Gregory Duncan

A Virtual Practice Environment to Develop Communication Skills in Pharmacy Students

Objective. To develop communication skills in second-year pharmacy students using a virtual practice environment (VPE) and to assess students’ and tutors’ (instructors’) experiences. Design. A VPE capable of displaying life-sized photographic and video images and representing a pharmacy setting was constructed. Students viewed prescriptions and practiced role-playing with each other and explored the use of nonverbal communication in patient-pharmacist interactions. The VPE experiences were complemented with lectures, reflective journaling, language and learning support, and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs). Assessment. Most students believed the VPE was a useful teaching resource (87%) and agreed that the video component enabled them to contextualize patient problems (73%). While 45% of students questioned the usefulness of watching the role plays between students after they were video recorded, most (90%) identified improvement in their own communication as a result of participating in the tutorials. Most tutors felt comfortable using the technology. Focus group participants found the modified tutorials more engaging and aesthetically positive than in their previous experience. Conclusion. The VPE provided an effective context for communication skills development classes.

Community pharmacists' preferences for continuing education delivery in Australia

Introduction: New technologies such as the Internet offer an increasing number of options for the delivery of continuing education (CE) to community pharmacists. Many of these options are being utilized to overcome access‐ and cost‐related problems. This paper identifies learning preferences of Australian community pharmacists for CE and identifies issues with the integration of these into contemporary models of CE delivery. Methods: Four focus group teleconferences were conducted with practicing community pharmacists (n = 15) using a semistructured format and asking generally about their CE and continuing professional development (CPD) experiences. Results: Pharmacists reported preferences for CE that were very closely aligned to the principles of adult learning. There was a strong preference for interactive and multidisciplinary CE. Engaging in CPD was seen as valuable in promoting reflective learning. Discussion: These results suggest that pharmacists have a strong preference for CE that is based on adult learning principles. Professional organizations should take note of this and ensure that new CE formats do not compromise the ability of pharmacists to engage in interactive, multidisciplinary, and problem‐based CE. Equally, the role of attendance‐based CE in maintaining peer networks should not be overlooked.

Barriers to pharmacist participation in continuing education in Australia

Background: The pharmacy profession recognises of the need for continuing education (CE), however, the rate of participation in organised CE remains low. Little is known about the reasons for low participation rates in CE, particularly in the Australian context. Aim: This research aimed to identify the barriers to participation of Australian pharmacists in CE. Method: Focus groups were held with Australian community pharmacists, grouped into experienced pharmacists, recently qualified pharmacists, pharmacists with specialist-training needs, and pharmacists practising in rural or remote areas. Focus group transcripts were thematically analysed. Results: Barriers identified by pharmacists included time constraints, accessibility – in terms of travel and cost, relevance, motivation, quality and method of CE delivery. Participants provided ideas to improve uptake of CE. Conclusion: The major barriers identified were time, accessibility and relevance of content. To improve uptake of CE a wider variety of flexibly delivered programs supplemented with in-depth workshops could be utilised.

Provider perceptions of pharmacy-initiated tuberculosis referral services in Cambodia, 2005-2010.

SETTING Since 2005, private pharmacies linked to the National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) and the Municipal Health Department in Phnom Penh have referred tuberculosis (TB) symptomatic patients to public sector TB clinics. OBJECTIVE To investigate the attitudes and practices of pharmacy-initiated referral service providers in Phnom Penh from 2005 to 2010. METHODS In a qualitative study, participants were purposively selected from the register of pharmacy owners providing referral services. Discussions were conducted in Khmer by trained facilitators. Participants discussed topics relating to their experiences and participation in the referral programme. RESULTS In January 2011, 54 pharmacy owners participated in six focus group discussions held in Phnom Penh. Interpreted data showed consistency of message across all topics. The emergent themes-altruism, pragmatism and professionalism-underpinned owner commitment to programme goals. Issues associated with patient counselling, fear of infection and quality of care in public sector clinics were of concern to participants. Owners believed ongoing professional support, improved public sector patient care and media campaigns would strengthen their role. CONCLUSION Pharmacy outlets provide further options for NTPs engaging with private sector providers. Recognising private provider needs and aspirations may be an essential component of public/private mix programmes to meet public health goals.

Can professionalism be measured?: evidence from the pharmacy literature

The need to ensure the future pharmacy workforce demonstrates professionalism has become important to both pharmacy educators and professional bodies. Objective To determine the extent to which Schools of Pharmacy have taught or measured student professionalism. Methods Review of the healthcare literature on teaching of professionalism at an undergraduate level Results Two-hundred and thirty one papers were retrieved but only 45 papers related specifically to pharmacy. Of these a further 25 were narrative in nature and did not report any findings. Nineteen papers were reviewed (one was excluded as it reported the same data). Papers could be broadly categorised in to those that have tried to create a tool to measure professionalism, those that are in effect pedagogical evaluations of new initiatives or longitudinal studies on student perceptions toward aspects of professionalism. Conclusion A growing body of literature exists on pharmacy and professionalism. However, to date, very few Schools of Pharmacy appear to formally teach it let alone assess students’ acquisition of professionalism.

A Pilot Study Evaluating Multiple Risk Factor Interventions by Community Pharmacists to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease: The PAART CVD Pilot Project

Background: There is insufficient evidence for the efficacy of comprehensive multiple risk factor interventions by pharmacists in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Given the proven benefits of pharmacist interventions for individual risk factors, ft is essential that evidence for a comprehensive approach to care be generated so that pharmacists remain key members of the health care team for individuals at risk of initial onset of CVD. Objective: To establish the feasibility of an intervention delivered by community pharmacists to reduce the risk of primary onset of CVD. Methods: A single-cohort intervention study was undertaken in 2008–2009. Twelve community pharmacists from 10 pharmacies who were trained to provide lifestyle and medicine management support to reduce CVD risk recruited 70 at-risk participants aged 50-74 years who were free from diabetes or CVD. Participants received a baseline assessment to establish CVD risk and health behaviors. An assessment report provided to patients and pharmacists was used to collaboratively establish treatment goals and, over 5 sessions, implement treatment strategies. Follow-up assessment at 6 months measured changes in baseline parameters. The primary outcome was the average change to overall 5-year risk of CVD onset Results: Sixty-seven participants were included In the analysis. The mean participant age was 60 years and 73% were female. We observed a 25% (95% CI 17 to 33) proportional risk reduction in overall CVD risk. Significant reductions also occurred in mean blood pressure (–11/–5 mm Hg) and waist circumference (-1.3 cm), with trends toward improvement for most other observed risk factors. Conclusions: Findings support previous evidence of positive cardiovascular health outcomes following pharmacist intervention in other patient groups; we recommend generating randomized controlled trial evidence for a primary prevention population.

What makes continuing education effective : perspectives of community pharmacists

Objective To explore how different aspects of the professional environment for Australian community pharmacists are perceived to be influencing the effectiveness of continuing education models in improving practice.

Pharmacy professionalism and the digital age

Objectives  To explore how the use of digital media could affect how people view professional behaviour.

Stakeholder Perceptions of a Pharmacy-Initiated Tuberculosis Referral Program in Cambodia, 2005-2012

Intensifying detection of tuberculosis (TB) symptomatic patients is a priority for Cambodia’s National Tuberculosis Program, in a country where two-thirds of the population has latent TB infection. In 2005, the National Tuberculosis Program initiated a public-private mix (PPM) collaborative program with external and local stakeholders to identify and refer persons with TB symptoms from private sector pharmacies to public sector clinics for diagnosis and treatment. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with organizational stakeholders to assess their perceptions of PPM program collaboration and its sustainability in the long term. Results showed that stakeholders perceived that collaboration and efficient management had contributed to positive program performance. However, stakeholders expressed anxiety over program sustainability should external resources be reduced. Recent developments in pharmacy undergraduate education and recognition of pharmacy providers’ contribution to public health interventions may challenge PPM stakeholders to shift the paradigm from dependence on external agencies to confidence in local expertise and infrastructure.

Educating students about dementia with virtual-learning experiences

Healthcare professional students may have had limited prior exposure to people with dementia. Professional education should provide opportunities for that exposure in safe and controlled environments. Exposure as part of experiential learning may also help contextualize taught concepts like patient-