Providing Patient Care in Community Pharmacies: Practice and Research in Finland

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1039-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Simon Bell ◽  
Minna Väänänen ◽  
Harri Ovaskainen ◽  
Ulla Närhi ◽  
Marja S Airaksinen
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
World Health ◽  
Electronic Prescribing ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
University Departments ◽  
Medication Counseling

OBJECTIVE: To describe the provision of patient care in community pharmacies in Finland. FINDINGS: The network of 799 community pharmacies across Finland dispensed 42.1 million prescriptions in 2005. Medication counseling has been mandated by law since 1983 and only pharmacists are permitted to provide therapeutic advice in pharmacies. Measurable improvements in the rates of pharmacists' medication counseling have been observed since 2000. Long-term national pharmacy practice initiatives commenced with the World Health Organization EuroPharm Forum's Questions to Ask About Your Medicines campaign from 1993 to 1996. This was followed by the larger Customized Information for the Benefit of Community Pharmacy Patients project. Since the late 1990s, Finnish pharmacies have actively participated in ongoing national public health programs, initially in the areas of asthma and diabetes, and more recently in the treatment and prevention of heart disease. Automated dose dispensing and electronic prescribing are in the process of wider uptake and implementation. A nationwide multidisciplinary project to improve the use of drugs in older people has recently been announced and research in this area is underway. DISCUSSION: Research has focused on improving the quality of patient care as a strategic priority in community pharmacies. The development of community pharmacy services in Finland has been characterized by strong collaboration among the professional associations, university departments of social pharmacy, continuing education centers, and practicing pharmacists. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of new patient care services has required long-term, systematic, and well coordinated actions at the local and national levels. Future services will seek to promote the quality use of medications and to ensure that rising costs do not limit uniform access to drugs by all Finnish residents.

scholarly journals A new experimental community pharmacy internship module for undergraduate pharmacy students in western Nepal: overview and reflections

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangita Timsina ◽  
Bhuvan K.C. ◽  
Dristi Adhikari ◽  
Alian A. Alrasheedy ◽  
Mohamed Izham Mohamed Ibrahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
Case Presentation ◽  
Business Plans ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
Hands On

Community pharmacies in Nepal and other South Asian countries are in a mediocre state due to poor regulation and the fact that many pharmacies are run by people with insufficient training in dispensing. This has led to the inappropriate use of medicines. The problems due to poor regulation and the mediocre state of community pharmacies in South Asia encompass both academia and clinical practice. In this paper, a 2-week community pharmacy internship programme completed by 2 graduating pharmacy students of Pokhara University (a Nepalese public university) at Sankalpa Pharmacy, Pokhara, Nepal is illustrated. During the internship, they were systematically trained on store management, pharmaceutical care, counselling skills, the use of medical devices, pharmaceutical business plans, medicine information sources, and adverse drug reaction reporting. An orientation, observations and hands-on training, case presentation, discussion, and feedback from 2 senior pharmacists were used as the training method. A proper community pharmacy internship format, good pharmacy practice standards, and a better work environment for pharmacists may improve the quality of community pharmacies.

scholarly journals A GLOBAL PICTURE OF EXTENDED PHARMACY SERVICES, PERCEPTIONS, AND BARRIERS TOWARD ITS PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazri Nordin ◽  
Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, ◽  
Azmi Sarriff
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Literature Search ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Database Searching ◽  
Medication Counseling ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Perceptions

  Objective: The aims of this review were to observe extended services performed in the community pharmacy settings, perceptions among community pharmacists (CPs), general practitioners (GPs), and customers of these extended services and barriers toward its performance.Methods: A literature search was conducted, using Google Scholar as database, searching for full access texts. The inclusive texts fulfilled the inclusion criteria.Results: A total of 22 texts had been systematically reviewed, noting a wide range of extended services performed in community pharmacy settings. Medication counseling or review and promoting health educations were noted as the most extended services performed. It is also noted that CPs indicated that these extended services could establish working relationship with other health-care professionals. However, it is noted that among the barriers toward extended services were lack of knowledge, skills, and time to perform.Conclusion: As a conclusion, the community pharmacy practice is evolving, transforming into more patient-oriented even though there are some negative perceptions among the customers and GPs toward these extended services. Barriers to the performance of these extended services should be intervened.  

scholarly journals Community pharmacy–based H. pylori screening for patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia

2020 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Papastergiou ◽  
Michelle Donnelly ◽  
Terence Yuen ◽  
Wilson Li ◽  
Bart van den Bemt
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
World Health ◽  
Ulcer Disease ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
H Pylori ◽  
Screening Technology

Background: Helicobacter pylori is identified by the World Health Organization as a major risk factor of gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and gastric carcinomas. As point-of-care screening technology becomes more widely available, pharmacists are ideally suited to use this tool to screen patients with H. pylori infection. Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of implementing point-of-care screening technology for H. pylori into community pharmacy practice and to assess the number of patients who are positively identified as a result of testing. Methods: Three pharmacies in Toronto, Ontario, offered H. pylori screening as part of their clinical programs. Pharmacists enrolled patients with symptoms of dyspepsia and/or receiving acid suppressant therapy for >6 weeks. Decision to screen was based on the Canadian Helicobacter Study Group Consensus (CHSG). Patients were screened using the Rapid Response H. pylori test. Results: Seventy-one patients were recruited, with a mean age of 46.3 years. Patients were ethnically diverse, with a significant proportion (59.2%) identified as being born outside of North America, including Asia (26.8%), Africa (9.9%), the Middle East (7%), Europe (9.9%) and South and Central America (5.6%). Overall, the detection rate of H. pylori infection was 21%. North Americans had the lowest incidence of an undiagnosed H. pylori infection (6.9%). Europeans (28.6%), Middle Easterners (20%) and Asians (21.1%) had a moderate incidence, followed by the highest prevalence in those of African descent (71.4%). Conclusion: These results highlight the readiness of community pharmacists to adopt H. pylori screening into practice and to leverage this novel technology to positively identify and treat undiagnosed H. pylori infection. Can Pharm J (Ott) 2020;153:xx-xx.

Uptake of Quality-Related Event Standards of Practice by Community Pharmacies

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 442-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd A. Boyle ◽  
Andrea C. Bishop ◽  
Craig Overmars ◽  
Kaleigh MacMaster ◽  
Thomas Mahaffey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
Related Event ◽  
Near Misses ◽  
Standards Of Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Prescription Volume

Quality-related events (QREs), including medication errors and near misses, are an inevitable part of community pharmacy practice. As QREs have significant implications for patient safety, pharmacy regulatory authorities across North America are increasing their expectations regarding QRE reporting and learning. Such expectations, commonly encapsulated as standards of practice (SoP), vary greatly between pharmacy jurisdictions and may range from the simple requirement to document QREs occurring within the pharmacy, all the way to requiring that quality improvement plans have been put in place. This research explores the uptake of QRE reporting and learning SoP and how this uptake varies based on pharmacy characteristics including location, prescription volume, and pharmacy type. Secondary data analysis of 91 community pharmacy assessments in Nova Scotia, Canada, was used to explore uptake of QRE standards. Overall, pharmacies are performing relatively well on reporting QREs. However, despite initial success with basic QRE reporting, community pharmacy uptake of QRE learning activities is lagging.

scholarly journals Views of Community Pharmacists on Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Jordan: A Qualitative Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doaa Saleh ◽  
Rana Abu Farha ◽  
Tareq Mukattash ◽  
Muna Barakat ◽  
Eman Alefishat
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Antimicrobial Stewardship ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
World Health ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
Stewardship Program

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization issued a practical approach and Global Action Plan to control the threatening emerging antibacterial resistance. One of the main basis of this plan is the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASPs). This study aimed to evaluate community pharmacists’ awareness and perception towards antimicrobial resistance and ASPs in Jordan. Thus, a qualitative study was conducted through in-depth interviews with twenty community pharmacists. Convienience sampling was used in the study. Qualitative analysis of the data yielded four themes and eleven sub-themes. All the respondents showed good understanding about the causes of antimicrobial resistance. The most important causes reported by them was the non-restricted prescription of antimicrobials. Most of the pharmacists believed that they are competent to provide ASPs, however, they believed that there are several barriers against the implementation of ASPs in community pharmacies in Jordan. Barriers demonstrated by the pharmacists, including organizational obstacles, resources obstacles, and personal obstacles. As a conclusion, this study revealed several barriers against the implementation of ASPs in community pharmacies in Jordan. Incorporating ASPs in the community pharmacy settings requires proper pharmacist training, several academic disciplines team efforts, and good pharmacy practice of antimicrobial guidelines.

scholarly journals Experience Developing a Community Pharmacy Practice-based Research Network

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margie E. Snyder ◽  
Caitlin K. Frail ◽  
Lindsey V. Seel ◽  
Kyle E. Hultgren
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Medication Use ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
Safety Research ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Review Team ◽  
Practice Based Research

In 2010, the Purdue University College of Pharmacy established the Medication Safety Research Network of Indiana (Rx-SafeNet), the first practice-based research network (PBRN) in Indiana comprised solely of community pharmacies. In the development of Rx-SafeNet and through our early project experiences, we identified several "lessons learned." We share our story and what we learned in an effort to further advance the work of the greater PBRN community. We have formed the infrastructure for Rx-SafeNet, including an Executive Committee, Advisory Board, member pharmacies/site coordinators, and Project Review Team. To date, 22 community pharmacies have joined and we have recently completed data collection for the network's first project. Lessons learned during the development of Rx-SafeNet may benefit PBRNs nationally. Although community pharmacy PBRNs are not yet commonplace in the U.S., we believe their development and subsequent research efforts serve as an important avenue for investigating medication use issues.   Type: Idea Paper

Providing Patient Care in Community Pharmacies in Australia

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1911-1917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shalom I Benrimoj ◽  
Alison S Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Management Strategy ◽  
Drug Information ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Practice Change ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Data Synthesis ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Provision Of Services

OBJECTIVE To describe Australia's community pharmacy network in the context of the health system and outline the provision of services. DATA SYNTHESIS The 5000 community pharmacies form a key component of the healthcare system for Australians, for whom health expenditures represent 9% of the Gross Domestic Product. A typical community pharmacy dispenses 880 prescriptions per week. Pharmacists are key partners in the Government's National Medicines Policy and contribute to its objectives through the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS). The Third Community Pharmacy Agreement included funding for CPS including medication review and the provision of written drug information. Funding is also provided for a quality assurance platform with which the majority of pharmacies are accredited. Fifteen million dollars (Australian) have been allocated to research in community pharmacy, which has focused on achieving quality use of medicines (QUM), as well as developing new CPS and facilitating change. Elements of the Agreements have taken into account QUM principles and are now significant drivers of practice change. Although accounting for 10% of remuneration for community pharmacy, the provision of CPS represents a significant shift in focus to view pharmacy as a service provider. Delivery of CPS through the community pharmacy network provides sustainability for primary health care due to improvement in quality presumably associated with a reduction in healthcare costs. CONCLUSIONS Australian pharmacy practice is moving strongly in the direction of CPS provision; however, change does not occur easily. The development of a change management strategy is underway to improve the uptake of professional and business opportunities in community pharmacy.

Measuring the Assessment and Counseling Provided with the Supply of Nonprescription Asthma Reliever Medication: A Simulated Patient Study

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 1512-1518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl R Schneider ◽  
Alan W Everett ◽  
Elizabeth Geelhoed ◽  
Peter A Kendall ◽  
Rhonda M Clifford
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Asthma Control ◽  
Simulated Patient ◽  
Simulated Patients ◽  
Community Pharmacies ◽  
Patient Assessment ◽  
Pharmacy Staff ◽  
Medication Counseling ◽  
Reliever Medication ◽  
Pharmacy Setting

Background: Over one quarter of asthma reliever medications are provided without prescription by community pharmacies in Australia. Evidence that community pharmacies provide these medications with sufficient patient assessment and medication counseling to ensure compliance with the government's Quality Use of Medicines principles is currently tacking. Objective: To assess current practice when asthma reliever medication is provided in the community pharmacy setting and to identify factors that correlate with assessment of asthma control. Methods: Researchers posing as patients visited a sample of Perth metropolitan community pharmacies in May 2007. During the visit, the simulated patient enacted a standardized scenario of someone with moderately controlled asthma who wished to purchase a salbutamol (albuterol) inhaler without prescription. Results of the encounter were recorded immediately after the visit. Regression analysis was performed, with medication use frequency (a marker of asthma control) as the dependent variable. Results: One hundred sixty community pharmacies in the Perth metropolitan area were visited in May 2007. Pharmacists and/or pharmacy assistants provided some form of assessment in 84% of the visits. Counseling was provided to the simulated patients in 24% of the visits. Only 4 pharmacy staff members asked whether the simulated patient knew how to use the inhaler. Significant correlation was found between assessment and/or counseling of reliever use frequency and 3 independent variables: visit length (p < 0.001), number of assessment questions asked (p < 0.001), and the simulated patient who conducted the visit (p < 0.02). Conclusions: Both patient assessment and medication counseling were suboptimal compared with recommended practice when nonprescription asthma reliever medication was supplied in the community pharmacy setting. Pharmacy and pharmacist demographic variables do not appear to affect assessment of asthma control. This research indicates the need for substantial improvements in practice in order to provide reliever medication in line with Quality Use of Medication principles of ensuring safe and effective use of medication.

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