METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate final year students of pharmacy using a convenient sampling method. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used.
RESULTS: Response rate for this study was 85.9% (128 students from a population of 149). The participants agreed that they read literature to understand research, but did not attend research-related coursework. Most participants (91.4%) felt that they were under stress while doing research. Almost all participants (97.6%) felt that they were doing very badly during their data analysis or they may fail their research projects. The majority of participants agreed that help from the lecturers' and friends in research give emotional support for their research activities.
CONCLUSION: Academic support for pharmacy students, along with their additional academic effort will improve the students' self-efficacy and reduce research anxiety.
METHODS: A quasi-experimental economic evaluation comparing CPE impact on 6-month CKD mortality was conducted on the basis of payer perspective. The experimental group (n = 63) received care by health care providers who were given CPE on drug-related problems and dose adjustment. The control group (n = 80) was based on the historical cohort of patients who received care before the CPE. Measure of clinical outcome applied in this study was number of lives saved/100 patients treated. Cost-effectiveness ratios for CKD stages 4 and 5 patients without CPE and with CPE and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for CKD stages 4 and 5 patients were analyzed.
RESULTS: Lives saved (%) in the treatment of CKD without CPE: CKD stage 4, 78.57; CKD stage 5, 57.58. Lives saved (%) in the treatment of CKD with CPE: CKD stage 4, 88.89; CKD stage 5, 65.45. Cost-effectiveness ratios for stage 4 with and without CPEs were Rp3,348,733.27 and Rp3,519,931.009, respectively. Cost-effectiveness ratios for stage 5 with and without CPEs were Rp7,137,874.93 and Rp7,871,822.27, respectively. ICERs were Rp2,045,341.22 for CKD stage 4 and Rp1,767,585.60 for CKD stage 5.
CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of CKD stages 4 and 5 with CPE was more effective and cost-effective compared with treatment of CKD stages 4 and 5 without CPE. The ICERs indicated that extra costs were required to increase life saved in both stages.
Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey whereby all (300) community pharmacists practicing in Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were targeted for data collection. A 35-itemed questionnaire was posted out along with a stamped addressed envelope, invitation letter and support letter. Responses were also accepted via online response. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v. 20.0.
Results: A total of 67 responses were received with a response rate of 22.3%. The top three frequently health information searched by respondents were medicine information, general healthcare information and disease-related information. High number of respondents agreed that Internet had too much health information to scan through. Gender (p=0.018) showed significant association with visiting established health websites. Meanwhile, statistical significant was observed between age and searching medicine information (p=0.037), undertaking online continuing professional development (p=0.023), as well as searching clinical guidelines (p=0.047). Respondents' education level showed significant association with uncertainty about the reliability of online health information (p=0.023) and unsure about filtering the information (p=0.007).
Conclusions: Majority of the respondents expressed positive perception with the use of Internet for health information. The findings of the current study showed the widely use of Internet for health information among community pharmacists. Hence, this study provides opportunity for future works to further examine community pharmacist's retrieval and appraisal skills for online health information, as well as application of this information into their daily pharmacy practice.
Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the drive-through pharmacy service in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Malaysia.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted from July to December 2018. The questionnaire was developed and underwent thorough validation process which yielded a Cronbach's alpha reliability score of 0.9130. Satisfaction was calculated by mean percentage score (0% (dissatisfied) to 100% (satisfied). All data were analysed descriptively and thematic analysis was used in analysing open-ended question.
Results: Compliance in obtaining medication was at 96.3% with a given two-week grace collection period. Insufficient quantity of medications (33.3%) was the highest near-missed medication errors occurred at the drive-through pharmacy. The mean satisfaction percentage score for all patients were 76.6% ± 8.1. A total of 69.2% (n = 83) were "very satisfied" while 30.8% (n = 37) were "satisfied" with the service. Among the reasons for satisfaction are convenience in getting medication refills (n = 74, 62%), short waiting time (n = 75, 63%) and knowledgeable dispensers (n = 87, 73%). A handful of patients were "dissatisfied" with the opening hours (n = 14, 11.7%) and the location of the drive-through pharmacy service (n = 19, 15.8%).
Conclusion: Compliance in medication collection is acceptable within stipulated grace period. Despite low occurrence, identification of near-missed medication errors provides useful insights for future improvement of the service. Generally, our patients are satisfied with the service. However, we need to re-evaluate on the opening hours and location of the service.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 21 February 2022 to 15 November 2022. Community pharmacists working in Klang Valley were given a self-administered questionnaire. This survey instrument facilitated the collection of information about their sociodemographic attributes, training background, and knowledge and attitude concerning medical marijuana. Through rigorous analysis of the accumulated data, discernible factors correlating with the levels of knowledge and attitudes surrounding medical marijuana were identified.
RESULTS: The majority (n=149, 53.8%) of participants had low knowledge of medical marijuana. Participants with lower knowledge of medical marijuana tend to have a negative attitude toward medical marijuana. Besides that, male participants showed higher knowledge of medical marijuana than female participants. Furthermore, it was found that atheists had the most negative attitude among other religions toward medical marijuana.
CONCLUSION: Most community pharmacists in Malaysia lack sufficient knowledge about medical marijuana. This indicates that Malaysian pharmacists are not future-ready and need to equip themselves with adequate knowledge of the indications and adverse effects of medical marijuana if it is to be legalised one day. Thus, there is a need for improved training and education of pharmacists around cannabis-based medicines.