Lies Leemans

Frequency and trends of interventions of prescriptions in Flemish community pharmacies

Objective: To study the role of the community pharmacist in medication management.Method: Participating Flemish pharmacists quantified their interventions during two weeks by use of validated diagrams. The clinical interventions were recorded in detail, while the technical interventions were only registered. Results: 124 pharmacists participated. Intervention was needed in 4.1% of the total number of prescriptions (n = 87.647). On average, 20.2 technical and 8.4 clinical interventions over a period of 2 weeks per pharmacy were needed. The main problem was missing or incorrect data on administering the drug (23%). Missing or incorrect advice (37.8 %), dose‐related problems (26.1 %) and interactions or contra‐indications (20.2 %) were mentioned as important clinical discrepancies. The pharmacists utilized the patient medication records to solve most of the problems. In one out of five cases, the physician was contacted.Conclusion: Interventions by community pharmacists in medication management have been recorded in this study. The results should be translated into a process of integrated pharmaceutical care.

Flemish Community Pharmacists’ Motivation and Views Related to Continuing Education

Objective:IPSA (Institute for Permanent Study for Pharmacists) wanted to assess community pharmacists’ opinion on CE-related issues in order to develop more tailored CE programs.Method:A survey for self-administration was sent to 1691 community pharmacists. The method of stratified sampling was used to include pharmacists who do not take up CE courses as well.Main outcome measures:(1) Preferences for course formats, topics of interest and opinion on different CE providers; (2) Facilitators and barriers for participation in CE courses; (3) Opinion on rewarding and participation, obligation and willingness to pay.Results:A response rate of 62.8% was obtained after three mailings. Lectures remain the most favorite course format. Topics related to pharmaceutical care are the most wanted. The strongest facilitators for attending CE courses are gathering practical knowledge and keeping scientific knowledge up to standard. Social contact with colleagues and receiving a syllabus are perceived as moderately motivating factors. Most frequently mentioned barriers were lack of time, family constraints, distance to the classes and uninteresting subjects. Around 2/3rd of questioned pharmacists are willing to invest more time in CE when participation would be rewarded. When it comes to opinion on mandatory CE, disagreement exists between pharmacists who take up CE courses and those who don’t, the latter being less in favor.Conclusion:This survey revealed community pharmacists’ opinions, wishes and needs concerning CE. This should enable CE providers to develop more tailored CE programs.

Television and Adolescent Use of Over-the-Counter Analgesic Agents

BACKGROUND: Portrayals of the use of over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics on television may stimulate their use. OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between taking OTC analgesics and television viewing by adolescents. METHODS: A standardized self-administered questionnaire among first-year (mean age 13.16 y) and fourth-year (mean age 16.37 y) secondary students in Flanders, Belgium (n = 2546) was administered in a school setting. The independent variable was television viewing; control variables were school year, gender, drinking alcohol, days off sick, computer gaming, and Internet use. The main outcome variable was monthly use of OTC analgesics. RESULTS: On average, respondents watched 3 hours 18 minutes of television per day (boys more than girls, first-year students more than fourth-year students). Per additional hour of television per day, the odds that respondents were regular users of analgesics were 1.16 times higher (95% CI 1.08 to 1.24). For the 10% heaviest viewers, the odds were 2.30 times higher (95% CI 1.25 to 4.24) compared with the 10% lightest viewers. Odds of OTC analgesic use were higher for students reporting more sick days in the past year (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.28 to 1.49), regular users of alcohol (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.50), and girls (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.73). CONCLUSIONS: A relationship was found between watching television and the use of OTC analgesics, even after controlling for gender and lifestyle measures. More research is needed to establish whether this relationship is causal.

Peer-assessment: a valuable tool to differentiate between student contributions to group work?

This paper aims to report experiences with peer assessment (PA) during the first year of operation in a pharmacy practice (PP) course. PA was carried out twice. The range and standard deviation of scores were larger during the second assessment, suggesting a more critical way of rating. This indicates that gaining experience with PA is a necessary condition for this tool to enable students to assess each other’s contribution to group work. A significant correlation was observed between scores awarded by peers and external tutors, indicating that students assessed one another in the same way as external tutors. In conclusion, PA can be a valuable tool to differentiate between student contributions to group work if students are properly trained to conduct such an assessment. It is recommended that PA be integrated at an earlier stage of the curriculum to allow students to gain the required expertise.

The Use of a Virtual Learning Environment During the Internship of Final Year Pharmacy Students

An assessment was designed using Questionmark Perception, one of the programmes embedded in the TOLEDO-platform, to evaluate students’ progress in knowledge on 12 classes of OTC-medication. We investigated the use of the programme after one trimester of internship in pharmacy. Students do not use the programme intensively to monitor their progress, probably because of inadequate but requisite skill attainment prior to course enrolment. If we want to use the TOLEDO platform as a tool in guided self-study, we have to realise that demand for computer literacy, along with the need to identify computer skills of students prior to starting the course, would have to increase.

Pharmacy internship: The royal pathway to practice

Introduction: The pharmacy internship offers students the opportunity to interact with patients in the classroom. A project to improve the pharmacy internship, a six-month position in Belgium, has been launched at the Catholic University of Leuven (KULeuven). The aim was to implement self-directed guided learning as a total concept of teaching and learning. The methodology is based upon analysis, intervention and installation of a quality assurance program. Knowledge, skills and attitude are the outcome measures; the acceptance of responsibility is the process to be focused on. Methods: Interventions consisted of pharmacy visits, local meetings with students and preceptors, development of a multiple step approach and constructing assessment instruments. At the same time networking between preceptors, the university and students was intensified. Results: After two years, the results of the interventions based upon initial analysis are encouraging. The skills gained are positively welcomed and used to continuously feed the educational process as necessary.