Good Pharmacy Practice in India: Its past, Present and Future with Need and Status in COVID 19

The pandemic of COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of emergency preparedness and response (EP and R) in India’s education, training, capacity building, and infrastructure growth. Healthcare professionals, especially pharmacy professionals (PPs) in India, continued to provide drugs, supplies, and services during the pandemic. The public-private healthcare system in India is complicated and of varying quality. Patients face problems as a result of gaps in pharmacy practice education and training, as well as a lack of clarity about pharmacists’ positions. Job requirements and effective placement of healthcare professionals in patient care, as well as on (EP and R) task forces or policy representation, are complicated by this lack of distinction. We have also seen malpractice and spurious distribution in the healthcare and pharmaceutical domain in terms of personal protective kits, medications, injectable, life-saving oxygen, and other items during this unprecedented pandemic situation. A few of the incidents are as follows. The central division police in Bangalore (the Global BPO & IT Hub of India) booked a case of bed-blocking at a private hospital and arrested three people, one of whom is an Arogya Mitra (primary contact for the beneficiaries at every empaneled hospital care provider), for allegedly extorting ₹1.20 lakh from the son of a COVID-19 patient who later passed away. At least 178 COVID-19 patients in India have died because of oxygen shortage in recent weeks. Another 70 deaths have been attributed to an oxygen shortage by patients\' families, but this has been denied by the authorities. The Allahabad High court made a remark “Death of COVID patients due to non-supply of oxygen not less than genocide” on reports circulating on social media regarding the death of COVID-19 patients due to lack of oxygen in Lucknow and Meerut. A day ago, the Delhi police busted an industrial manufacturing unit in Uttarakhand’s Kotdwar where fake Remdesivir injections were being manufactured and arrested five people. These depict the ground reality and ethical standards of good pharmacy practice in this country. There is an utmost necessity to relook and re-establish the standards of pharmacy practice in healthcare setups available in each and every corner of the country in line with guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). For that, the dependency and responsibilities are very high on healthcare professionals, particularly in this pandemic situation. The pharmacy zone is adaptable, evolving, and increasingly diverse, offering a wide range of work and management opportunities to execute. PPs are human service professionals whose responsibilities include safeguarding individuals by dispensing medications based on prescriptions. Representing the world\'s third-largest medicinal services with active gathering, and in India, there are over 1,000,000 (1 million) enrolled PPs employed in various capacities and readily contributing to the country\'s well-being. Pharmacy practice, which includes clinical, community, and hospital pharmacy, is referred to as total healthcare in its true sense. Through adaptation and implementation of GPP in healthcare setup, PPs form an essential link between physicians, nurses, and patients in the social community group, with an ultimate emphasis on patient well-being and protection. To instill quality and raise the standard in this chaotic situation there are strict measures required in the country. The International Pharmaceutical Federation and World Health Organization define good pharmacy practice (GPP) as practices that meet the personal needs of patients or those using pharmacy services by offering appropriate evidence-based care. In developed countries, pharmaceutical assistance is defined as a pharmaceutical practice model that involves attitudes, ethical values, behaviors, skills, appointments, and co-responsibility to prevent diseases, promote and recovery health in an integrated manner as part of the healthcare process, highlighting, among other, the requirement that the institution fully adopts the GPP. There is a need for a GPP Program designed by the Indian Govt. or its stakeholders in the context of the Indian healthcare system and adopting “new normal” due to the unprecedented event of COVID 19 and also raising the standard and importance of GPP for the healthcare professionals in the current scenario.

Factors Affecting Uptake of Covid 19 Vaccines – A Case of Mbala District, Northern Zambia

The desire to control Covid 19 pandemic has continued to exist in the Mbala district of Zambia, with the latest trend showing a significant increase in a number of people testing positive, with a corresponding increase in vaccines (AZ, JJ) hesitancy resulting in a low (2.8 %) vaccination rate in the district. Thus, the need to probe further on covert factors under acceptability (myths, AEFs) and accessibility (vaccines availability, adequacy of vaccination sites) that could be reducing Covid 19 vaccine uptake in Mbala district. The study used a cross-sectional survey, a mixed (quantitative & qualitative) method in eliciting information from data sources covering a period of six months (April – September 2021). In all, 341 research respondents were interviewed through self-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression under SPSS v16. Study findings provide sufficient evidence that high myth (89.8%) reduced acceptability levels, while a low number of vaccination sites (59%) reduced accessibility, resulting in a low uptake rate in Mbala district. Therefore, the study recommended; building up of well-financed District Covid 19 task forces with educational aims on acceptability and accessibility, Governments to introduce specific funding lines for Covid 19 vaccination campaign and enshrine it into monthly grants for routine-outreach Covid 19 vaccination services, and Local Governments through the directorate of Public Health to introduce by-laws on mandatory Covid 19 vaccination passports for the public. With proper implementation of all these study recommendations, Covid 19 vaccination coverage rates can increase drastically across all districts of northern Zambia.

When Advocates are Forced to go Virtual: The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Response to COVID 19

This study explores strategies used by the nation’s Long-Term Care (LTC) Ombudsman Programs (LTCOP) to perform their grass roots, investigatory, sentinel defense advocacy during the near total COVID LTC lock out from March 13th 2020 through September 17th, when the “ban” was conditionally lifted. Our layered systematic searches by title, subject, and total text for unrestricted allusions to the LTCOP used the multi-disciplinary database Academic Search Ultimate that includes mass media. Selection criteria included print and broadcast news. Search keywords were “ombudsman” singly and with 10 other terms. This was augmented by reviewing the National LTC Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) clearinghouse information website and by interviewing NORC staff. Resulting (172) media entries (92% print) were manually coded independently by a team of five, and iteratively reconciled according to a simple flat frame format to identify key words and associated themes. Four main LTCOP lock out strategies emerged: (1) virtual resident interventions (via phone, Skype, Zoom, in-facility allies); (2) public outreach (services provided, sharing COVID data and best practices, social isolation threats and mitigation efforts [window visits], need for volunteers); (3) systems advocacy (state/federal; CMS, legislative and other testimony about social isolation, CARES Act check problems, visitation issues; and (4) partnering with others (multi-agency planning groups, task forces, Zoom town halls, interstate information sharing). NORC interviews revealed that older LTCOP volunteers are seizing the COVID lock-out to retire undermining an already short-staffed network—so calls for volunteers were evident in about 25% of all stories regardless of any other focus.

Observations and Recommendations Toward Increasing Age-Inclusivity

Some areas of current campus practice better align with AFU principles than others. It may be that age-friendly practices already implemented by campus administrators are either not sufficiently publicized or that the campus constituents are not aware that these accommodations are in place. Specifically, staff members in these institutions appear to have markedly different perceptions of an institutions’ overall age-friendliness than did students and faculty. Lower ratings of age-friendliness by staff suggest that the experiences of ageism could contribute to negative outcomes such as stress and burnout. In line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the evaluation of campus sustainability efforts, aging should be addressed along with other elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion. There is also a need to support faculty development for designing courses and materials for age-diverse learners. Finally, campuses might organize age-inclusivity task forces and regularly reassess their age-friendly progress.

Learning Innovation in Elementary School to Welcome the New Normal In Makassar City

The application of policy adaptive to the implementation of policies in the world of education will result in a control. The existence of a policy adaptive policy that is applied can measure 70% of the output generated from the policy. Therefore, policy adaptive makes policy implementation in the world of education more active to contribute in achieving the required tasks. This study aims to (1) describe and analyze educational policy settings. (2) Describe the design and implementation of education policies. (3) Knowing policy monitoring on the implementation of education policies. This research method uses a descriptive qualitative approach through case studies. Collecting data through observation, interviews, and documentation. Data analysis uses data reduction, data presentation, verification, and drawing conclusions. The results of this study found that policy adaptation in the implementation of education policies in the Covid 19 Era was applied with 3 indicators, namely (1) policy settings through 6 important points whose implementation was in accordance with the ability of the school. (2) the design and implementation of education policies is carried out through 9 points, namely SOP, School Task Force, Curriculum Design, Design of technical guidance and special training for educators, PTM scenarios for online learning, and coordination of schools with supervisors, task forces, health centers and the Committee for Policy Implementation Government. (3) policy monitoring on the implementation of education policies carried out through 6 stages.

Business Cycles and Apprenticeships

The economic reasons why firms engage in apprenticeship training are twofold. First, apprenticeship training is a potentially cost-effective strategy for filling a firm’s future vacancies, particularly if skilled labor on the external labor market is scarce. Second, apprentices can be cost-effective substitutes for other types of labor in the current production process. As current and expected business and labor market conditions determine a firm’s expected work volume and thus its future demand for skilled labor, they are potentially important drivers of a firm’s training decisions. Empirical studies have found that the business cycle affects apprenticeship markets. However, while the economic magnitude of these effects is moderate on average, there is substantial heterogeneity across countries, even among those that at first sight seem very similar in terms of their apprenticeship systems. Moreover, identification of business cycle effects is a difficult task. First, statistics on apprenticeship markets are often less developed than labor market statistics, making empirical analyses of demand and supply impossible in many cases. In particular, data about unfilled apprenticeship vacancies and unsuccessful applicants are paramount for assessing potential market failures and analyzing the extent to which business cycle fluctuations may amplify imbalances in apprenticeship markets. Second, the intensity of business cycle effects on apprenticeship markets is not completely exogenous, as governments typically undertake a variety of measures, which differ across countries and may change over time, to reduce the adverse effects of economic downturns on apprenticeship markets. During the economic crisis related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, many countries took unprecedented actions to support their economies in general and reacted swiftly to introduce measures such as the provision of financial subsidies for training firms or the establishment of apprenticeship task forces. As statistics on apprenticeship markets improve over time, such heterogeneity in policy measures should be exploited to improve our understanding of the business cycle and its relationship with apprenticeships.

“A Sort of Public Living Room”: Ignorance and the Racial Management of Disorder in Postwar Los Angeles

Exploring sanitation in postwar Los Angeles, this article argues that as white voluntary groups formed task forces to clean up the city, they endangered Mexican and black Angelinos by endorsing solutions to urban welfare defined by antistatism and carceralism. I read these activities through the lens of white ignorance, whereby white Americans elaborated folk knowledge of successful urbanism on their own terrain and terms, which had no capacity to attend to other classes and races. I treat white ignorance not as a cognitive defect or proxy for innocence, but rather as a structural condition of postwar urban political economy.

Does holding offshore jurisdictions to higher AML standards really assist in preventing money laundering?

Purpose This paper aims to contend that when tackling financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorist financing, international regulators are seeking to hold offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands to higher standards and that this detracts from the pursuit of detecting and prosecuting money launders. Design/methodology/approach This paper will deal with the following perceived issues: firstly, to offshore jurisdictions as a concept; secondly, to outline the efforts made by the Cayman Islands to combat money laundering and to rate these changes against Financial Action Task Forces’ (FATAF’s) technical criteria; thirdly, to demonstrate that the Cayman Islands is among some of the world’s top jurisdictions for compliance with FATAF’s standards; and finally, to examine whether greylisting was necessary and to comment upon whether efforts by international regulators to hold offshore jurisdictions to higher standards detracts from the actual prosecution of money laundering within the jurisdiction. Findings Greylisting the Cayman Islands in these authors’ view was something that should have never happened; the Cayman Islands is being held to standards far beyond what is expected in an onshore jurisdiction. There is a need for harmonisation in respect of international anti money laundering rules and regulations to shift the tone to prosecution and investigation of offences rather than on rating jurisdictions technical compliance with procedural rules where states have a workable anti-money laundering (AML) regime. Research limitations/implications The implications of this research are to show that offshore jurisdictions are being held by FATAF and other international regulators to higher AML standards than their onshore counterparties. Practical implications The author hopes that this paper will begin the debate as to whether FATAF needs to give reasons as to why offshore jurisdictions are held to higher standards and whether it needs to begin to contemplate higher onshore standards. Originality/value This is an original piece of research evaluating the effect of FATAF's reporting on offshore jurisdictions with a case study involving primary and secondary data in relation to the Cayman Islands.

2021 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; First Aid Task Forces; and the COVID-19 Working Group

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation initiated a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed published cardiopulmonary resuscitation science. This is the fifth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations; a more comprehensive review was done in 2020. This latest summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews in this summary include resuscitation topics of video-based dispatch systems; head-up cardiopulmonary resuscitation; early coronary angiography after return of spontaneous circulation; cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the prone patient; cord management at birth for preterm and term infants; devices for administering positive-pressure ventilation at birth; family presence during neonatal resuscitation; self-directed, digitally based basic life support education and training in adults and children; coronavirus disease 2019 infection risk to rescuers from patients in cardiac arrest; and first aid topics, including cooling with water for thermal burns, oral rehydration for exertional dehydration, pediatric tourniquet use, and methods of tick removal. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence, according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations or good practice statements. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections. In addition, the task forces listed priority knowledge gaps for further research.

Time to Act: Portland State University’s Journey to Transformation for Racial Justice and Equity

More than 900 members of the Portland State University community created a vision for a just and equitable campus at the Time to Act Fall 2020 Equity Summit. Five cross-campus task forces then recommended continuing actions to make that vision a reality.