Search results
1 – 10 of over 3000Amira Guirguis, John M. Corkery, Jacqueline L. Stair, Stewart Kirton, Mire Zloh, Christine M. Goodair, Fabrizio Schifano and Colin Davidson
– The purpose of this paper is to determine pharmacists’ knowledge of legal highs (novel psychoactive substances (NPS)).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine pharmacists’ knowledge of legal highs (novel psychoactive substances (NPS)).
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was handed out at two London pharmacist continuing education events in mid-2014. These events update pharmacists about developments of interest/relevance to the profession and to improve their practice. A total of 54 forms were returned; a response rate of 26 percent.
Findings
Most pharmacists had poor knowledge of NPS and many considered that NPS were not important to their work, with few having had to advise customers in this area. Despite this, the majority thought that they had insufficient information about NPS. There was a negative correlation between the age of the pharmacist and knowledge of NPS.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is a self-selected one drawn from registered pharmacists working in community pharmacies in northwest London, and thus does not include hospital pharmacies. Self-selection means that respondents may only reflect those who are interested in the NPS phenomenon and not the wider pharmacy community. The geographical area covered may not be representative of London as a whole, or indeed other parts of the UK or other EU countries.
Practical implications
It is clear that pharmacists do not know much about NPS but would like to know more. This information might improve their practice.
Social implications
Pharmacists, easier to see than general practitioners, could be a useful source of information for NPS misusers.
Originality/value
There have been no previous attempts to gauge the level of knowledge by pharmacists of legal highs/NPS in the UK or elsewhere to our knowledge.
Details
Keywords
Stella Ngozi Anasi, Folasade Olufunke Lawal and Abiola Paul-Ozieh
The internet has become one of the most commonly used sources for medical and health information. Research that explored the extent to which Nigerian community pharmacists use…
Abstract
Purpose
The internet has become one of the most commonly used sources for medical and health information. Research that explored the extent to which Nigerian community pharmacists use internet resources for patient care is limited. This study aims to examine the extent to which community pharmacists use the internet for professional practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using a questionnaire which was completed by 115 community pharmacists using convenience sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.
Findings
The results revealed that community pharmacists use a variety of online resources, although only about 25 per cent or less use each of the online resources. The critical challenges that hinder their use of the internet were inadequate power supply, lack of funds to procure personal internet facilities, among others. There is significant relative contribution of demographic variables (gender, age, educational qualification and number of years in professional practice) on frequency of internet use among community pharmacists.
Practical implications
The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), Lagos Chapter, should organize continuing professional education for their members to expose them to online resources and emerging trends in professional practice. The community pharmacist should also address the problem of inadequate communication with patients by stepping up communication with the patients about their drug therapy not only through the conventional media but also through internet facilities such as email, WhatsApp and so on.
Originality/value
This study examined the extent to which community pharmacists use the internet for professional activities. This study also empirically investigated the significant relative contribution of demographic variables (gender, age, educational qualification and number of years in professional practice) on the frequency of internet use among community pharmacists.
Details
Keywords
Hernan E. Riquelme, Mohamed Elthani and Rosa E. Rios
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the percentage of generic inventory pharmacists have in stock, to comprehend why pharmacists in Jordan recommend and dispense generic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the percentage of generic inventory pharmacists have in stock, to comprehend why pharmacists in Jordan recommend and dispense generic products.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 104 pharmacists were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained statements about perception of generic products, inclination to recommend generic products, importance of promotions, factors influencing a recommendation, stock of generics, and among others. Correlational and discriminant analyses were used to establish associations between variables to distinguish characteristics between groups.
Findings
More than half of the Jordanian pharmacists sampled carry between 20 and 39 per cent stock of generic drugs and 46 per cent carry more than 40 per cent stock. One‐third (33 per cent) substitutes branded products by generic ones and slightly more (36 per cent) recommend more generic than branded products as opposed to those who recommend more branded products (24 per cent). Male pharmacists (49 per cent) tend to recommend more generic products than do females (24.6 per cent) and those who recommend more branded products are more influenced by sales visits rather than manufacturer's name or bonuses.
Originality/value
The paper provides valuable information about the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan and the empirical study adds insights from pharmacists about generic medicine.
Kourosh Delpasand, Saeid Nazari Tavakkoli, Mehrzad Kiani, Mahmoud Abbasi and Leila Afshar
Based on the developmental process of pharmacy in medical relationships, it is essential to pay attention to ethical issues in this field and develop a good pharmacist–patient…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the developmental process of pharmacy in medical relationships, it is essential to pay attention to ethical issues in this field and develop a good pharmacist–patient relationship. The present study aimed to mention the frequency of ethical challenges of pharmacy in Iran as a fundamental step towards designing a practical ethical guideline for professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
In this observational study, data were collected using a two-part questionnaire with 64 items developed after examining relevant texts and conducting unstructured interviews with pharmacy specialists. The first part determined the frequency of ethical challenges that the pharmacist confronts, using 43 short scenarios, whereas the second part comprised 21 questions with short answers. For validation, the questionnaire was sent to 20 medical ethics specialists who were familiar with issues in pharmacy ethics.
Findings
Data were collected from 48 members of the Iranian Association of Pharmacists (Working Group of Hospital Pharmacists). and the frequency of ethical challenges was determined. The most frequent issues were patient's request for over-the-counter drugs, asking about their lab results, asking drug for another person and returning the drug.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitation of our study is its population, there were hospital pharmacist, other pharmacist such as community pharmacist may face different challenges.
Practical implications
The finding of this study could lead the policymakers to develop ethical guidelines for pharmacy practices.
Social implications
The pharmacist–patient relationship is one of the important aspects of health system, and therefore regulating this relationship based on the professional ethics guidelines could have a positive impact on therapeutic relationships.
Originality/value
Results showed that designing codes of ethics and practical guidelines based on the frequency of the noted challenges enhances the quality of treatment, improves the pharmacist–patient relationship, increases the level of cooperation and decreases patient complaints.
Details
Keywords
Laura A. Rhodes, Dennis M. Williams, Macary W. Marciniak and David Jay Weber
The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of pharmacist involvement as vaccine providers in the USA and discuss examples of growing interests in other parts of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of pharmacist involvement as vaccine providers in the USA and discuss examples of growing interests in other parts of the world.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature searches were performed in PubMed as well as pharmacy-related journals.
Findings
Pharmacists have been involved with the storage and management of vaccines for more than a century. Based on the unmet needs in meeting national goals for vaccination rates among adults in the USA, efforts led to training and recognizing pharmacists as vaccine providers which is now within the scope of practice for a pharmacist in all US states and territories. Pharmacists complete a comprehensive training program in vaccine sciences, regulatory considerations, as well as demonstration of skills in administering vaccines. Over 300,000 pharmacists have been trained in vaccine delivery and this represents the majority of the pharmacist workforce in the USA. There are examples of the beneficial impact of pharmacist involvement as vaccine providers in community pharmacy settings.
Research limitations/implications
This review is based on a thorough review of the literature but was not conducted in a systematic fashion.
Originality/value
This review provides a historical perspective and evidence of the benefit of pharmacists as vaccine providers.
Details
Keywords
Increasingly popular mobile health technology is creating a new paradigm for the delivery of care to patients involving a role of the pharmacist. This study aims to propose a…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasingly popular mobile health technology is creating a new paradigm for the delivery of care to patients involving a role of the pharmacist. This study aims to propose a renewed patient–pharmacist relationship in this environment and present an empirical case study investigating the influence of key variables, including the consumer’s attitude toward personalized monitoring performed by the pharmacist, on the intention to adopt a mobile health app. Other drivers identified were ease of use and perceived usefulness of the app, individual and health-related factors (perceived vulnerability and severity of health condition, social norms and innovativeness with technology) and quality of relationship with the pharmacist.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-administered online survey was completed by 356 Canadian mobile device owners of more than 40 of age. Analyses were performed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The main factor driving adoption intentions was perceived usefulness followed by the respondent’s innovativeness with technology and perceived vulnerability of his/her health condition. Attitude toward personalized monitoring depends primarily on the relationship with the pharmacist. No relationship was found between adoption intentions and attitude toward personalized monitoring.
Originality/value
This research features a multidisciplinary approach by using variables from relational marketing, information technology and health and inclusion of the pharmacist (vs physician) as a health consultant, offering relevant marketing avenues for pharmacists.
Details
Keywords
Ahmed Taher, Elnora W. Stuart and Ibrahim Hegazy
Pharmaceutical companies' marketing strategies have traditionally targeted only physicians and, more recently, consumers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Pharmaceutical companies' marketing strategies have traditionally targeted only physicians and, more recently, consumers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the pharmacist as prescriber, influencer, switcher, and dispenser of pharmaceutical drugs in one developing country, Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed pharmacists in Cairo, Egypt. The pharmacists were asked to estimate the percentages of patients who came in with a prescription, with only a box or a recommendation for a medicine and with only symptoms, and whether he/she switched the patient to another medicine. Pharmacies were classified as to the social class of the pharmacy neighborhoods. Cluster analysis was used to further classify pharmacists as “Influencers” and “Non‐influencers”.
Findings
Overall the pharmacists influence 39 percent of all purchase decisions for pharmaceuticals with higher levels of influence in lower social class neighborhoods. Approximately one out of four pharmacists was classified as an Influencer.
Practical implications
In developing countries, the pharmacist plays a key role in which medicines patients ultimately purchase. Marketing activities directed toward the pharmacist may provide an important opportunity to maximize the pharmaceutical firms' return on marketing investment.
Originality/value
Few studies have looked at the marketing of pharmaceutical drugs in developing countries. This paper is unique in that it examines the role of the pharmacist in these markets, thus providing an important addition to the understanding of the challenges to the industry in these countries and important implications for pharmaceutical marketing strategies.
Details
Keywords
Nicola Cobelli and Andrea Chiarini
The main purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the attitude of pharmacists, as small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners, toward new technologies, and more…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the attitude of pharmacists, as small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners, toward new technologies, and more precisely, toward the adoption of mobile apps for mobile health (mHealth). Such apps are generally used to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. This study measures pharmacists’ subjective experiences of mobile apps for mHealth and aims to understand how these pharmacists make sense of these apps.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted the narrative inquiry technique combined with critical event analysis. Participants' experiences were categorized based on how they viewed new technology tools. Interpretative inductive analysis identified precise aspects of the sense making illustrative of non-adoption or confused adoption of new technologies by pharmacists.
Findings
This study investigates to what extent new technology tools such as mobile apps affect retailers and more precisely the reasons why mobile apps are and are not adopted by retailers, as potential users, in the pharmaceutical industry. We identified four aspects of sense making that illustrated non-adoption or confused adoption of new technologies by pharmacists. These aspects are deeply discussed in the paper and are referred to the dimensions of confusion to confidence; suspicion to trust; frustration to education; mistrust to cooperation.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the present study is the limited number of territories investigated. This limitation arose because of the exploratory nature of the available research, which is generally based on case studies, and the lack of clear operationalization of the research available at the time of data collection. Another limitation is that the sample included only SMEs operating in the Italian pharmacy industry.
Originality/value
Many studies have highlighted the opportunities related to new mobile apps in the business-to-business market. Several have investigated customer interest in such new technology. If some contributions have indirectly investigated the acceptance of information technology tools, to the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted to investigate directly and precisely the level of pharmacists' acceptance, use, and willingness to adopt information technology (e.g., mobile apps) for customer service in mHealth and mainly the reasons of non-adoption.
Details
Keywords
Waleed M.S. Al‐Shaqha and Mohamed Zairi
As healthcare reform takes shape, many challenges face hospital pharmacists. An opportunity exists to combine the principles of patient‐focused care and pharmaceutical care to…
Abstract
As healthcare reform takes shape, many challenges face hospital pharmacists. An opportunity exists to combine the principles of patient‐focused care and pharmaceutical care to redesign the role of pharmacy. To achieve this objective, pharmacy departments should adopt business concepts such as process re‐engineering. Process re‐engineering is a change management tool which aims to produce dramatic improvement in performance measures by re‐designing the process. The goal of restructuring is to increase the amount of time pharmacists spend providing pharmaceutical care to patients. The pharmaceutical care concept is a method of delivering pharmaceutical care services that match individual patient needs with the services provided. This article describes many hospital pharmacy department transitions to a patient focused care environment by adopting the patient focused care concept and the process re‐engineering to improve the quality of patient care through systems improvement.
Details
Keywords
Waleed M. S. Al‐Shaqha and Mohamed Zairi
Institutional pharmaceutical services have widely evolved over the past 20‐30 years. Hospital pharmacy practice has changed from a profession concerned chiefly with the bulk…
Abstract
Institutional pharmaceutical services have widely evolved over the past 20‐30 years. Hospital pharmacy practice has changed from a profession concerned chiefly with the bulk preparation and distribution of drug products to one centred on ensuring optimal drug therapy. Whereas hospital pharmacists were charged with maintaining large drug stock on nursing units, many of them now provide individualised patient therapies. The practice of hospital pharmacy has therefore become one encompassing all aspects of drug therapy, from the procurement of drugs and drug delivery devices, their preparation and distribution, to their most appropriate selection and use for each patient. Hospital pharmacy services have traditionally had little involvement at the key stages in patients’ hospital care. This leads to the conclusion that the model of clinical pharmacy practice adopted by many pharmacy department hospitals is no longer appropriate for the demands of today’s health‐care services. Reviews many new models proposed for clinical pharmacy practice including an integrated model for providing a pharmaceutical care management approach in the health‐care system. This model is a response to the failures of traditional drug therapy. It is primarily an idea about how health professionals and patient should integrate their work to obtain outcomes important to patients and clinicians.
Details