Helena Herrera

Foundation Degree Learning: An Educational Journey of Personal Development.

The foundation degree is an intermediate-level qualification designed to widen participation in higher education while providing work-related skills and knowledge. It has a vocational focus and a pedagogic approach that integrates academic and work-based learning. Research into opportunities and the process of learning within foundation degrees is limited, particularly that which looks in depth at personal development occurring within these courses. This study contributes to the literature in this area, reporting on the results of a case study of the foundation degree in medicines management (University of Portsmouth). A key finding of this work was that knowledge was gained within a community of practice, and led to students’ development as individuals. Motivation, learning to learn and guidance and feedback, alongside peer learning within the course, were central aspects of this process. The learning and personal development taking place resulted in increased awareness, confidence and empowerment in students, which was reported to influence their work and personal lives. However, the development of specialist work-related skills and knowledge was found to be limited, questioning the fitness for purpose of the course researched. While key aspects of the subject investigated have been described in this work, further research is needed to understand this complex phenomenon.

A case study of the recognition of the Foundation Degree qualification for pharmacy technicians

The Foundation Degree (FD) is a work-related, intermediate-level higher education qualification. Issues around its recognition can affect success in attracting students where the literature suggests that uptake should be adequate. This research represented a case study which explored for the first time, whether the above applied to the FD for pharmacy technicians. One-to-one and group interviews with stakeholders involved with the FD in Medicines Management (University of Portsmouth) were used for this purpose. Key findings were that the qualification was considered fit for purpose, although of limited value due to basic skills being provided by other training courses. This had a negative effect on the recognition of the FD. As a consequence, dissemination of information about the programme was impaired and a lack of awareness about it existed. Further research is needed to fully describe this situation, particularly around the benefits of this form of education.

Important design features of personal health records to improve medication adherence for patients with long-term conditions: protocol for a systematic literature review

Background The National Health Service (NHS) England spent £15.5 billion on medication in 2015. More than a third of patients affected by at least one long-term condition do not adhere to their drug regime. Many interventions have been trialed to improve medication adherence. One promising innovation is the electronic personal health record. Objective This systematic literature review aims to identify the important design features of personal health records to improve medication adherence for patients with long-term conditions. Methods This protocol follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocol (PRISMA-P 2015) statement. The following databases will be searched for relevant articles: PubMed, Science Direct, BioMed Central, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Studies published in the last fifteen years, in English, will be included if the participants are adults who were treated outside the hospital, have the ability to self-administer their medication, and have at least one long-term condition. The review will exclude commercial or political sources and papers without references. Papers that research pediatrics, pregnant, or terminally ill patients will also be excluded, since their medication management is typically more complex. Results One reviewer will screen the included studies, extract the relevant data, and assess the quality of evidence utilizing the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system and the risk of bias using the Cochrane RevMan tool. The second reviewer will assess the quality of 25% of the included studies to assess interrater agreement. Any disagreement will be solved by a third reviewer. Only studies of high and moderate quality will be included for narrative synthesis. Conclusions NHS policy assumes that increasing usage of personal health records by citizens will reduce demand on health care services. There is limited evidence, however, that the use of health apps can improve patient outcomes, and, to our knowledge, this is the first systematic literature review aiming to identify important design features of the personal health record which may improve medication adherence in the adult population with long-term conditions. Trial Registration PROSPERO CRD42017060542; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=60542 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6zeuWXxVh) Registered Report Identifier RR1-10.2196/9778

Prevalence and nature of prescribing errors in a mental health setting: initial analysis of a prospective study

not available: SESSION 1: GS MIXTE RESPIRATION Bitter taste receptors in the lung: a new pharmacological target? S Grassin-Delyle UPRES EA220, Hôpital Foch, Universit e Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, Saint Quentin en Yvelines Bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) are known for long for their role in taste as sensors of the presence of toxic compounds in foods, but their unexpected expression in airways epithelium and smooth muscle cells or in peripheral blood leucocytes has been recently documented. This family of GPCRs includes about 25 members in humans and each subtype has a variable selectivity towards bitter compounds, some of them being restrictedly selective to a unique molecule and others responding to a wider range. More than a hundred molecules such as chloroquine, caffeine, strychnine, colchicine or erythromycin have thus been described as TAS2R agonists while TAS2R19, 41, 42, 45 and 60 are considered as orphans since no agonist has been identified. In the airways, the initial observation by Desphandes et al. (2010) described the relaxation of pre-contracted mouse trachea following exposure to chloroquine, denatonium, quinine or saccharine, which was suggested to be even more pronounced that the relaxation obtained with the reference relaxing agents b2 adrenoreceptor agonists. Interestingly, an original intracellular signaling pathway in the response of airway smooth muscle cells to bitter-taste receptor agonists was proposed, involving the G-protein bc subunit and leading to a localized increase in intracellular calcium, which in turn causes membrane hyperpolarisation through an activation of large conductance potassium channels (BK Ca). In addition to these results in cell cultures or airways preparations, inhaled bitter tastants were shown effective in decreasing airway resistance in ovalbumin-sensitized mice, but very little is known in humans to date. However, transcriptome analysis revealed upregulation of TAS2R signaling in peripheral blood leucocytes from patients with severe asthma, as well as a correlation between clinical markers of asthma severity and TAS2R expression. Overall, these works suggest that bitter taste receptors may constitute a new pharmacological target for obstructive lung diseases such as asthma and COPD. We will address the role of bitter taste receptors in respiratory pharmacology, with a special focus on results obtained in human tissues.

Consultation skills: students' perspectives on simulation and technology-enhanced learning

The study investigated if general practitioners (GPs) were aware that their patients took warfarin when supplies of the drug were being provided by a hospital anticoagulant clinic. The clinic checked an electronic GP prescribing record linked to the hospital to confirm that GP practices had made the appropriate entries to register anticoagulant use. Warfarin was missing from the main repeat prescribing screen of the electronic record in 49% of cases. Where GPs do not have to prescribe medication which is instead supplied by a hospital, then there is a risk that they may have an incomplete prescribing record of such therapy.University students suffer from variable sleep patterns including insomnia;[1] furthermore, the highest incidence of herbal use appears to be among college graduates.[2] Our objective was to test the perception of safety and value of herbal against conventional medicine for the treatment of insomnia in a non-pharmacy student population. We used an experimental design and bespoke vignettes that relayed the same effectiveness information to test our hypothesis that students would give higher ratings of safety and value to herbal product compared to conventional medicine. We tested another hypothesis that the addition of side-effect information would lower people’s perception of the safety and value of the herbal product to a greater extent than it would with the conventional medicine.

Pharmacy technicians' perceptions of Foundation degrees: a qualitative study

1. Pirmohamed M et al. Adverse drug reactions as a cause of admission to hospital: a prospective analysis of 18 820 patients. BMJ 2004; 329: 15–19. 2. Davies EC et al. Adverse drug reactions in hospital inpatients: a prospective analysis of 3695 patient-episodes. PLoS ONE 2009; 4(2): e4439. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004439. 3. Edwards IR, Aronson JK. Adverse drug reactions: definitions, diagnosis and management. Lancet 2000; 356: 1255–1259.This study investigated the views of pharmacy technicians from hospital, primary care trust and community pharmacy on Foundation degrees. A qualitative exploration determined that participants saw Foundation degrees as a vehicle for the development of the roles of pharmacy technicians and, within this study, common experiences related to achieving this were shared. Favourable changes to self-esteem and approach to practice were identified based on the new skills and knowledge gained.