Jonathan Penm

Educational interventions to improve prescribing competency: a systematic review

Objective To review the literature on educational interventions to improve prescribing and identify educational methods that improve prescribing competency in both medical and non-medical prescribers. Design A systematic review was conducted. The databases Medline, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA), EMBASE and CINAHL were searched for articles in English published between January 1990 and July 2013. Setting Primary and secondary care. Participants Medical and non-medical prescribers. Intervention Education-based interventions to aid improvement in prescribing competency. Primary outcome Improvements in prescribing competency (knows how) or performance (shows how) as defined by Millers competency model. This was primarily demonstrated through prescribing examinations, changes in prescribing habits or adherence to guidelines. Results A total of 47 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Studies were categorised by their method of assessment, with 20 studies assessing prescribing competence and 27 assessing prescribing performance. A wide variety of educational interventions were employed, with different outcome measures and methods of assessments. In particular, six studies demonstrated that specific prescribing training using the WHO Guide to Good Prescribing increased prescribing competency in a wide variety of settings. Continuing medical education in the form of academic detailing and personalised prescriber feedback also yielded positive results. Only four studies evaluated educational interventions targeted at non-medical prescribers, highlighting that further research is needed in this area. Conclusions A broad range of educational interventions have been conducted to improve prescribing competency. The WHO Guide to Good Prescribing has the largest body of evidence to support its use and is a promising model for the design of targeted prescribing courses. There is a need for further development and evaluation of educational methods for non-medical prescribers.

Factors Affecting the Implementation of Clinical Pharmacy Services in China

New policies in China have recently led to the implementation of clinical pharmacy services in hospitals. We explored the views of hospital administrators, pharmacy directors, clinical pharmacists, and dispensing pharmacists about the factors affecting clinical pharmacy services in China, using the framework approach and organizational theory. We conducted 30 interviews with 130 participants at 29 hospitals (both secondary and tertiary) in Beijing, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and Shanghai. We found that the barriers to and facilitators of implementation of clinical pharmacy services slotted into the environment and participant dimensions of Scott’s adapted version of Leavitt’s organizational model. External support from government was perceived as crucial to promoting pharmacy services. It is proposed that the internationally recognized Basel Statements of the International Pharmaceutical Federation also provide a strong foundation for guiding China in implementing clinical pharmacy services.

Strategies and policies to address the opioid epidemic: A case study of Ohio.

Objective To describe the strategies and policies implemented in Ohio to improve opioid safety and to discuss the role that pharmacists can play in implementing, promoting, and enhancing the effectiveness of these policies. Setting Ohio has the fifth highest rate of drug overdose deaths (24.6 deaths per 100,000) in the United States. Unintentional drug overdose has become the leading cause of injury-related death in Ohio. In 2015, there were 3050 overdose deaths in Ohio, and in 2014 there were an estimated 12,847 overdose events reversed by emergency medical services with naloxone. Practice description Not applicable. Practice policy innovation In 2011, the Governors Cabinet Opiate Action Team was created to implement a multifaceted strategy, in part (1) to promote the responsible use of opioids, (2) to reduce the supply of opioids, and (3) to support overdose prevention and expand access to naloxone. Innovations to assist these goals include the development of Ohio guidelines on the responsible use of opioids, mandatory use of Ohios prescription drug monitoring program, closing pill mills, promotion of drug take-back programs and increased access to naloxone and public health campaigns. Evaluation Not applicable. Results Since the development of the Governors Cabinet Opiate Action Team, there were 81 million fewer doses of opioids dispensed to Ohio patients in 2015 compared with 782 million doses dispensed in 2011. As such, the proportion of unintentional drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioids has reduced from 45% in 2011 to 22% in 2015. Conclusion Strong political support was crucial in Ohio to facilitate the rapid implementation opioid overdose prevention programs and the promotion of public awareness campaigns. However, the misuse and abuse of prescription opioids are complex problems requiring a comprehensive and multifaceted approach. Pharmacists are identified as a crucial component of the state strategy to addressing opioid abuse by promoting responsible prescribing and adopting prevention practices.

Minding the Gap: Factors Associated With Primary Care Coordination of Adults in 11 Countries

PURPOSE Care coordination has been identified as a key strategy in improving the effectiveness, safety, and efficiency of the US health care system. Our objective was to determine whether population or health care system issues are associated with primary care coordination gaps in the United States and other high-income countries. METHODS We analyzed data from the 2013 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy (IHP) survey with multivariate logistic regression analysis. Respondents were adult primary care patients from 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. Poor primary care coordination was defined as participants reporting at least 3 gaps in the coordination of care out of a maximum of 5. RESULTS Analyses were based on 13,958 respondents. The rate of poor primary care coordination was 5.2% (724/13,958 respondents) overall and highest in the United States, at 9.8% (137/1,395 respondents). Multivariate regression analysis among all respondents found that they were less likely to experience poor primary care coordination if their primary care physician often or always knew their medical history, spent sufficient time, involved them, and explained things well (odds ratio = 0.6 for each). Poor primary care coordination was more likely to occur among patients with chronic conditions (odds ratios = 1.4–2.1 depending on number) and patients younger than 65 years (odds ratios = 1.6–2.3 depending on age-group). Among US respondents, insurance status, health status, household income, and sex were not associated with poor primary care coordination. CONCLUSIONS The United States had the highest rate of poor primary care coordination among the 11 high-income countries evaluated. An established relationship with a primary care physician was significantly associated with better care coordination, whereas being chronically ill or younger was associated with poorer care coordination.

Preparing hospital pharmacists to prescribe: stakeholders’ views of postgraduate courses

To explore pharmacy stakeholders’ views on developing a postgraduate course to prepare hospital pharmacists for collaborative prescribing in Australia.

Part 1: Barriers to the advancement of the pharmacy profession

This is the first of 5 short papers reporting the results of a survey of pharmacy leaders and professionals from a broad range of practice settings and geographic locations across Canada. Ninety-six individuals who were invited to attend the Pharmacy Thought Leadership Summit on June 23-24, 2016, in Calgary, Alberta, were also invited to complete a survey prior to the summit. The goal of the summit was to reach agreement on priorities and actions that the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) can take forward with partner organizations to achieve an optimal future for pharmacy practice—a future that reflects the aspirations of pharmacy professionals and the health care needs of Canadians. Additional details on the survey methodology have been published previously. Of the summit participants invited to complete the survey, 65 responded, for a response rate of 68%. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement regarding barriers that affect the advancement of the pharmacy profession. The barriers were broken down into system, workplace, educational and individual barriers. The top 3 responses for each barrier group are presented in Table 1. Participants had an opportunity to provide additional comments in this section of the questionnaire, which helped to provide context to the quantitative results in Table 1.

A subset polynomial neural networks approach for breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer is a very common and serious cancer for women that is diagnosed in one of every eight Australian women before the age of 85. The conventional method of breast cancer diagnosis is mammography. However, mammography has been reported to have poor diagnostic capability. In this paper we have used subset polynomial neural network techniques in conjunction with fine needle aspiration cytology to undertake this difficult task of predicting breast cancer. The successful findings indicate that adoption of NNs is likely to lead to increased survival of women with breast cancer, improved electronic healthcare, and enhanced quality of life.

Risk factors for i.v. compounding errors when using an automated workflow management system

PURPOSE Results of a study to determine the frequency of and risk factors for errors in automated compounding of i.v. medication doses at a pediatric hospital are presented. METHODS Data compiled by the hospitals automated i.v. compounding workflow management system over a 12-month period were analyzed. A descriptive analysis was conducted to characterize intercepted errors by frequency and type. Multivariate regression analysis via a backward stepwise procedure was performed to identify notable risk factors for i.v. compounding errors. RESULTS Among the 421,730 i.v. doses evaluated, there were 3,101 documented errors (an overall error rate of 0.74%). The automated system intercepted 72.27% of the errors, mainly those containing an incorrect drug or diluent. The remaining 27.73% of i.v. compounding errors, primarily dose preparation in the wrong volume (21.51%) or damage to the final product (0.93%), were identified during final inspection by a pharmacist. The logistic regression model showed that four factors were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with an increased risk of compounding errors: dose preparation during the morning shift (relative risk [RR], 1.84; 95% CI, 1.68-2.02) or on a Sunday (RR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.11-1.47), preparation of doses for use in critical care units (RR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07-1.28), and technician versus pharmacist compounding (RR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.04-1.32). CONCLUSION Analysis of error reports generated by an i.v. compounding workflow management system at a large pediatric hospital over one year found an overall rate of detected errors of 0.74%. Four factors were identified as significant predictors of increased error risk.

A needs assessment of community pharmacists for pharmacist specialization in Canada.

Pharmacists are increasingly providing specialized services. However, no process exists for specialist certification in Canada. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which Canadian community pharmacists support the development of a certification system for specialization.

Applying Lean Techniques to Reduce Intravenous Waste Through Premixed Solutions and Increasing Production Frequency.

Background: This study aims to use lean techniques and evaluate the impact of increasing the use of premixed IV solutions and increased IV production frequency on IV waste. Methods: Study was conducted at a tertiary hospital pharmacy department in three phases. Phase I included evaluation of IV waste when IV production occurred three times a day and eight premixed IV products were used. Phase II increased the number of premixed IV products to 16. Phase III then increased IV production to five times a day. Results: During Phase I, an estimate of 2,673 IV doses were wasted monthly, accounting for 6.14% of overall IV doses. This accounted for 688 L that cost