Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted via a web-based survey in May 2020. All pharmacy students enrolled at Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, were invited to take part in the study.
Results: A total of 232 out of 460 students took part in the study, giving a response rate of 50.43%. The mean total knowledge score was 9.87 ± 2.04 (maximum attainable score, 12). The majority of the participants (n=163; 70.3%) believed COVID-19 is a health threat to their community in the early months of the pandemic. Moreover, the majority (93%) also believed that the lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic was necessary to contain the pandemic. Encouragingly, 86.6% reported that they did not go to any crowded places during the pandemic with more female students avoiding crowded places compared to male students (91.6% versus 78.7%, respectively, P = 0.005). The majority (91%) also reported that they were following the strategies recommended by the authorities to prevent the spread of the virus. Encouragingly, 54.3% reported that the pandemic either had no effect or just a limited effect on their studies. However, 38.5% reported that they always felt or frequently felt nervous or anxious during the pandemic.
Conclusion: The study showed that pharmacy students had good knowledge as well as positive attitudes and good practices towards COVID-19 and the preventive measures. However, during the early months, the pandemic did have a negative psychological impact on a number of students. Consequently, proactive psychological and social support services to the students should be considered during the current and future pandemics. In addition, it is important to consider and proactively address key issues that could cause stress and anxiety among students when shifting to distance learning and assessments.
Objective: The current study aimed to assess the beliefs and implementations of community pharmacists in the UAE regarding evidence-based practice (EBP) and to explore the significant factors governing their EBP.
Setting: Community pharmacies in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, UAE.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted over six months between December 2017 and June 2018. Community pharmacists who had three months' professional experience or more and were registered with one of three regulatory bodies (Ministry of Health, Health Authority Abu Dhabi, or Dubai Health Authority) were interviewed by three trained final-year pharmacy students. Face-to-face interviews were then carried out and a structured questionnaire was used.
Metrics: The average beliefs score was 36% (95% CI: [34%, 39%]) compared to an implementation score of 35% (95% CI: [33%, 37%]).
Results: A total of 505 subjects participated in the study and completed the entire questionnaire. On average, participants scored higher in beliefs score than implementation score. The results of the statistical modelling showed that younger, female, higher-position pharmacists with more experience and with low percentages of full-time working, and graduates from international/regional universities were more likely to believe in and implement the concept of EBP.
Conclusion: A gap was identified between the beliefs and implementation of EBP. Developing educational EBP courses in undergraduate pharmacy curricula is of high importance, not only to increase knowledge levels but also to encourage commitment in those pharmacists to strive for professionalism and to support the provided patient care with evidence.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This study aimed to determine the most efficient and effective management of stagnant and shortage drugs by comparing three pharmacy logistic methods; the economic order quantity (EOQ), minimum-maximum stock level (MMSL), and the traditional consumption of drug inventory, at RA Basoeni Hospital, Mojokerto. Drug inventory was analyzed to calculate the opportunity loss, opportunity cost, and proportions of both stagnant and shortage drugs.
RESULTS: We found that EOQ and MMSL performed best for control of stagnant drugs and shortage drugs, respectively. Both methods had proved as effective pharmacy logistic planning. In addition, EOQ produced the lowest opportunity cost for stagnant drugs besides the lowest opportunity loss for shortage drugs.
CONCLUSION: The study concluded that EOQ is the most effective and efficient method to manage stagnant and shortage drugs at hospital pharmacy.
Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among 482 medical, dental, and pharmacy students of 3rd- and 4th-year degree program of Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University to assess their KAP about HB infection using 34 prevalidated questions by convenient sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to the students, and their responses were measured at "yes" and "no" scale. Students' responses were entered in SPSS version 22, and quantitative analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests at P < 0.05.
Findings: The medical, dental, and pharmacy students had good knowledge and practice with positive attitude about HB infection. Mann-Whitney U-test determined a significant difference in knowledge (P < 0.001) and practice (P < 0.001) scores between medical and pharmacy, attitude (P < 0.001) scores between medical and dental, and attitude (P < 0.001) and practice (P < 0.001) scores between pharmacy and dental students. Students' age was correlated with their attitude, practice, and KAP scores and family income with their knowledge, attitude, practice, and KAP scores.
Conclusion: Although students' knowledge and practice were good with positive attitude, all the students did not participate in health education program, screening, and vaccination of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection which makes them more vulnerable to occupational HBV infection. Hence, it is recommended to organize a regular health education program for the students on screening and vaccination against HBV to prevent its infection.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among undergraduate pharmacy students in a public university in Malaysia using a validated and pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. The study was conducted in November and December 2019. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests.
RESULTS: Of the 318 female undergraduate students invited, 219 completed the questionnaire (response rate: 68.9%) with 52% aged between 21 and 23 years. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 72.1%, and the prevalence of ever-use and current use of CATs was 70.3 and 54.4%, respectively. Bed rest (71.5%), hot compress/heating pad (47.5%) and massage (43.0%) were the most common CATs used by the respondents. The most common reasons for using CAT were to reduce the need for analgesics (61.4%), efficacy (37.3%) and recommendation by others (32.9%). About 23 and 9% of the respondents believed that CATs were equally "effective" and "more effective" than analgesics, respectively. Reducing the need for analgesics (AOR: 4.066, 95% CI: 2.136-7.739) and those who agreed that CATs are effective (AOR: 2.701, 95% CI: 1.337-5.457) were independently associated with the current use CATs for the treatment of menstrual pain.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ever-use and current use of CATs is high among female undergraduate pharmacy students. Bed rest and heat applications are the most common CATs used. Reducing the need for analgesics and efficacy are the factors associated with the current use of CATs. Students should be educated about the safe and effective use of CATs to reduce adverse effects and improve their quality of life.
METHODS: A survey was carried out at 135 community pharmacies in nine districts of Selangor, Malaysia, from November 2017 to February 2018, using a self-administered standardized questionnaire.
RESULTS: The majority (n = 95, 85%) of community pharmacies reported to have provided services to both international travellers and outbound Malaysian travellers. The common healthcare services provided to international travellers were monitoring of chronic diseases including hypertension and diabetes, and advice on minor ailments, supplements and medical devices. The key health services provided to outbound Malaysian travellers were advice on vaccination requirements, better management of chronic diseases and necessary medications to manage illness during travel. Most of the respondents supported the provision of travel health-related services through the community pharmacies.
CONCLUSION: The study findings showed that Malaysian community pharmacies provided several travel health-related services to both international and Malaysian outbound travellers. Pharmacists in Malaysia are ideally positioned to have an increased role in travel medicine. They have the training to advise on complex medication issues especially with regard to interactions and polypharmacy. However, further training and courses should be provided that are tailored specifically for the needs of this professional group.
DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
SETTING: Primary care setting.
PARTICIPANTS: Of 1568 studies screened, 14 studies with 7035 PWID were included.
MEASURES: PubMed, Embase, Web of Sciences, CENTRAL and Cochrane review databases were searched without language restriction from their inception to 27 January 2016. All published study designs with control groups that reported the effectiveness of pharmacy-based NSP on outcomes of interest were included. Outcomes of interest are risk behaviour (RB), HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence and economic outcomes. The estimates of pooled effects of these outcomes were calculated as pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed by I2 and χ2 tests.
FINDINGS: Most studies (nine of 14, 64.3%) were rated as having a serious risk of bias, while 28.6 and 7.1% were rated as having a moderate risk and low risk of bias, respectively. For sharing-syringe behaviour, pharmacy-based NSPs were significantly better than no NSPs for both main (OR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.34-0.73; I2 = 59.6%) and sensitivity analyses, excluding studies with a serious risk of bias (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.32-0.84; I2 = 41.4%). For safe syringe disposal and HIV/HCV prevalence, the evidence for pharmacy-based NSPs compared with other NSP or no NSP was unclear, as few of the studies reported this and most of them had a serious risk of bias. Compared with the total life-time cost of US$55 640 for treating a person with HIV infection, the HIV prevalence among PWID has to be at least 0.8% (for pharmacy-based NSPs) or 2.1% (for other NSPs) to result in cost-savings.
CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy-based needle/syringe exchange programmes appear to be effective for reducing risk behaviours among people who inject drugs, although their effect on HIV/HCV prevalence and economic outcomes is unclear.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the six universities in Sri Lanka that offer pharmacy undergraduate programmes. All pharmacy students in each university were invited to participate in this study using a self-administered questionnaire with ethics approval. The study instrument comprised five major sections: demographic information, self-reported antibiotic use, knowledge of antibiotic uses in human health, knowledge of AMR and antibiotic use in agriculture. Descriptive data analyses were conducted and Chi-squared analysis was used to explore associations between different variables and level of pharmacy education.
RESULTS: Four hundred sixty-six pharmacy students completed the questionnaire. A majority of participants (76%) reported antibiotic use in the past year. More than half (57%) of the junior pharmacy students incorrectly indicated that antibiotic use is appropriate for the management of cold and flu conditions. Senior pharmacy students (n = 206) reported significantly better antibiotic knowledge than junior students (n = 260), p
AIM: To assess the level of job satisfaction and perception of Provisionally Registered Pharmacists (PRP) towards the internship training provided.
METHODS: A cross-sectional nationwide survey was conducted amongst all PRPs undergoing training between December 2015 and February 2016 to assess their level of job satisfaction and perception towards the training requirements stipulated by the Pharmacy Board of Malaysia.
RESULTS: A total of 733 PRPs participated in the survey and the response rate was 95.8%. On the basis of the response received, 92.5% (n = 678) felt that the one year training period was 'just nice', 30.5% (n = 223) felt that the logbooks were 'too complicated', and 33.2% (n = 241) said the targets set by the Pharmacy Board of Malaysia were 'too high'. On a scale of 1 to 5, respondents rated 3.32 (SD 0.54) for mean score of job satisfaction. Significant factors influencing mean score of job satisfaction were: perceived fairness at the work place; perceived self-competence after one year of training; preceptors' competence; and pharmacy as a chosen career pathway.
CONCLUSION: Intern pharmacists were fairly satisfied with the internship training in government facilities in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. A review of the internship logbooks and the practicality of targets set by the Pharmacy Board warrant further improvement.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Pharmacy students developed a "hands-on" health campaign for delivery to university students. A health promotion topic was chosen and delivered each year for 2015-2017; sexual health, diabetes, and antimicrobial resistance, respectively. All health campaign participants were screened for cardiovascular risk factors. University students who participated in the health campaign in 2017 also completed a questionnaire assessing their understanding and knowledge of antimicrobial resistance.
FINDINGS: In the three health campaigns conducted from 2015 to 2017, 1010 university students and adults were screened. Pharmacy students expressed a high level of professional achievement and satisfaction and felt that the activities provided a meaningful learning experience. Similarly, supervising pharmacists reported satisfaction with students' competency.
SUMMARY: The use of a health education campaign is an alternative model to educate pharmacy students on communication and critical thinking skills, as well as provide an opportunity for service learning.
METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted to evaluate perception and experience of pharmacists with the use of Internet-based medication information by their patients. During the study period, 200 pharmacists were approached to participate in the study using a paper-based survey to assess their perceptions and current experience with the use of Internet-based medication information by their patients. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean/standard deviation for continuous variables, and frequency/percentages for qualitative variables). Also, simple linear regression was utilized to screen factors affecting pharmacists' perception scores of the use of Internet-based medication information.
RESULTS: Among 161 recruited pharmacists, the majority (n = 129, 80.1%) reported receiving inquiries from patients about Internet-based medication information within the last year. Among them, only 22.6% (n = 29) of pharmacists believed that Internet-based medication information is somewhat or very accurate. Unfortunately, only 24.2% (n = 31) of them stated that they always had enough time for their patient to discuss their Internet-based medication information. Regarding pharmacists' perception of the use of Internet-based medication information by their patients, more than half of the pharmacists (>50%) believe that Internet-based medication information could increase the patient's role in taking responsibility. On the other hand, 54.7% (n = 88) of the pharmacists believed that Internet-based medication information would contribute to rising the healthcare cost by obtaining unnecessary medications by patients. Finally, pharmacists' educational level was found to significantly affect their perception scores toward patient use of Internet-based medication information where those with higher educational level showed lower perception score (r = -0.200, P-value = 0.011).
CONCLUSION: Although pharmacists felt that usage of Internet-based data by patients is beneficial, they also have believed that it has a negative impact in terms of rising the healthcare cost, and it promotes unnecessary fear or concern about medications. We suggest that pharmacists be trained on principles of critical appraisal to become professional in retrieval information on the Internet that might improve their delivery of healthcare information and their recommendations to patients.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Following the elicitation study, the IBM-guided questionnaire was developed and distributed to students from two pharmacy schools which agreed to participate, each representing public and private institutions.
FINDINGS: A total of 387 pharmacy students participated yielding a 83% response rate. Multiple regression analysis revealed that all three, namely, attitude (23%), perceived norm (16%), and personal agency (16%) were significant predictors of students' intention. Further analysis revealed 'experiential attitude', a component of attitude as the strongest predictor. In other words, students who felt more comfortable had higher intention to provide smoking cessation counseling.
SUMMARY: An implication of this study is that tobacco-related curricula with an emphasis to enhance students' comfort level in providing counseling would be of value for these future pharmacists in terms of their intention as well as actual provision of smoking cessation counseling through the mediation of "experiential attitude" and personal agency.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceptions of Malaysian hospital pharmacists and patients on the barriers and facilitators of a PCC approach in pharmacist consultations.
DESIGN: This study employed a qualitative, explorative semi-structured interview design.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Interviews were conducted with 17 patients and 18 pharmacists from three tertiary hospitals in Malaysia. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Emerging themes were developed through a constant comparative approach and thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Three themes were identified in this study: (i) patient-related factors (knowledge, role expectations, and sociocultural characteristics), (ii) pharmacist-related factors (personalities and communication), and (iii) healthcare institutional and system-related factors (resources, continuity of care, and interprofessional collaboration). Pharmacists and patients mentioned that factors such as patients' knowledge and attitudes and pharmacists' personality traits and communication styles can affect patients' engagement in the consultation. Long waiting time and insufficient manpower were perceived as barriers to the practice of PCC. Continuity of care and interprofessional collaboration were viewed as crucial in providing supportive and tailored care to patients.
CONCLUSION: The study findings outlined the potential factors of PCC that may influence its implementation in pharmacist consultations. Strategic approaches can be undertaken by policymakers, healthcare institutions, and pharmacists themselves to address the identified barriers to more fully support the implementation of PCC in the pharmacy setting.
METHODS: Participants attended the workshop and completed pre- (Time 1) and post-workshop (Time 2) questionnaires consisting of validated measures exploring attitudes towards dementia and older people more broadly.
RESULTS: A total of 97 students were recruited. Attitudes towards people with dementia showed significant positive changes between Time 1 and Time 2, whereas no differences were found for attitudes towards older people.
CONCLUSIONS: As medical and pharmacy students develop theoretical knowledge, practical skills and professional attitudes during their undergraduate studies, it is important for students to also learn about the humanistic side of diseases and conditions through workshops such as the one presented here. Further research should now be conducted to consider how Dementia Detectives can be delivered to non-healthcare students and what the barriers and facilitators to wider delivery are.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 systematically sampled pharmacy students from two private and one public university. A validated, self-administered questionnaire comprised of seven sections was used to gather the data. A systematic sampling was applied to recruit the students. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied using SPSS® version 18.
RESULTS: Overall, the students tend to disagree that complementary therapies (CM) are a threat to public health (mean score = 3.6) and agreed that CMs include ideas and methods from which conventional medicine could benefit (mean score = 4.7). More than half (57.8%) of the participants were currently using CAM while 77.6% had used it previously. Among the current CAM modalities used by the students, CM (21.9%) was found to be the most frequently used CAM followed by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (21%). Most of the students (74.8%) believed that lack of scientific evidence is one of the most important barriers obstructing them to use CAM. More than half of the students perceived TCM (62.8%) and music therapy (53.8%) to be effective. Majority of them (69.3%) asserted that CAM knowledge is necessary to be a well-rounded professional.
CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals a high-percentage of pharmacy students who were using or had previously used at least one type of CAM. Students of higher professional years tend to agree that CMs include ideas and methods from which conventional medicine could benefit.