Kevin A. Clauson

Nothing about us without us-patient partnership in medical conferences.

Using their experience at Medicine X, Larry Chu and colleagues discuss the benefits of involving patients as partners at medical meetings

Development and implementation of a multitiered health informatics curriculum in a college of pharmacy

Standards requiring education in informatics in pharmacy curricula were introduced in the last 10 years by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. Mirroring difficulties faced by other health professions educators, implementation of these requirements remains fragmented and somewhat limited across colleges of pharmacy in the US. Clinical practice and workforce metrics underline a pronounced need for clinicians with varying competencies in health informatics. In response to these challenges, a multitiered health informatics curriculum was developed and implemented at a college of pharmacy in the Southeast. The multitiered approach is structured to ensure that graduating pharmacists possess core competencies in health informatics, while providing specialized and advanced training opportunities for pharmacy students, health professions students, and working professionals interested in a career path in informatics. The approach described herein offers institutions, administrators, faculty, residents, and students an adaptable model for selected or comprehensive adoption and integration of a multitiered health informatics curriculum.

Geospatial blockchain: promises, challenges, and scenarios in health and healthcare

A PubMed query run in June 2018 using the keyword ‘blockchain’ retrieved 40 indexed papers, a reflection of the growing interest in blockchain among the medical and healthcare research and practice communities. Blockchain’s foundations of decentralisation, cryptographic security and immutability make it a strong contender in reshaping the healthcare landscape worldwide. Blockchain solutions are currently being explored for: (1) securing patient and provider identities; (2) managing pharmaceutical and medical device supply chains; (3) clinical research and data monetisation; (4) medical fraud detection; (5) public health surveillance; (6) enabling truly public and open geo-tagged data; (7) powering many Internet of Things-connected autonomous devices, wearables, drones and vehicles, via the distributed peer-to-peer apps they run, to deliver the full vision of smart healthy cities and regions; and (8) blockchain-enabled augmented reality in crisis mapping and recovery scenarios, including mechanisms for validating, crediting and rewarding crowdsourced geo-tagged data, among other emerging use cases. Geospatially-enabled blockchain solutions exist today that use a crypto-spatial coordinate system to add an immutable spatial context that regular blockchains lack. These geospatial blockchains do not just record an entry’s specific time, but also require and validate its associated proof of location, allowing accurate spatiotemporal mapping of physical world events. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology face similar challenges as any other technology threatening to disintermediate legacy processes and commercial interests, namely the challenges of blockchain interoperability, security and privacy, as well as the need to find suitable and sustainable business models of implementation. Nevertheless, we expect blockchain technologies to get increasingly powerful and robust, as they become coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) in various real-word healthcare solutions involving AI-mediated data exchange on blockchains.

Lessons Learned and Looking Forward With Pharmacy Education: Informatics and Digital Health

Informatics is an increasingly important component of pharmacy practice. This domain, along with several technological modalities and services that underpin it, can facilitate the connection of the pharmacist to larger networks of information systems, healthcare providers, and health information technology (HIT). This, in turn, can help optimize all steps of the medication use process. In addition, digital health offers new roles and opportunities for pharmacy related to the leveraging of patient health-related data (e.g., medication adherence, behavioral, and wellness) over time. Informatics and digital health may also enhance patient-centered care within pharmacy and other allied health disciplines. Its inherently multidisciplinary nature also is suggestion of one route to enhance interprofessional education. Therefore, pharmacy educators and students should be familiar with the educational requirements and modalities associated with the integration of informatics and digital health in the goal of becoming practice-ready.

Patient Perceptions of Text Messaging to Improve Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence: A Qualitative Study of Patients in a Ryan White Clinic:

Evidence on the use of short message service (SMS) to improve medication adherence in people living with HIV (PLHIV) is mounting, yet qualitative research on patient perceptions regarding SMS content and utility for HIV/AIDS remains nascent. To explore the experience of receiving medication reminders via SMS among PLHIV, 45 uninsured and underinsured PLHIV nested within the intervention arm of a larger study received daily, 1-way SMS adherence reminders. Qualitative data were collected by face-to-face, structured interview and were analyzed using conventional content analysis methods. Three main themes emerged from the data: (1) reminders helping with adherence, (2) concerns about delivery modes, and (3) the need for confidentiality. Study findings offer enhanced focus on an emerging strategy in patient-centered HIV care: Equipped with greater context on the experiences of PLHIV using SMS adherence reminders, health-care providers can offer more targeted support and thereby maximize the benefits of this popular and powerful technology.

Non‐modifiable determinants of pharmacy residency match rates

The purpose of this study was to examine non‐modifiable pharmacy program characteristics on residency match rates.

Role of Residency Interview Preparatory Activities as a Determinant on Pharmacy Residency Match Rates

Purpose: Different strategies have been implemented to assist students in securing residency positions. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of student participation in residency preparation activities on match rates. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted to explore the effect of participation in residency preparation activities and grade point average (GPA) on residency match rate. Match rates for students participating in the Residency Interview Preparation Seminar (RIPS) or mock interviews (ie, intervention group) were compared with students who participated in neither activity (ie, control group). Results: A total of 118 individuals were included in the comparison. Forty-eight students participated in RIPS (n = 29) or mock interviews (n = 19), while 70 students were in the control group. The intervention group had a statistically larger proportion of students securing residency than the control group (81% vs 57%; P = .009). Match rates between students enrolled in RIPS versus those in the mock interview group were not significant. No statistically significant differences were observed based on GPA. Conclusion: Students receiving additional preparation prior to interviews when seeking postdoctoral training were significantly more likely to obtain a residency position. In academic settings with limited resources, mock interviews may be preferred over comprehensive preparatory courses.