scholarly journals Engaging community pharmacists in quality improvement (QI): a qualitative case study of a partnership between a Higher Education Institute and Local Pharmaceutical Committees

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e001047
Author(s):  
Asam Latif ◽  
Nargis Gulzar ◽  
Fiona Lowe ◽  
Theo Ansong ◽  
Sejal Gohil

BackgroundQuality improvement (QI) involves the use of systematic tools and methods to improve the quality of care and outcomes for patients. However, awareness and application of QI among healthcare professionals is poor and new strategies are needed to engage them in this area.ObjectivesThis study describes an innovative collaboration between one Higher Educational Institute (HEI) and Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) to develop a postgraduate QI module aimed to upskill community pharmacists in QI methods. The study explores pharmacist engagement with the learning and investigates the impact on their practice.MethodsDetails of the HEI–LPCs collaboration and communication with pharmacist were recorded. Focus groups were held with community pharmacists who enrolled onto the module to explore their motivation for undertaking the learning, how their knowledge of QI had changed and how they applied this learning in practice. A constructivist qualitative methodology was used to analyse the data.ResultsThe study found that a HEI–LPC partnership was feasible in developing and delivering the QI module. Fifteen pharmacists enrolled and following its completion, eight took part in one of two focus groups. Pharmacists reported a desire to extend and acquire new skills. The HEI–LPC partnership signalled a vote of confidence that gave pharmacists reassurance to sign up for the training. Some found returning to academia challenging and reported a lack of time and organisational support. Despite this, pharmacists demonstrated an enhanced understanding of QI, were more analytical in their day-to-day problem-solving and viewed the learning as having a positive impact on their team’s organisational culture with potential to improve service quality for patients.ConclusionsWith the increased adoption of new pharmacist’s roles and recent changes to governance associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, a HEI–LPC collaborative approach could upskill pharmacists and help them acquire skills to accommodate new working practices.

Author(s):  
Asam Latif ◽  
Nargis Gulzar ◽  
Sejal Gohil ◽  
Theo Ansong

Abstract Objective Quality improvement (QI) is increasingly featuring in the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS) agenda to promote safety, effectiveness and patient experience. However, the use of QI techniques by healthcare professionals appears limited and constrained with only isolated examples of good practice. This study explores QI within the pharmacy context. Focusing on the community pharmacy ‘Healthy Living Pharmacy scheme’, this study aims to explore changes in QI understanding resulting from a postgraduate QI educational intervention. Methods Four focus groups were held involving 13 community pharmacists enrolled onto a newly developed postgraduate QI educational module. Two focus groups were held before and two after the module’s completion. Knowledge of QI and practical applications following the learning was explored. Key findings Three themes emerged: pharmacists’ motivation for learning about QI, conceptual understanding and translation into practice. Pharmacists expressed positive views about learning new skills but expressed logistical concerns about how they would accommodate the extra learning. Prior knowledge of QI was found to be lacking and its application in practice ineffectual. Following completion of the QI module, significant improvements in comprehension and application were seen. Pharmacists considered it too soon to make an assessment on patient outcomes as their improvements required time to effectively embed changes in practice. Conclusions Quality improvement forms an important part of the NHS quality and safety agenda; however, community pharmacists may not currently have adequate knowledge of QI principles. The postgraduate educational intervention showed promising results in pharmacist’s knowledge, organisational culture and application in practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Herlin Hamimi ◽  
Abdul Ghafar Ismail ◽  
Muhammad Hasbi Zaenal

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam which has a function of faith, social and economic functions. Muslims who can pay zakat are required to give at least 2.5 per cent of their wealth. The problem of poverty prevalent in disadvantaged regions because of the difficulty of access to information and communication led to a gap that is so high in wealth and resources. The instrument of zakat provides a paradigm in the achievement of equitable wealth distribution and healthy circulation. Zakat potentially offers a better life and improves the quality of human being. There is a human quality improvement not only in economic terms but also in spiritual terms such as improving religiousity. This study aims to examine the role of zakat to alleviate humanitarian issues in disadvantaged regions such as Sijunjung, one of zakat beneficiaries and impoverished areas in Indonesia. The researcher attempted a Cibest method to capture the impact of zakat beneficiaries before and after becoming a member of Zakat Community Development (ZCD) Program in material and spiritual value. The overall analysis shows that zakat has a positive impact on disadvantaged regions development and enhance the quality of life of the community. There is an improvement in the average of mustahik household incomes after becoming a member of ZCD Program. Cibest model demonstrates that material, spiritual, and absolute poverty index decreased by 10, 5, and 6 per cent. Meanwhile, the welfare index is increased by 21 per cent. These findings have significant implications for developing the quality of life in disadvantaged regions in Sijunjung. Therefore, zakat is one of the instruments to change the status of disadvantaged areas to be equivalent to other areas.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Víctor Arufe Giráldez ◽  
Javier Puñal Abelenda ◽  
Rubén Navarro-Patón ◽  
Alberto Sanmiguel-Rodríguez

Background: One of the great challenges facing today’s society is the need to combat overweight and obesity in schoolchildren. This study aimed to analyze the impact of a cycle of didactic talks—given to families by a specialist in pediatrics, a specialist in nutrition and dietetics and a specialist in physical exercise—on childrens’ snack choices and nutrition quality. Methods: A longitudinal, quasi-experimental and quantitative investigation was designed, working with a total sample of 50 students divided into control and experimental groups. The nutritional quality of daily snacks was recorded during the month before and the month after the cycle of talks given by health experts. Results: An increase in the nutritional quality of the snacks was observed in the days after the talk—but, after a week, values returned to normal. Conclusions: The giving of educational talks to promote healthy habits may have a positive impact on the nutritional quality of school snacks in the days immediately following the talks. However, some forgetfulness was detected over time, which reduced the nutritional quality of the snacks once more. For future work, it is recommended that researchers measure the impact produced by giving regular talks.


BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. e025101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Ffion Jones ◽  
Rebecca Owens ◽  
Anna Sallis ◽  
Diane Ashiru-Oredope ◽  
Tracey Thornley ◽  
...  

ObjectivesCommunity pharmacists and their staff have the potential to contribute to antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). However, their barriers and opportunities are not well understood. The aim was to investigate the experiences and perceptions of community pharmacists and their teams around AMS to inform intervention development.DesignInterviews and focus groups were used to explore the views of pharmacists, pharmacy staff, general practitioners (GPs), members of pharmacy organisations and commissioners. The questioning schedule was developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework which helped inform recommendations to facilitate AMS in community pharmacy.Results8 GPs, 28 pharmacists, 13 pharmacy staff, 6 representatives from pharmacy organisations in England and Wales, and 2 local stakeholders participated.Knowledge and skills both facilitated or hindered provision of self-care and compliance advice by different grades of pharmacy staff. Some staff were not aware of the impact of giving self-care and compliance advice to help control antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The pharmacy environment created barriers to AMS; this included lack of time of well-qualified staff leading to misinformation from underskilled staff to patients about the need for antibiotics or the need to visit the GP, this was exacerbated by lack of space. AMS activities were limited by absent diagnoses on antibiotic prescriptions.Several pharmacy staff felt that undertaking patient examinations, questioning the rationale for antibiotic prescriptions and performing audits would allow them to provide more tailored AMS advice.ConclusionsInterventions are required to overcome a lack of qualified staff, time and space to give patients AMS advice. Staff need to understand how self-care and antibiotic compliance advice can help control AMR. A multifaceted educational intervention including information for staff with feedback about the advice given may help. Indication for a prescription would enable pharmacists to provide more targeted antibiotic advice. Commissioners should consider the pharmacists’ role in examining patients, and giving advice about antibiotic prescriptions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1461-1468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayo Afolabi ◽  
Christo Albor ◽  
Lukasz Zalewski ◽  
Dan R Altmann ◽  
David Baker ◽  
...  

Background: A number of elements of the pivotal ‘cladribine tablets treating multiple sclerosis orally’ (CLARITY) trial have remained unpublished. Objective: To report the impact of cladribine on health-related quality of life (QoL) in people with relapsing multiple sclerosis (pwRMS). Methods: QoL data from the phase III trial of two different doses (3.5 and 5.25 mg/kg) of oral cladribine in pwRMS were acquired from the European Medicines Agency through Freedom of Information. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to analyse the relationship between baseline QoL scores and baseline Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores. Responses of the Euro Quality of Life 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) and Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MSQOL-54) questionnaires were compared between treatment and control groups using univariate analyses of covariance. Results: In total, n = 5148 EQ-5D responses and n = 894 MSQOL-54 physical, mental health and dimension scores were extracted. Baseline EQ-5D indices correlated with EDSS scores. After 2 years, pwRMS taking 3.5 ( p = .001) and 5.25 mg/kg ( p = .022) reported significantly improved EQ-5D index scores compared with placebo. Positive, yet non-significant, differences were detected in MSQOL-54 scores between cladribine and placebo. Conclusion: Analysis of the CLARITY dataset suggests that, over and above its established clinical efficacy, cladribine leads to improved QoL over 96 weeks. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00213135.


Author(s):  
Irwan Sugiarto

This study aims to determine the impact of business planning for the development of MSMEs. The research method uses is a qualitative method with a descriptive and explorative descriptive approach. From the results of the research conducted, the results show that proper business planning and the application of a good marketing strategy have a positive impact on the sustainability of MSME activities. In addition, the quality of production that has a competitive advantage is also one of the driving factors. For the development of MSMEs, there are several obstacles faced, especially related to capital and guidance from the local government. With the development of MSMEs, it is expected to improve people's welfare, including helping the government in reducing unemployment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Tsun-Jui Hsieh ◽  
Yu-Ju Chen

This paper investigates the impact of outside directors on firm performance during legal transitions and examines how the roles of family business and director compensation influence board efficacy. By using Taiwanese listed companies as our sample, the empirical results show that outside directors who are appointed by legal mandate have less positive impacts on firm performance than outside directors appointed voluntarily. Family business weakens the positive impact of outside director on firm performance. The evidence further suggests that director compensation contributes to firm performance, particularly when outside directors are voluntarily appointed. The findings provide western managers with an understanding of how the typical Chinese family business affects board independence. We also demonstrate and incorporate the cultural and the ownership characteristics into the analysis to present a country-specific pattern that should be informative for foreign investors who are concerned about the quality of corporate governance in East Asia.


2019 ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
Magometsaigit Beibulatov ◽  
Nadezhda Tikhomirova ◽  
Natalia Urdenko ◽  
Roman Buival ◽  
Yana Radionovskaya

В статье представлены результаты двухлетних исследований по изучению влияния внекорневых подкормок гуминовым препаратом нового поколения GSN-2004 HUMILIFEтм (ОСН-2004) на урожай и качество винограда столового сорта Мускат янтарный и технического сорта Каберне-Совиньон в условиях Южного берега Крыма. По результатам исследований 2017-2018 гг. установлено, что внекорневые подкормки изучаемым препаратом разработанной нормой 4 л/га, способствуют увеличению урожайности винограда сорта Мускат янтарный в среднем на 23,9%, при этом повышение урожайности составляет 2,7 т/га. Урожайность винограда сорта Каберне-Совиньон увеличивается на 26,5%, при этом повышение урожайности составляет 2,2 т/га. Подтверждено положительное влияние внекорневых подкормок на показатели качества винограда сорта Мускат янтарный, которое выразилось в увеличении средней массы грозди у изучаемого сорта на 40,3%, увеличении массовой концентрации сахаров в соке ягод на 5,4% и увеличении значений глюкоацидометрического показателя (ГАП) на 15,6%. Положительное влияние внекорневых подкормок на показатели качества винограда сорта Каберне-Совиньон выразилось в увеличении средней массы грозди на 23,0% и увеличении массовой концентрации сахаров в соке ягод на 7,1%.The paper summarizes findings of a two-year study on the impact of foliar fertilizing with a new generation humic preparation GSN-2004 HUMILIFEтм (ОСН-2004) on the harvest and quality of ‘Muscat Yantarniy’ table grapes and ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ wine grapes in the conditions of the southern coast of Crimea. The data of the 2017-2018 study established that foliar dressing with the preparation under study in the ratio of 4 l/ha increases the harvest of ‘Muscat Yantarniy’ grapes on average by 23.9%, or by 2 t/ha. The yield of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapes was increased by 26.5%, thus increasing the harvest by 2.2 t/ha. The positive impact of foliar dressing on quality indicators of ‘Muscat Yantarniy’ grapes was confirmed. Thus, the average cluster weight increased by 40.3%, total sugars in the berry juice increased by 5.4 %, and gluco-acidometric index increased by 158.06 %. The study confirmed the positive effect of foliar dressing on quality characteristics of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapes, as demonstrated by a 23% increase in the average cluster weight and a 7.1 % increase in the total sugars in the berry juice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwin O. Ovenseri-Ogbomo ◽  
Harriette Osafo-Agyei ◽  
Ralph E.U. Akpalaba ◽  
James Addy ◽  
Elizabeth O. Ovenseri

Patients’ perspectives on the impact of clinical interventions have been recognised as critical elements in patient care. Quality-of-life instruments are designed to measure these perspectives. We used the National Eye Institute’s 25-item Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ) to measure the impact of optical low vision devices on the quality of life of 22 low vision patients who obtained and were using low vision devices from a secondary low vision clinic in the Eastern Region, Ghana. The study employed a pre- and post-intervention technique. We found statistically significant improvements in measured visual acuity and NEI VFQ scores in 8 of the 10 domains evaluated. We conclude that optical low vision devices have a positive impact on the quality of life of low vision patients in Ghana.Keywords: low vision; quality of life; visual acuity; visual impairment; Ghana


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 388-394
Author(s):  
Salima Hafeez ◽  
Rashid Mehmood Chaudhry . ◽  
Muhammad Aslam Khan . ◽  
H.Mushtaq Ahmad . ◽  
Kashif Ur Rehman .

The characteristics of entrepreneurial orientation is played important role in business. How do an entrepreneurial firms and individuals have taken the advantage in industry? This study explores the dynamic capabilities of the organization according to international performance. Our findings indicates the positive impact on dynamic capabilities of the business with perfectly use of this research framework. The main aspect of this paper is to analyse the impact of entrepreneurial orientation with the quality of life. Distinctive features of entrepreneurs and their contribution to the economy can make it possible for third world countries to grow their economies faster and provide financial means to enhance social, health, and environmental well-being (basic dimensions of quality of life), along with products and services that the poor need in these countries. Entrepreneurial orientation combined with organization learning and Quality of life (QOL) are enhanced the dynamic capability of the organization. Present conceptual research will provide the source of competitive advantage and mainstream line for further development of the business .We suggest that existing literature reconfiguring the different approaches for the entrepreneurial to capture the opportunities in world business. First, quality of life cannot possibly improve in inactive or weakening economic conditions; second, economic development in the third world countries cannot advance in a balanced and desirable manner without a major domestic entrepreneurship movement (Samli 2004, 2008a).


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