Future healthcare journal最新文献

Pharmacy practice in the United States has evolved, transitioning from simple dispensing to complex compounding and medication management. Pharmacists play important roles across many sectors, including clinical care, pharmaceutical industry, insurance companies, and public health. Pharmacists optimize therapy, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs. However, the profession faces challenges such as burnout, understaffing and declining insurance reimbursements, particularly in independent pharmacies. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have exacerbated these issues, controlling drug prices and reducing pharmacy profitability through opaque pricing and monopolistic practices. Recent legislative efforts in states like New York have aimed to curb PBM influence, however issues persist, and nationwide legislation is lacking. The future of pharmacy depends on addressing these challenges through unified lobbying and proactive reform. Despite these hurdles, scope of practice and innovation within the field continues to grow, offering hope for a revitalized pharmacy landscape.

The discussion surrounding the ethics of mandatory HPV vaccination for young adolescents aged 12-13 is complex. The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a prevalent sexually transmitted infection with certain strains linked to cervical and other types of cancers. While screening and behavioural interventions play important roles in prevention, vaccination has been shown to provide superior protection, thus reducing the incidence of HPV-related diseases by up to 90%. The effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, particularly Gardasil9, has led to discussions about making vaccination mandatory to improve public health outcomes. However, this raises ethical concerns about parental rights, individual autonomy and the implications of mandating vaccination in the context of sexual behaviour. This paper explores the ethical implications of a mandatory HPV vaccination programme, focusing on the ethical concerns of parental rights, gender equity and socioeconomic disparities. Additionally, the paper considers barriers to vaccination uptake and emphasises the importance of education and informed consent. It will be further discussed that while mandatory vaccination could lead to substantial public health benefits, it must be balanced by respecting individual freedoms and be accompanied by education campaigns. Ultimately, the ethical justification for mandatory HPV vaccination lies in its potential to prevent significant harm and promote health equity across populations.

Physician associates (PAs) are a developing profession in the UK. The Faculty of Physician Associates (FPA) recommends the establishment of local preceptorship programmes for PAs in the first year of practice who have successfully passed the PA national exam. Limited evidence currently exists around the evaluation of such local programmes and the experience of the intern PAs involved. Over the course of a 12-month period, four intern PAs completed a structured preceptorship comprising clinical supervision, teaching and mentoring. Upon completion of this programme, qualitative data were recorded and analysed to influence the development of the preceptorship in future. In conclusion, a structured preceptorship has been shown to be a useful method of improving clinician confidence and competence while offering a supported working environment for newly qualified PAs.

This paper examines how social prescribing could be implemented across urgent and emergency care (UEC) systems by examining potentially viable referral pathways and the salient challenges and barriers to implementation. In doing so, we consider a range of services involved in the broader UEC system to include emergency departments, emergency medical (ambulance) services, out-of-hours general practitioners, telephony-based urgent care, urgent treatment centres, and community pharmacy. This paper aims to encourage further debate on this topic, including around the nuances of UEC services that may influence implementation of social prescribing.

The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has ushered in a new era of possibilities in healthcare, ranging from clinical task automation to disease detection. AI algorithms have the potential to analyse medical data, enhance diagnostic accuracy, personalise treatment plans and predict patient outcomes among other possibilities. With a surge in AI's popularity, its developments are outpacing policy and regulatory frameworks, leading to concerns about ethical considerations and collaborative development. Healthcare faces its own ethical challenges, including biased datasets, under-representation and inequitable access to resources, all contributing to mistrust in medical systems. To address these issues in the context of AI healthcare solutions and prevent perpetuating existing inequities, it is crucial to involve communities and stakeholders in the AI lifecycle. This article discusses four community-driven approaches for co-developing ethical AI healthcare solutions, including understanding and prioritising needs, defining a shared language, promoting mutual learning and co-creation, and democratising AI. These approaches emphasise bottom-up decision-making to reflect and centre impacted communities' needs and values. These collaborative approaches provide actionable considerations for creating equitable AI solutions in healthcare, fostering a more just and effective healthcare system that serves patient and community needs.