International Journal of Pharmacy Practice最新文献

Background: Medication wastage is a global concern that is associated with significant impact. As drug experts, pharmacists' opinions and practices are essential in finding strategies to control waste. Re-dispensing the unused medicines stored at home may be a possible solution that needs to be examined.

Objective: To characterize Jordanian pharmacists' perspectives on the causes of medication waste, describe current waste-reduction activities, and assess the feasibility, barriers, and pharmacists' readiness and willingness toward implementing medication re-dispensing.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacists working in Jordan using a pre-validated online questionnaire.

Results: This study recruited 138 pharmacists. Key factors identified as contributing to medication waste included non-adherence (75.4%), patients lack of awareness (60.9%), self-medication (53.6%), polypharmacy (51.4%), and misuse of health insurance (50.7%).While pharmacists reported engaging in activities such as the ability to split packages (73.2%), managing pharmacy stocks (65.2%), and conducting medication reviews (61.6%), many of these activities were limited in actual implementation. More than half of participants (54.3%) believed that implementing a re-dispensing approach in Jordan would be practical, and 69.6% expressed willingness to provide a service for collecting unused medicines in their pharmacies. However, the most significant barrier identified was the lack of clear regulations (76.8%).

Conclusion: Pharmacists can play a vital role in reducing medication waste by managing unused drugs and leading educational initiatives on proper medication use and disposal. However, the findings indicate that current efforts by Jordanian pharmacists to minimize medicine waste remain suboptimal. The concept of re-dispensing warrants further evaluation from additional perspectives.

Background: Pharmacy education in Jordan has expanded in response to national growth and increasing healthcare needs. As an upper-middle-income country, Jordan depends on pharmacy programs to supply a workforce for community, clinical, academic, industrial, and regulatory sectors.

Objective: To review the current setting of pharmacy education and practice in Jordan, including training paths, accreditation, licensure, and career opportunities.

Methods: A narrative review of national regulations, institutional documents, literature, and professional reports was conducted.

Results: Jordan hosts 18 pharmacy faculties offering BPharm degrees, with two also providing PharmD programs. Admission is centrally regulated, and training includes extensive coursework and required practice experience. Postgraduate opportunities include MSc and PhD programs, and CPD. Accreditation and licensure involve national regulatory bodies. Graduates work across community, hospital, academic, industry, and regulatory settings, though challenges include limited clinical positions, misalignment between curricula and labor-market needs, and insufficient support for advanced services. Research activity is increasing, served by curricular reforms and funding.

Conclusions: Pharmacy education in Jordan is expanding, but strengthening clinical training, specialization, research capacity, and workforce planning remains essential.

Objectives: Community pharmacists are expanding their practice to provide more consumer-focused professional services to support rising healthcare demands. Despite strong evidence supporting the benefits of pharmacist-led services, their uptake remains inconsistent. This review examines the factors that affect the implementation of community pharmacist-led professional services.

Methods: A scoping review of studies published between 2005 and 2024 was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria focused on studies assessing stakeholder experiences of implemented services. Study quality was assessed using the Mixed-Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Thematic synthesis was applied to extract and categorize key findings.

Key findings: Thirty-six studies were included in the final analysis. Fifteen were based in European countries, 12 in Oceanic regions, and eight in North America. Time constraints, workload pressures, general practitioner resistance, limited consumer awareness, and remuneration concerns hindered implementation. Facilitators included clear role definitions, motivated staff, structured service delivery models, enhanced collaboration with healthcare professionals, and financial incentives.

Conclusions: Community pharmacists have the potential to provide expanded professional services and practise to their full scope to enhance healthcare accessibility and patient outcomes. Multilevel approaches that address logistic, collaborative, systematic, and financial challenges are needed. Future research should focus on large-scale evaluations and long-term impacts to build a stronger evidence base for pharmacist-led professional services.

Objective: Consultant pharmacists in the United Kingdom are appointed to lead across four pillars of advanced practice: clinical expertise, leadership, education, and research. Despite research being an expectation of the role, limited evidence exists on the nature and extent of research engagement in this group. We aimed to explore the research activity, readiness, and associated challenges and enablers experienced by consultant pharmacists in North England.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 consultant pharmacists across primary and secondary care settings. Participants were recruited through professional networks and snowball sampling. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using template analysis. A hierarchical coding template was iteratively developed and applied to identify key themes.

Key findings: Five themes were identified: (1) Research skillset, (2) Job planning and time allocation, (3) Intrinsic motivation and resilience, (4) Structural barriers and enablers, and (5) Reach and influence. While participants demonstrated strong internal motivation to engage in research, many cited limited protected time, complex governance structures, and a lack of pharmacy-specific mentorship as barriers. Research activity was often deprioritized for clinical responsibilities. Participants frequently worked outside contracted hours to pursue research and often sought mentorship from other professions. Nonetheless, consultant pharmacists were seen to champion research culture, mentor junior staff, and influence practice through local and national dissemination of research.

Conclusions: Consultant pharmacists are well positioned to advance applied research in pharmacy, but current systemic and cultural barriers must be addressed to fully realize their potential. Structured support, research training, clearer frameworks, and protected time are essential to sustain research engagement.

Objectives: Community pharmacies play a crucial role as a primary healthcare access point in low- and middle-income countries, including the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) guidelines are the basics to establish minimum standards of community pharmacy practice. This study aimed to assess adherence to the GPP standards of community pharmacies in the Lao PDR and investigate factors associated with poor adherence to the GPP standards.

Methods: Data collection of this cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 provinces from November 2022 to June 2023. The inspection of GPP adherence regarding facility, storage, services, dispensing, and rational use was performed in 180 pharmacies without any prior notification. Data regarding characteristics of the pharmacies (location, class, period since opening, opening hours per day, income per day, number of customers per day, and number of staff members), and interviewed staff (sex, education level, and employment status) were also collected. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were performed.

Key findings: This study found only 11.7% of the community pharmacies met 80% or higher of total GPP standards. Community pharmacies located outside of the city were 9.29 times more likely to show low GPP adherence than pharmacies in the city. Male pharmacists were 2.38 times more likely to exhibit low GPP adherence than female pharmacists.

Conclusions: Our study elucidated that community pharmacies located outside of the city and male pharmacists might be the target of focused administrative inspection, guidance, or support to refine community pharmacy practice in the Lao PDR.

Objectives: Pharmacist independent prescribers (PIPs) enhance patient care but there is variability in their integration in community pharmacy (CP). The objective was to collate and characterize literature on the integration of 'standard of care' model PIPs in CP for acute common clinical conditions (CCCs).

Methods: This review followed the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Eligibility criteria, search databases, and terms were defined. Information sources were searched from January 2006 to October 2023. Following screening, full text review, and data extraction a narrative synthesis approach was used to address the review objectives. All steps were independently checked by two of the review team. Barriers and facilitators for integration used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research as a theoretical lens.

Key findings: Ten papers remained for full text review from 1075 records. Most studies were from Canada and focused on pharmacist views, evaluation of safety, effectiveness, and patient satisfaction. A range of CCCs were included with a focus on antimicrobial prescribing. A wide range of barriers and facilitators influencing implementation were identified including; 'regulatory constraints' and 'fiscal challenges' at a macro socio-organizational level and several challenges within organizations; lack of clarity on the pharmacists' scopes of practice and linked consumer confusion, staffing levels, and workload with specific mention of paperwork and access to patient records.

Conclusions: Most evidence for CCC management by PIPs relates to antimicrobials, originates in Canada and identifies multiple challenges. Given this there is a need to consider this topic further to identify ways to address the challenges and facilitate integration of PIPs in CP.

Objectives: Pharmacy preceptors are pivotal in shaping pharmacy education by bridging theoretical knowledge with clinical practice. This review synthesizes the literature on pharmacy preceptor roles, responsibilities, and precepting models while exploring the unique challenges and opportunities in the UAE healthcare context. The evolving focus on clinical pharmacy within the United Arab Emirates highlights the necessity of tailored precepting strategies to meet local needs.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Search terms focused on pharmacy preceptor roles, responsibilities, precepting models, and challenges and strategies for overcoming them. Thematic analysis was employed to extract and categorize key insights, particularly those relevant to the United Arab Emirates.

Key findings: The review identifies the four core roles of preceptors: direct instruction, modelling, coaching, and facilitating, as defined by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. It highlights global and UAE-specific challenges, such as preceptor shortages, cultural barriers, and the need for structured mentorship programmes. Innovative precepting models, including Peer-Assisted Learning and the Layered Learning Practice Model, are discussed for their potential adaptability to the UAE's healthcare system.

Conclusions: Addressing the challenges faced by pharmacy preceptors in the United Arab Emirates requires a multi-faceted approach, including ongoing training, institutional support, and customized precepting strategies. By combining global best practices with local contextualization, the United Arab Emirates can enhance pharmacy education and align it with its healthcare priorities.

Background: Many terms have been used in the literature to describe medicines use behaviour without standardized definitions. It is unclear whether these terms are being applied interchangeably and variably across different measurement methods.

Aim: To review the definitions of medicines adherence, compliance, persistence, and concordance in the published literature on older adults and identify how they have been measured.

Methods: A systematic literature search with review of reference lists was conducted. Two investigators independently reviewed the identified articles. A content analysis was conducted using NVivo V.14 to identify the main elements for defining medicines adherence, compliance, persistence, and concordance. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the studies by their type, country of study, and related participant characteristics.

Key findings: One hundred and fifteen identified papers were eligible for inclusion. Discrepancies were found in the definitions of each term. Commonalities were found between the definitions of medicines compliance, adherence, and persistence. Only one study was found on medicines concordance. Similar instruments such as the medication possession ratio (MPR) and proportion of days covered (PDC) were used to determine medicines adherence, compliance, and persistence. Some measurement instruments were applied differently across studies in which different cut-off values were used to classify outcomes.

Conclusions: There is a considerable overlap and inconsistency in the definitions of terms used to describe medicines use behaviour. The imperative to standardize the definitions appears as a critical step to strengthen consistent measurement approaches leading to accurate estimates of medicines use outcomes.