International Journal of Pharmacy Practice

OBJECTIVES: Preventative services are required to address the risk factors for chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease. The National Health Service Health Checks in England were introduced to provide such services. One School of Pharmacy established a student-led clinic to provide this service to the local community. The clinic was provided by undergraduate pharmacy students and delivered free of charge within a central city locality. The aim was to explore the impact of the clinic on user thoughts and motivations around healthy living and investigate user experience...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: Leadership is an essential but under-researched domain in advanced pharmacy practice. AIM: To describe pharmacist leadership training experience and ascertain perceptions of barriers/drivers for leadership development. METHODS: Online survey at a UK tertiary-care organization. Questions related to leadership competencies, personal qualities, barriers, and drivers, with Likert scale responses options, were analysed using Microsoft Excel®...

OBJECTIVES: Dynamic and adaptive services that provide timely access to care are pivotal to ensuring patients with palliative needs experience high-quality care. Patients who have palliative care needs may require symptomatic relief with medicines and, therefore, may engage with community pharmacists frequently. However, there is limited evidence for pharmacists' involvement in community palliative care models. Therefore, a scoping review was conducted to identify pharmacists' role in community palliative care...

OBJECTIVES: Migraine is considered a chronic health condition that impacts both quality of life and psychological wellbeing. People with migraines use a range of management strategies, which include pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments. The aim of this study was to explore individuals' experiences and perceptions of migraines and its treatment using the Common-Sense Model (CSM) of Illness Representations. METHODS: Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were conducted with eleven individuals with a history of migraine to explore their experiences and perceptions of migraine and its treatment...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: The discharge medicines service (DMS) was introduced as an essential service for all community pharmacies in England through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) in February 2021. This study aimed to describe the implementation of this service for paediatric patients and to identify any barriers to referrals. METHODS: The study was undertaken in a 24-bed paediatric ward in a District General Hospital from September 2022 to February 2023...

OBJECTIVES: Community pharmacists play an important role in primary care access and delivery for all patients, including patients with a family physician or nurse practitioner ("attached") and patients without a family physician or nurse practitioner ("unattached"). During the COVID-19 pandemic, community pharmacists were accessible care providers for unattached patients and patients who had difficulty accessing their usual primary care providers ("semi-attached"). Before and during the pandemic, pharmacist services expanded in several Canadian provinces...

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this project was to obtain students' perception of an educational companion video designed to increase the understanding of a national medicines information resource. METHODS: An instructional video was developed to guide students in utilizing the online version of the Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH). All students enrolled in the Bachelor of Pharmacy program during 2021 were given access to this video. A cross-sectional electronic survey was administered to evaluate the video's effectiveness and its impact on students' confidence...

OBJECTIVES: Written medicine information (WMI) is important for ensuring patients understand and use their medicines optimally, but relatively little research has assessed the quality of available WMI. This study assessed the quality of WMI using a sample of leaflets for ibuprofen in the UK and Thailand. METHODS: Leaflets were obtained by purchasing a product from retail outlets or community pharmacies, 18 from each country. In the UK, these were patient information leaflets (PILs); in Thailand, they were package inserts PIs not specifically designed for patients...

OBJECTIVES: To determine risks associated with uricosurics in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted by systematically searching electronic databases. KEY FINDINGS: The pooled analysis of the included trials revealed that the use of uricosurics was not associated with the risk of mortality (pooled odds ratio [OR] = 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.94-1.12). However, there is a potential mortality benefit associated with the use of ascorbic acid (pooled OR = 0...

BACKGROUND: A new programme incorporating online study days delivered using team-based learning (TBL) for hospital-based trainee pharmacists (TPs) in the North of England was created. To our knowledge, TBL has not previously been used in educational programmes for TPs designed to supplement their workplace learning. The project aimed to investigate the experiences of TPs learning using online TBL by exploring their perceptions on their engagement, learning, and satisfaction with TBL. METHOD: Data were collected using online anonymous surveys at the end of four online TBL study days...

OBJECTIVES: There are approximately 5.3 million informal carers in the United Kingdom, many of whom support family in their health despite being unpaid and often unsupported. Many visit pharmacies to collect medicines and look for advice. This work explores informal carer support within community pharmacies (CP). METHODS: Semi-structured video interviews exploring perspectives on the role of CP in supporting carers were conducted in autumn 2022. The study received institutional ethical approval...

BACKGROUND: Medication review (MR) is the systematic assessment of a patient's medications for safety and effectiveness by a healthcare professional. The language used to describe MR activity, such as stopped medicine and increased dose, should be consistent across studies to assist researchers compare how different services operate and identify their mechanism of impact. AIM: To develop an international taxonomy of standardized terms and activity definitions related to medication reviews...

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OBJECTIVE: The improper disposal of household pharmaceutical waste (HPW) is an emerging cause of environmental pollution. Behavioural practices are intricately linked to individuals' knowledge levels and attitudes. Thus, this systematic review aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of HPW disposal among the public and to examine the interconnectedness of these KAP components. METHODS: A literature review for articles published from 2013 to 2023 was carried out in scientific databases PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, identifying quantitative studies involving the assessment of KAP of the public concerning HPW disposal...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of workflow redesign (eaST system) on pharmacy waiting time and near-missed events. We also investigated other factors that may potentially affect these study outcomes. METHODS: A quasi-experimental (before-after) study design was adopted. Pre-intervention data were collected over 7 months (January-July 2017). Subsequently, the workflow redesign (eaST system) was implemented and the effect of the intervention (August 2017-February 2018) was evaluated...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: Investment in the development of the pharmacy workforce has been recognized as crucial for achieving universal health coverage. The 21 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Development Goals (DGs) have been used when conducting national needs assessments in several countries to provide evidence-based policy on workforce development. This study aimed to explore factors contributing to education and training in a FIP sample of mainly low- to middle-income countries (LMICs), and current national policy initiatives and priorities, mapped against the FIP DGs...

OBJECTIVES: At the time of the survey, just over 2000 pharmacists were employed in UK general practice. Little is known about their influence on prescribing, and more specifically, the extent of their use of Audit and Feedback (A&F), an evidence-based method for behaviour change. This study aimed to explore pharmacists' current influence on prescribing in UK general practice. METHODS: A cross-sectional, online survey was open to general practice pharmacists in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales between 9 September 2021 and 31 October 2021...