Pharmacy

Although hospital pharmacists are recognized for its importance as health care provider in many developed
countries, in most developing countries it is still underutilized. The aim of the present study was to summarize the
current scenario of pharmacy practices in four hospitals of Bangladesh and to identify the pharmacist’s roles in
these situations. [from abstract]

The Framework is offered primarily as a tool – to be used in whole or in part - to facilitate the establishment of systems of quality assurance in countries where no such formal systems exist or for improvement of existing systems. Where regional similarities and collaborations exist, the Framework may also be applied at a regional rather than national level. [from forward]

Note:This document is an updated and expanded version of the FIP Global Framework for Quality Assurance of Pharmacy Education Version 1, adopted by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in 2008.

Inadequate pharmacy human resources have been a significant challenge faced in delivering public health interventions. In GHAIN project, the average pharmacist-patient ratio per clinic day was about 1:100. This had a negative effect on quality of care provided to patients. The project evolved a volunteer scheme aimed at mitigating the inadequacy of pharmacists amidst increasing workload. This article describes how the scheme was used to improve the human resource challenge in supported health facilities and the lessons learnt. [from abstract]

The purpose of the work described in this paper is to describe the development and application of a needs-based HRH simulation model for pharmacists in Jamaica’s largest health region. [from abstract]

Staff from the Afghan government’s General Director of Pharmaceutical Affairs undertook a five-day study tour to engage with peers in Turkey. They they learned how to design and create relevant strategies, services and partnerships, with a focus on the private sector. Many ways forward emerged that can realistically support a financially sustainable national supply of key pharmaceuticals—many manufactured in Afghanistan. [adapted from resource]

This study aims to design three future scenarios for Portuguese community pharmacists, recognizing the changing environment as an opportunity to develop the role that community pharmacists may play in the Portuguese health system. [from abstract]

Pharmacist participation in ward rounds is of increasing interest for better pharmaceutical care, yet most pharmacists do not engage in this activity. The objective was to obtain public sector pharmacists’ views and perceptions on their involvement in ward rounds. [from abstract]

Worldwide there are different systems for providing pharmacy services. Most countries have some element of state assistance,either for all patients or selected groups such as children, and some private provisions. Medicines are financed either through cost sharing or full private. The role of the private services is therefore much more significant. Nationally, there is a mismatch between the numbers of pharmacists and where are they worked, and the demand for pharmacy services. [from abstract]

The main aim of this article is to reinforce the concept that there is a need to strengthen the basic pharmaceutical system in the Arab and African world before implementing any advanced clinical pharmacy or pharmaceutical care services to our communities. [from abstract]

This study compared effectiveness and use of community medicine distributors and drug use under integrated community case management and home-based management strategies in children 6–59 months of age in eastern Uganda. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to understand what factors influence pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing using a model for the diffusion of innovations in healthcare services in Alberta, the first Canadian jurisdiction to grant pharmacists a wide range of prescribing privileges. [adapted from abstract]

This study used in-depth interviews to explore perceptions of medicine seller roles among a restricted random sample of 20 medicine sellers in North-West Cameroon. Interviews and analysis explored self-perception of their work/role, community perceptions, skills and knowledge, regulation, future plans, links with the formal health system and diversity among medicine sellers. [from abstract]

This study was undertaken to explore the viability of supervising pharmacy students remotely – a model referred to in the literature as role-emergent placements as a possible model to fill the gap in on-site pharmacy preceptors at role-established sites. This paper discusses pharmacy preceptors and long-term care facility non-pharmacist staff experiences with this model. [adapted from abstract]

The focus of this review was to determine what cultural and learning factors need to be considered when developing a curriculum for South Pacific pharmaceutical health personnel who work across a range of practice environments. [from abstract]

This report describes key pharmaceutical human resource issues, the proceeding of the pharmaceutical human resources consultation meeting, steps leading to the development of the human resources strategy and the pharmaceutical human resources strategy framework which sets out a strategic agenda for action to address capacity issues in the pharmaceutical sector. [adapted from introduction]

The main objective of this assessment was to determine human resources availability in the pharmaceutical sector in Sudan. The assessment was done in six states and included the Ministry of Health and its agencies, pharmacy education providers, public health facilities, private retail pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and local pharmaceutical companies. [adapted from author]

The article describes an international collaboration that helped a Tanzanian school of pharmacy to move from preparing graduates who dispense medicines to preparing pharmacy practice leaders attuned to patient-focused, team-based care in hospitals, and education and surveillance in communities. [adpated from publisher]

High-risk prescribing in primary care is common and causes considerable harm. Feedback interventions to improve care are attractive because they are relatively cheap to widely implement. There is good evidence that feedback has small to moderate effects, but the most recent Cochrane review called for more high-quality, large trials that explicitly test different forms of feedback. This paper describes a protocol for a cluster-randomised trial evaluating the impact on high-risk prescribing of two different designs of feedback compared to a simple educational message. [from author]

This study aimed to contribute an understanding of medicine sellers’ motivations and perceptions of roles in rural and urban North-West Cameroon as providers of first aid care, which is complementary rather than competitive to formal providers. [adapted from author]

This study demonstrates the importance of pharmacists working in collaboration with other healthcare providers, especially medical doctors, in identifying and resolving pharmaceutical care issues to provide optimal care for patients with chronic diseases. [from author]

This study aims to develop and validate an instrument to measure pharmacist attitudes towards collaboration with general practitioners (GPs) and a model that illustrates how pharmacist attitudes (and other variables) influence collaborative behaviour with GPs. [from abstract]

Pharmacists are viewed as highly trained yet underutilised and there is growing support to extend the role of the pharmacist within the primary health care sector. This study aimed to describe the opinions of local stakeholders in South-East Queensland on the integration of a pharmacist into the Australian general practice environment. [from abstract]

The aim of this study is to develop and test a multifaceted practice pharmacist role in primary care practices to improve the quality use of medicines by patients and clinic staff. [from abstract]

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of residents, residency directors and pharmacists within Canadian family medicine residency programs that employ a pharmacist educator to better understand the impact of the role. [from abstract]

Although general practitioners and community pharmacists are encouraged to collaborate, a true collaborative relationship does not exist between them. The objective of this article was to identify and analyze factors affecting this collaboration in two regions of Spain. [adapted from abstract]

The objectives of this study were develop and implement a discipline based on the World Health Organizations’s “Guide to Good Prescribing”; evaluate course acceptance by students; and assess the impact that the knowledge had on the students habits of prescribing medication in a university hospital in Brazil. [adapted from abstract]

This paper reports pharmacists’ feedback as providers of a pharmacy asthma management service, a trial coordinated across four academic research centres in Australia. [from abstract]

The objective of this study is to characterize physician perceptions of pharmacists and their roles in a primary care patient setting in Qatar. [from abstract]

This edition of Contact magazine focuses on pharmaceutical human resources, who are crucial for the delivery of quality health care. Church health systems in particular have to take up the challenge of attracting, motivating and retraining qualified pharmaceutical human resources. [from author]

This study in western Kenya aimed to evaluate the impact of providing subsidized artemether–lumefantrine, an antimalarial treatment, for febrile children aged 3–59 months through retail providers. [adapted from abstract]