which focus on the impact of customer perceptions about pharmacists, perceived quality of pharmacy structure, medication price strategy on pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in a pharmacy providing pharmaceutical care to the customers. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess a conceptual model depicting the relationships among customer perceptions about pharmacists, pharmacy quality structure, medication price, customer engagement, and customer devotion. And also aimed to assess and measure if there is a direct or indirect relationship between these factors. METHODS: A quantitative study was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred and fifty three customers who regularly visited the pharmacy were randomly recruited from a purposively selected 30 community pharmacies in Bangkok. The survey was completed during February to April 2016. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to assess the direct and indirect relationships between constructs. RESULTS: A total of 253/300 questionnaires were returned for analysis, and the response rate was 84%. Only perceptions about pharmacist in customers receiving professional pharmacy services was statically significant regarding relationship with pharmacy engagement (beta=0.45). Concurrently, the model from empirical data fit with the hypothetical model (p-value = 0.06, adjusted chi-square (CMIN/DF)=1.16, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI)=0.93, Comparatively Fit Index (CFI)=0.99, and Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA)=0.03). CONCLUSION: The study confirmed the indirect positive influence of customer perceptions about pharmacist on pharmacy customer devotion in providing pharmacy services via pharmacy engagement It was customer perceptions about pharmacist that influenced customer retention, positive word of mouth and constructive advice to pharmacies, not quality of pharmacy structure and medication price. To create a long term impact on community pharmacy business, pharmacist is the key success factor.

Factors affecting pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in community pharmacy: a structural equation modeling approach

Background: The concept of customer engagement and devotion has been applied in various service businesses to keep the customers with business However, a limited number of studies were performed to examine the context of customer engagement and devotion in pharmacy business which focus on the impact of customer perceptions about pharmacists, perceived quality of pharmacy structure, medication price strategy on pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in a pharmacy providing pharmaceutical care to the customers. Objective: This study aimed to assess a conceptual model depicting the relationships among customer perceptions about pharmacists, pharmacy quality structure, medication price, customer engagement, and customer devotion. And also aimed to assess and measure if there is a direct or indirect relationship between these factors. Methods: A quantitative study was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred and fifty three customers who regularly visited the pharmacy were randomly recruited from a purposively selected 30 community pharmacies in Bangkok. The survey was completed during February to April 2016. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to assess the direct and indirect relationships between constructs. Results: A total of 253/300 questionnaires were returned for analysis, and the response rate was 84%. Only perceptions about pharmacist in customers receiving professional pharmacy services was statically significant regarding relationship with pharmacy engagement (beta=0.45). Concurrently, the model from empirical data fit with the hypothetical model (p-value = 0.06, adjusted chi-square (CMIN/DF)=1.16, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI)=0.93, Comparatively Fit Index (CFI)=0.99, and Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA)=0.03). Conclusion: The study confirmed the indirect positive influence of customer perceptions about pharmacist on pharmacy customer devotion in providing pharmacy services via pharmacy engagement It was customer perceptions about pharmacist that influenced customer retention, positive word of mouth and constructive advice to pharmacies, not quality of pharmacy structure and medication price. To create a long term impact on community pharmacy business, pharmacist is the key success factor (AU)

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Development of diabetes telephone-linked care system for self-management support and acceptability test among type 2 diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE: Develop the diabetes telephone-linked care system for self-management support and test acceptability in terms of system uses, satisfaction and perception of easiness, helpfulness, and emotion with the system. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The automated telephone system with diabetes knowledge interactive voice response (IVR) subsystem was developed to provide diversified curriculum arrangement including general knowledge module (Knowledge IVR, suggestive segment module (Suggestive IVR) and 10 QA sets for assessment with tailored information feedback (QA IVR). The system could deliver 1,120 messages over five weeks among 112 intervened participants of the on-going randomized controlled trial on its impact on glycemic control. The system analyzed the level of completed responses. RESULTS: Overall, 25.9% of the responses were intermittent, 46.4% had consistent adherences, 14.3% were poor responses, and 13.4% were non-responses. The total time use of the system, among 97/112 participants, was 6,189 minutes (mean 63.80, SD 26 63). The degree of call completeness did not vary according to the participant's socio-economic status, glycemic level, or years of diabetes diagnosis. The satisfaction of participants to the program was done by interviewed by telephone among 95 of 112 participants. Most study participants reported that they were very/moderately satisfied with the program (89.5%) regarding its usefulness and helpfulness on awareness, understanding and reminding behavior change attempts. In all, 95.8% of the responders planned to participate in the next program. Duration of time uses of the TLC was significantly correlated to the total scores of helpfulness and of emotion (p < 0.01; r = 0.38 and 0.31 respectively). CONCLUSION: This prototype of diabetes telephone-linked care for Thai diabetes is a step forward in response to diabetes self-management education need. Further studies are needed about its efficacies on diabetes self-management improvement and glycemic control, as well as its cost-effectiveness.