Leigh McKauge

Factors Influencing Simultaneous Concentrations of Carbamazepine and its Epoxide in Plasma

Summary Simultaneous steady-state plasma concentrations of carbamazepine and carbamazepine-10, 11-epoxide were measured by high performance liquid chromatography in 295 patients. Plasma carbamazepine epoxide correlated more closely with carbamazepine dose than did plasma levels of the drug itself. Plasma carbamazepine epoxide levels tended to be higher, relative to drug dose, in children than in adults, whereas age did not seem to influence the relationship between plasma carbamazepine level and drug dose. Simultaneous phenytoin intake lowered the plasma carbamazepine levels relative to drug dose but left plasma carbamazepine epoxide levels largely unaltered. However, simultaneous valproate intake was associated with raised plasma carbamazepine epoxide levels relative to carbamazepine dose, whereas plasma carbamazepine levels were unaltered. The amount of conversion of carbamazepine to its epoxide thus appears to vary in different circumstances in humans.

Exploring health literacy competencies in community pharmacy

Background  Health literacy is the ability to obtain, interpret and use health information. Low rates of health literacy in Australia have been suggested, but no validated measure exists.

Academic integrity and plagiarism: a review of the influences and risk situations for health students

Health professions are increasingly focusing on the development of integrity and professionalism in students of Health disciplines. While it is expected that Health students will develop, and commit to, the highest standards of conduct as undergraduates, and henceforth through their careers, the pressures of assessment and external commitments may lead to both unintentional and intentional plagiaristic behaviours. Exponential growth in Internet resources and new information technologies, as well as individual belief systems or naivety about the authorship attribution convention, suggest complexity in understanding the risks and factors associated with academic plagiarism. This paper reviews the education literature to provide an insight for academics into reasons for student plagiarism and, where possible, management of these risks. Our review refers to the health professions as a discipline in which academic conduct in students should be at the highest possible standard.

Factors influencing plasma concentrations of ethosuximide.

SummaryThe relation between steady-state plasma ethosuximide level and drug dose was studied in 46 patients. In this population, plasma drug levels were proportional to drug dose, expressed on a body weight basis. Age did not alter this relationship, but plasma levels increased more rapidly, relative to dose, in females than in males. Intake of methylphenobarbitone, but not intake of certain other anticonvulsants (phenytoin, phenobarbitone, primidone and carbamazepine) altered the relationship between plasma ethosuximide level and ethosuximide dose. In individual patients, successive dose increments of equal size produced progressively greater increases in steady-state plasma ethosuximide levels. This phenomenon has obvious therapeutic implications.

Building critical reflection skills for lifelong learning in the emergent landscape of a national registration and accreditation scheme.

In 2010 many of the health disciplines in Australia will be involved in national registration and accreditation, to ensure a more sustainable and flexible health workforce for the future. To this end, in each of the health professions, there is an increasing emphasis on reflective practice and lifelong learning to maintain practice competency. This research focuses on academic teaching and learning in the Pharmacy undergraduate curriculum to develop an indicator tool of graduate practice skills before the student enters the practice internship year. The Graduated Descriptors Competency Tool was developed by means of state, territory, and national stakeholder collaboration. The aim of the project was to assist the scaffolding processes around undergraduate practice teaching and learning. Students on experiential placements have used the tool to demonstrate their current practice skills and the learning required to attain competency during their internship year. Students are guided to develop critical reflection skills for deep understanding and insight into the continued learning and professional development required to maintain long-term health care expertise.

Pharmacy Students’ Interpretation of Academic Integrity

Objective. To explore pharmacy students’ recognition and interpretation of situations constituting breaches of academic integrity. Methods. A survey instrument comprising 10 hypothetical student(s) scenarios was completed by 852 students in the bachelor of pharmacy program at an Australian university. The scenarios were relevant to current modes of assessment and presented degrees of ambiguity around academic integrity. Results. Identification of the hypothetical student(s) at fault, particularly in the deliberately ambiguous scenarios, was not related to the respondents’ year of study or sex. Students with fewer years of postsecondary education were more definitive in their interpretation of contentious cases. Respondents from all 4 years of study reported witnessing many of these behaviors among their peers. Conclusion. This study provided novel insight into the ambiguity surrounding academic integrity and students’ perceptions relating to the deliberate or inadvertent involvement of other parties.

Support Needed by Pharmacy Students in Experiential Placements: Stakeholders' Expectations

From July 2010, Australian state and territory pharmacy registration boards will be replaced by a national body that will register health professionals and also accredit university pharmacy programs. Traditionally, assessment during the pharmacy internship year and national examination provide consistency at the post‐graduation stages, but the endpoints of university programs have been derived within state and territory contexts.

Quality use of medicine experiential placements for fourth year pharmacy students

The educational principles that underpin undergraduate experiential placements include self-directed student learning, contextual and workplace learning, progression towards life-long learning (beyond undergraduate academia), multi-professional learning, reflective practices, peer teaching and learning. To support this approach to teaching and learning, the School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Australia, has instigated fourth year experiential placements at which the student completes a “Quality Use of Medicine” (QUM) project in conjunction with the placement on-site preceptor. The placements are self-selected by the students with the proviso that the placement is centred on QUM. The 4-week placements take place twice a year across the world, and it is not necessary for the preceptor to be a pharmacist. Over the course of eight university semesters, 871 QUM placements have been successfully completed. Feedback from students and preceptors has indicated the worth of these placements in the undergraduate pharmacy course.

Development and trialling of a graduated descriptors tool for Australian pharmacy students

Profession-derived competency standards are key determinants for curriculum and assessment in many professional university programmes. An Australian Learning and Teaching Council funded project used a participatory action research approach to enable the collaborative development of a graduated (or incremental) descriptors tool related to competencies, applicable to Australian pharmacy students at various stages within their university programmes. Consultations with pharmacy professional/registration organisations, students, preceptors and academics throughout Australia were undertaken. Recording of key themes of discussions and progressive development of the tool occurred. Initial trialling of the tool in pharmacy programmes at two different Australian universities has indicated that students were ambivalent regarding the tool and, for example, its usefulness for self-assessment against competencies and its role in supporting learning. Preceptors, supporting students on placements, were however very positive about the tool, its usefulness in supporting learning and in supporting discussions between preceptors and students.