MyMedR

In recent years, several developed countries reported on new multidisciplinary roles of pharmacists and pharmacy assistants, especially considering the former's expanding functions. This paper examines differences in pharmacists' and pharmacy assistants' professional roles and the dispensing system in Japan with those in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and the Philippines. A review of relevant literature was supplemented by interviews of dispensary staff at hospitals and community pharmacies in Malaysia and the Philippines. The UK, Philippines, and Malaysia had dispensing assistants who performed dispensing roles, while Japan did not. Although pharmacy assistants occasionally performed screening and dispensing inspections due to the lack of pharmacists, it is necessary for pharmacists participating in risk management to ensure formula optimization and monitoring. Pharmacists' contribution to medical care involves ensuring safety in drug therapy and overall medical services. Screening is the most fundamental and important function performed exclusively by pharmacists, thereby establishing their status within the medical system.

Interplay of medication errors and the separation of dispensing

Salmasi S, Long CM, Khan TM

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2016 Jan-Feb;12(1):171-2.

PMID: 26256742 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2015.07.004

Generic medicines utilizations and generic prescribing in Nepal: A reflection of current scenario and possible solutions

Ansari M, Humagain B, Hassali MA

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 02 01;13(3):658-659.

PMID: 28162993 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.01.004

Response to Linguistic and psychometric validation of the Malaysian version of Diabetes Quality of Life-Brief Clinical Inventory (DQoL-BCI): Methodological issues to avoid misinterpretation

Neoh CF, Samah S, Wong YY, Hassali MA, Shafie AA, Lim SM, et al.

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 02 12;13(4):884.

PMID: 28259586 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.02.004

Pharmacist-managed medication therapy adherence clinics: The Malaysian experience

Alrasheedy AA, Hassali MA, Wong ZY, Saleem F

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 02 16;13(4):885-886.

PMID: 28222951 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.02.011

An analysis of inter-professional collaboration in osteoporosis screening at a primary care level using the D'Amour model

Toh LS, Lai PSM, Othman S, Wong KT, Low BY, Anderson C

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 11;13(6):1142-1150.

PMID: 27780658 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2016.10.004

OBJECTIVES: This study describes the perspective of patients, nurses, pharmacists, doctors and policy makers to identify the level of collaboration and the areas for improvement to achieve inter-professional collaboration between doctors, nurses, pharmacists and policy makers in a primary care clinic.

METHODS: Patients (n = 20), Nurses (n = 10), pharmacists (n = 11), doctors (n = 10) and policy makers (n = 5) from a primary care were individually interviewed using a semi-structured topic guide. Purposive sampling was used. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis informed by constant comparison.

RESULTS: Patients, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and policy makers were eager for pharmacists to be more proactive in creating health awareness and conducting osteoporosis screening at the primary care clinic via inter-professional collaboration. These findings were further examined using the D'Amour's structural model of collaboration which encompasses four main themes: shared goals and visions, internalization, formalization and governance. This model supports our data which highlights a lack of understanding of the pharmacists' role among the doctors, nurses, policy makers and pharmacists themselves. There is also a lack of governance and formalization, that fosters consensus, leadership, protocol and information exchange. Nonetheless, the stakeholders trust that pharmacists have sufficient knowledge to contribute to the screening of osteoporosis. Our primary care clinic can be described as developing towards an inter-professional collaboration in managing osteoporosis but is still in its early stages.

CONCLUSIONS: Inter-professional collaboration in osteoporosis management at the primary care level is beginning to be practised. Efforts extending to awareness and acceptance towards the pharmacists' role will be crucial for a successful change.

Non-regulatory related factors leading to off-label prescribing in children: A concept map

Balan S, Hassali MA, Mak VSL

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 Nov;13(6):1219-1221.

PMID: 28576615 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.05.013

Patient inaccessibility to antifungal drugs in developing nations: The case of Pakistan

Saleem A, Khan A, Ahmad A, Khan MU, Babar ZU

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 Nov;13(6):1218.

PMID: 28768574 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.07.010

Linguistic and psychometric validation of the Malaysian version of Diabetes Quality of Life-Brief Clinical Inventory (DQoL-BCI)

Samah S, Neoh CF, Wong YY, Hassali MA, Shafie AA, Lim SM, et al.

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 11;13(6):1135-1141.

PMID: 27825607 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2016.10.017

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) assessment provides valuable outcome to support clinical decision-making, particularly for patients with chronic diseases that are incurable. A brief, 15-item diabetes-specific tool [i.e. Diabetes Quality of Life-Brief Clinical Inventory (DQoL-BCI)] is known to be developed in English and validated for use in clinical practice. This simplified tool, however, is not readily available for use in the Malaysian setting.

OBJECTIVE: To translate the DQoL-BCI into a Malaysian version and to assess its construct validity (factorial validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity), reliability (internal consistency) and floor and ceiling effects among the Malaysian diabetic population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A forward-backward translation, involving professional translators and experts with vast experience in translation of patient reported outcome measures, was conducted. A total of 202 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were invited to complete the translated DQoL-BCI. Data were analysed using SPSS for exploratory factor analysis (EFA), convergent and discriminant validity, reliability and test-retest, and AMOS software for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

RESULTS: Findings from EFA indicated that the 4-factor structure of the Malaysian version of DQoL-BCI was optimal and explained 50.9% of the variance; CFA confirmed the 4-factor model fit. There was negative, moderate correlation between the scores of DQoL-BCI (Malaysian version) and EQ-5D-3L utility score (r = -0.329, p = 0.003). Patients with higher glycated haemoglobin levels (p = 0.008), diabetes macrovascular (p = 0.017) and microvascular (p = 0.013) complications reported poorer QoL. Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intraclass coefficient correlations (range) obtained were 0.703 and 0.86 (0.734-0.934), indicating good reliability and stability of the translated DQoL-BCI.

CONCLUSION: This study had validated the linguistic and psychometric properties of DQoL-BCI (Malaysian version), thus providing a valid and reliable brief tool for assessing the QoL of Malaysian T2DM patients.

Challenges in pediatric drug use: A pharmacist point of view

Balan S, Hassali MA, Mak VSL

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2017 May-Jun;13(3):653-655.

PMID: 27493130 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2016.06.014

The pediatric population is an enormously diverse segment of population varying both in size and age. The diversity caused pharmacists face various challenges primarily related to procuring, provision as well as use of drugs in this group of patients. Pediatric dose calculation is particularly a concern for pharmacists. Another challenge faced by pharmacists is unavailability of suitable formulations for pediatric use. This has also led many pharmacists to prepare extemporaneous liquid preparations, even though stability data on such preparations are scarce. Some extemporaneous preparations contain excipients which are potentially harmful in children. Besides that, inadequate labeling and drug information for pediatric drug use had not only challenged pharmacists in recommending and optimizing drug use in children, but also inadvertently caused many drugs used outside the approved terms of the product license (off-label use). Pharmacists are striving to stay connected to overcome the common and comparable challenges faced in their day to day duties and strive to maximize the safe and effective use of medicines for children.

A proposed stepwise approach to reducing medication errors in older people

Salmasi S, Wimmer BC, Khan TM, Zaidi STR, Ming LC

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2018 Feb;14(2):207-209.

PMID: 28330781 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.02.015

Incidence and pattern of medication errors in a general paediatric ward in a developing nation

Tang KL, Wimmer BC, Akkawi ME, Ming LC, Ibrahim B

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2018 Mar;14(3):317-319.

PMID: 28365153 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2017.03.053

Reflecting on the role of a pharmacist during the two major earthquakes of 2015: Are we prepared for similar future disasters?

Shrestha S, Kandel P, Danekhu K, Bhuvan KC

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2019 Dec;15(12):1500-1501.

PMID: 30956094 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2019.03.006

Development and validation of novel scales to determine pharmacist's care for herbal and dietary supplement users

Wahab MSA, Sakthong P, Winit-Watjana W

Res Social Adm Pharm, 2020 04;16(4):475-487.

PMID: 31255476 DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2019.06.014

BACKGROUND: The factors associated with the provision of pharmacist's care (PCare) for herbal and dietary supplement (HDS) users are multidimensional. These factors should be investigated to assess the needs for community pharmacists (CPs) to provide the service. However, at present, there are no validated and reliable theory-based instruments to measure the factors.

OBJECTIVES: The study aims to develop and validate scales (direct and indirect) based on a modified Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to measure factors associated with the provision of PCare for HDS users by Thai CPs.

METHOD: Item generation for the scales was based on the theoretical constructs of the modified TPB framework, literature review, and authors' previous qualitative study. Draft items were then subjected to content validity and face validity. Psychometric testing was carried out among CPs in Bangkok, Thailand. Refinement of the scales utilized factor analysis and validity was assessed using factor analysis and Rasch analysis. Internal consistency reliability and construct reliability were used to assess the scales' reliability.

RESULTS: Initially, the direct and indirect scales contained 15 and 28 items, respectively and were reduced to 12 and 16 items, after experts' review. Factor analysis further reduced the number of items of the indirect scale to 13. For both scales, confirmatory factor analysis showed model-data fit. Each construct of the direct scale was significant predictors of intention. Moreover, each construct of the direct scale correlated positively and significantly with the respective construct of the indirect scale, signifying concurrent validity. No misfit item was identified in the Rasch analysis and the majority of items were invariant across gender. Internal consistency reliability and construct reliability of the scales were acceptable.

CONCLUSION: This study presents the development and validation of theoretically-grounded scales to measure the factors associated with the provision of PCare for HDS users by Thai CPs.

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