Evaluation of Current Status of Newly Established Model Pharmacies in Bangladesh

Pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh has developed profoundly after promulgation of the Drugs (Control) Ordinance, 1982. However, the health sector has not been equally developed because of lack of wellequipped drug management system and much needed patient counseling. The presence of adulterated, counterfeit and substandard drugs and the sale of drugs at high prices than the maximum retail price have also been the major problems here. The recent introduction of model pharmacies is supposed to be a hope for the people to get safe medicines at a reasonable cost. The aim of the present study was to find out the current scenario of model pharmacies in Bangladesh and to propose modern and alternative systems that could be applied in model pharmacies for better healthcare management and patient compliance. Thus, the current status of model pharmacies of Bangladesh has been evaluated using a survey-based analysis which utilized a pre-set questionnaire. The survey was conducted on 90 model pharmacies in seven districts of Bangladesh (Level 1 categorized by the Directorate General of Drug Administration, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh). The results revealed that the infrastructure of the model pharmacies should be improved further. Only 33% of the model pharmacies have sitting facilities and 51% of them have washroom facilities for the waiting patients. It was found that despite all the model pharmacies (100%) should have at least 1 A-grade pharmacist in each of them, i.e. a pharmacy graduate registered with the Pharmacy Council of Bangladesh under the Pharmacy Ordinance 1976, but pharmacists were found to be present in only 26% of pharmacies during the visit. Amongst the pharmacists, 98% showed satisfaction with the decision of compulsory engagement of A-grade pharmacists in all the model pharmacies. Defying the obligatory provisions, only 38% model of pharmacies keep the required records of sold drugs. It was pleasing to observe that no physician’s sample of medicines was sold in any model pharmacies. The medicines storage facilities in controlled temperature was found in all the model pharmacies. But the A-grade pharmacists were not available in the pharmacies during holidays. It is opined that modern and ICT based techniques can be applied to modify the model pharmacies for better patient care and patient management. Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 20(1): 1-10, 2021 (June)

Assessment of research ethics education offerings of pharmacy master programs in an Arab nation relative to top programs worldwide: A qualitative content analysis

The importance of research ethics (RE) training has led academic and funding institutions to require that students, trainees, and faculty obtain such training at various stages of their careers. Despite the increasing awareness of the value RE education offers, this training requirement is absent in Jordan. We aimed to assess RE education offerings of pharmacy master programs in Jordan and compare with the top-ranked pharmacy graduate programs globally. Therefore, a list of universities that offer research-based pharmacy master programs was created. Each program was evaluated for the inclusion of RE education. A qualitative content analysis approach based on inductive reasoning and latent analysis was followed to analyze the data. Results of the study showed a lack of appropriate RE education for graduate-level pharmacy programs in Jordan with only 40% of the programs partially discuss selected topics related to RE. Regarding pharmacy graduate programs globally, 10% offer a standalone RE course, 40% offer some discussions related to RE, another 10% do not offer RE education in any form, and the remaining 40% of the programs were difficult to assess due to lack of sufficient information available online. Based on the findings of this study, training in RE is tends to be lacking in pharmacy graduate programs in Jordan and globally, with a greater lack in Jordan than globally. There is a need to incorporate formal RE education into programs that do not offer this type of instruction. Programs that formally touch on some aspects of RE need to expand the scope of topics to include more RE-related themes. Integrating a standalone RE course into pharmacy graduate programs is highly encouraged.

Distance assessment of counselling skills using virtual patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Reports on using virtual patients to assess counselling skills is scarce. Aim: This paper describes the feasibility and acceptability of assessing patient counselling skills of pharmacy students using a virtual patient simulator. Description: In this innovative method, a high quality simulator ‘Virtual Patient Learning’ (VPL) was developed at Gulf Medical University (GMU) and was used to assess the counselling skills of 15 pharmacy graduate students. Counselling skills were measured using a four-domain scoring rubric of 1 to 5 marks followed by instant feedback for improvements. Student and faculty satisfaction scores were collected based on the feasibility and acceptability of the assessment method. Evaluation: The average counselling skills score for all students was 68.4 (85.5%) out of 80 (range 54-76), with a standard deviation of 5.8. The overall student agreement on the feasibility and acceptability of the assessment method was 92.8%; it was 100% agreement for faculty. Conclusion: The use of a high quality VPL simulator in assessing counselling skills was deemed feasible and acceptable for students and faculty. The assessment was repeated among 30 Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) graduates with similar outcomes. The virtual counselling method will be used in the programme exit exams, as well as in students entering their experiential year. Further studies are required to assess its validity and reliability with more students.

Transition to online teaching and learning for clerkship activities during COVID-19 in Malaysia

Prior-to the COVID-19 outbreak, undergraduate PharmCare II Clerkship activities consisted of two phases. The first phase requires pharmacy students to clerk infectious disease and endocrine-related cases of patients admitted into wards at a teaching hospital, whilst in the second phase, the students are required to present the clerked cases in front of their group members with a thorough assessment by lecturers at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Due to sudden outbreak of COVID-19, presentations at hospitals and face-to-face learning were no longer feasible; therefore an online methodology was executed. Each student was assigned a real completed case clerked by a previous Master’s in Clinical Pharmacy graduate. The students then critically evaluated any pharmaceutical care issues (PCIs) in each of the cases, recorded a video presentation for assessment by the lecturers and discussed each case with other group members in a synchronous online session via web-conferencing software.

Assessment of research ethics education offerings of pharmacy master programs: a qualitative content analysis

The importance of research ethics (RE) training has led academic and funding institutions to require that students, trainees, and faculty obtain such training at various stages of their careers. Despite the increasing awareness of the value RE education offers, this training requirement is absent in Jordan. We aimed to assess RE education offerings of pharmacy master programs in Jordan and compare with the top-ranked pharmacy graduate programs globally. Therefore, a list of universities that offer research-based pharmacy master programs was created. Each program was evaluated for the inclusion of RE education. A qualitative content analysis approach based on inductive reasoning and latent analysis was followed to analyze the data. Results of the study showed a lack of appropriate RE education for graduate-level pharmacy programs in Jordan with only 40% of the programs partially discuss selected topics related to RE. Regarding pharmacy graduate programs globally, 10% offer a standalone RE course, 40% offer some discussions related to RE, another 10% do not offer RE education in any form, and the remaining 40% of the programs were difficult to assess due to lack of sufficient information available online. Based on the findings of this study, training in RE is tends to be lacking in pharmacy graduate programs in Jordan and globally, with a greater lack in Jordan than globally. There is a need to incorporate formal RE education into programs that do not offer this type of instruction. Programs that formally touch on some aspects of RE need to expand the scope of topics to include more RE-related themes. Integrating a standalone RE course into pharmacy graduate programs is highly encouraged.