Mary-Jessimine Bushell

An Initiative to Ensure Profession Preparedness

Bushell MJ1*, Hana Morrissey3 and Patrick Ball2 1Pharmacy Discipline, School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science and Environment, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina NT 0810, Australia 2Pharmacy Discipline, School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences, Charles Darwin University Casuarina Campus, Australia 3Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science and Environment, Charles Darwin University Casuarina Campus, Australia

Sri Lankan Perspectives on Pharmacist Administered Vaccinations

Background: Globally, the administration of vaccines by pharmacists is gaining momentum and incorporation of vaccination and injection skills in pharmacy school curricula is becoming more common. Objectives: This paper reports on one of four focus groups conducted to validate an Australian developed undergraduate vaccination training program (VTP) and its wider application beyond the Australian health care environment. Methods: A focus group discussion was conducted with six Sri Lankan medical and pharmacist experts following the development of a vaccination training program. Results: Participants voiced that prior to incorporation of the VTP into undergraduate Sri Lankan curricula, approval should be sought from the Ministry of Health and established vaccinators. The issue of certificates of competency was deemed inappropriate to be issued to Sri Lankan students. Additionally the assessment of competency was seen to be essential on a yearly basis throughout the curricula. Concern was expressed concerning the management of vaccine associated anaphylaxis in the context of minimal pre-hospital care. Participants voiced that vaccination training should be piloted prior to formal incorporation into Sri Lankan undergraduate pharmacy curricula Conclusion: While there is wide interest in the introduction of clinical skills into pharmacy curricula, the results of this study raise questions about the inclusion of injection and vaccination training in Sri Lankan undergraduate curricula.

Strategies to prevent unwarranted criticism of professions that extend their services:: The case of pharmacist-administered vaccinations

Many professions strive to extend their gamut of services, yet other professions may attempt to stifle these changes. For example, in Australia, the prospect that pharmacists are permitted to administer vaccinations in some jurisdictions has ignited strident criticism from other professional bodies, including the Australian Medical Association. These criticisms may diminish the confidence of consumers and, therefore, stymie the attempts of professions to extend their services. The aim of this paper is to uncover strategies that professional bodies can implement to prevent unwarranted criticism. This paper first identifies the biases that evoke these criticisms, such as inflated judgements of the status quo. Second, this paper shows that these biases can be ascribed to a specific mindset, in which individuals feel dissociated from future aspirations. Finally, this paper delineates practices that may redress these biases, such as a retreat in which the proposal to extend services is discussed in collaboration with other professional bodies, years before the intended changes.

Using Focus Groups to Validate a Pharmacy Vaccination Training Program

Introduction: Focus group methodology is commonly used to quickly collate, integrated views from a variety of different stakeholders. This paper provides an example of how focus groups can be employed to collate expert opinion informing amendments on a newly developed training program for integration into undergraduate pharmacy curricula. Materials and methods: Four focus groups were conducted, across three continents, to determine the appropriateness and reliability of a developed vaccination training program with nested injection skills training. All focus groups were comprised of legitimate experts in the field of vaccination, medicine and/or pharmacy. Results: Themes that emerged across focus groups informed amendments giving rise to a validated version of a training program. Discussion: The rigorous validation of the vaccination training program offers generalizable lessons to inform the design and validation of future training programs intended for the health sector and or pharmacy curricula. Using the knowledge and experience of focus group participants fostered collaborative problem solving and validation of material and concept development. The group dynamics of a focus group allowed synthesis of feedback in an inter-professional manner. Conclusions: This paper provides a demonstration of how focus groups can be structured and used by health researchers to validate a newly developed training program.