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The ecosystem concept has attracted attention in information system research to explain business competition, innovation and many other emerging phenomena. Existing studies focus more on a single ecosystem type or a single ecosystem goal and pay little attention to the ecosystem’s evolution. The objective of the study is to investigate the factors that impact the evolution of the information ecosystem (IE) to gain a better understanding of strategic thinking.

The IE involves many actors, so the multi-case study approach is conducted with purposeful sampling to recruit all the significant ecosystem actors. The collected qualitative data are analyzed by coding data, exploring data relationships and structuring pattern steps; institutional theory is used as a theoretical framework.

The results demonstrate that industry practices, laws and regulations, new actors and the mimetic pressure of outsourcers drive the growth of the ecosystem. Strategy intention, cost pressure and normative pressure all contribute to the IE’s evolution.

The concept of ecosystems has attracted attention in information system research. The study investigates the factors contributing to the evolution of the IE from an institutional theory perspective. Our suggestion is that new players can find a niche in offering information technology (IT)/ information services (IS)-related solutions to survive in the ecosystem; however, they need to pay attention to the normative pressure.

The study aims to estimate the prevalence of workplace bullying, personal and work-related impacts, reporting practices for bullying, and the reasons for not reporting bullying incidents in the New Zealand pharmacy sector.

An online survey was conducted among registered pharmacists and pharmacist interns in New Zealand from June to August 2020. The questionnaire comprises both close-ended and semi-structured free-text questions. Goldberg’s 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) assessed the respondents’ general psychological health status, and a 22-item Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) was used to estimate bullying prevalence together with the self-rated/self-labeled questions. The qualitative information obtained from the free-text responses was used to support and elaborate on the quantitative results.

The self-labeled prevalence of workplace bullying was 36.9%, with almost 10% reporting it occurring almost daily to several times per week. The 54.7% prevalence based on the NAQ-R assessment compares well with the prevalence of witnessing the incidents (58.5%). Psychological distress symptoms were experienced by 37.1% in pre-COVID and 45.3% during COVID-year 1. Supervisors or direct managers were the commonest perpetrators (32.7%). Only 28.8% of those who experienced bullying had reported the incidents formally.

This study is cross-sectional, and the relationships indicated are bi-directional. The consistency of the results is reassuring, however inferring causality of effect is challenging. Future studies and analyses should focus on this. This study suggests that in the pharmacy environment bullying from the top is reasonably prevalent, is not commonly reported and requires the design and implementation of prevention and management strategies that take into account and mitigate these bullying factors. Professional pharmacy leadership organizations, National Health Authority and Pharmacy regulators could play a significant role in awareness and training to reduce bullying with the development and promotion of strategies to curb it and improve reporting.

This is the first paper to describe the prevalence and impact of workplace bullying, and the practices of reporting bullying incidents in the New Zealand pharmacy sector. Based on empirical evidence, pharmacists represent a small share of total healthcare workforce, yet the overall prevalence of bullying is consistent with professions with much larger numbers such as medicine and nursing.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy and drug–drug interactions (DDIs) in older and younger prisoners, and compared if age group is associated with risks of polypharmacy and DDIs.

For 380 prisoners from Switzerland (190 were 49 years and younger; 190 were 50 years and older), data concerning their medication use were gathered. MediQ identified if interactions of two or more substances could lead to potentially adverse DDI. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and generalised linear mixed models.

On average, older prisoners took 3.8 medications, while younger prisoners took 2.1 medications. Number of medications taken on one reference day was higher by a factor of 2.4 for older prisoners when compared to younger prisoners (p = 0.002). The odds of polypharmacy was significantly higher for older than for younger prisoners (>=5 medications: odds ratio = 5.52, p = 0.035). Age group analysis indicated that for potentially adverse DDI there was no significant difference (odds ratio = 0.94; p = 0.879). However, when controlling for the number of medication, the risk of adverse DDI was higher in younger than older prisoners, but the result was not significant.

Older prisoners are at a higher risk of polypharmacy but their risk for potentially adverse DDI is not significantly different from that of younger prisoners. Special clinical attention must be given to older prisoners who are at risk for polypharmacy. Careful medication management is also important for younger prisoners who are at risk of very complex drug therapies.

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.

The New Zealand Pharmacy Action Plan 2016–20 acknowledges the young, highly qualified pharmacist workforce, and seeks to address pharmacist underutilisation in the wider health setting. Anecdotal evidence suggests many recently qualified pharmacists are dissatisfied with the profession. Therefore, those completing BPharm programs after 2002, who had left or were seriously considering leaving the New Zealand pharmacy profession, were invited to comment on future-focused pharmacy documents, and the current direction of pharmacy in New Zealand.

An online questionnaire was open December 2018 to February 2019. Recruitment occurred via e-mail lists of universities and professional organisations, print and social media, and word-of-mouth. Free-text responses were thematically analysed using a general inductive approach.

From the 328 analysable surveys received, 172 respondents commented on the documents and/or direction of the pharmacy profession. Views were mixed. Overarching document-related themes were positive direction, but concern over achievability, the lack of funding details, lack of implementation, their benefits for pharmacists and the public, and ability to bring about change and secure a future for the profession. Overall pharmacy was considered an unattractive profession needing to change.

This study highlights dissatisfied recent BPharm graduates agree with the vision in the documents but do not see progress towards achieving the vision occurring, leading to frustration and exit in some cases. Policymakers should be aware of these views as considerable resource goes into their development.

This paper aims to investigate how pharmacies communicate their customer value proposition (CVP) in a complex and multiple-stakeholder setting. More specifically, from the pharmacists’ perspective, the study analyzes how CVP is articulated in complex settings/offerings and among multiple stakeholders; and elucidates the communication gap among stakeholders of the CVP.

Two studies were conducted to examine how offerings are communicated throughout the value chain. Through six in-depth interviews, Study 1 aimed to analyze how pharmacies articulate CVP for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in a complex business-to-business-to-consumer setting. For Study 2, the data were collected from 113 French pharmacists to investigate the communication issues and to unveil the tools used to promote OTC drugs among the different stakeholders.

From the pharmacists’ perspective, the longer the chain, the more complex the efficiency of the CVP. This study conceives a new and adapted CVP as iterative and cumulative. This paper also highlights how value is distributed across the customer relationship in a complex and regulated industry. The findings feature a reciprocal perspective of CVP between the pharmaceutical labs and their direct/indirect customers. Final customers aim at creating a reciprocal approach with the different stakeholders. Pharmacists use a unidirectional perspective of CVP with their direct customers (patients/final customers).

The study contributes to a better understanding of the CVP in complex industries characterized by a chain of value distributed among multiple stakeholders (i.e. business-to-consumer and business-to-business). The article also enriches past research that analyzed the way firms communicate their offerings from a CVP perspective.

Located as intermediaries between patients/customers and national health systems, community pharmacies have to negotiate increasing government demands for free advice, pressure on their earnings and an increasingly deregulated market. A comparative assessment of the German and UK markets highlights the tensions pharmacists face as healthcare providers and retailers, assessing the ways in which each group copes with growing competitive challenges. Based on a grounded theory study of community pharmacies in Berlin/Brandenburg and the Greater Manchester area the role of pharmacies within their local neighbourhoods is discussed and the potential for the transfer of marketing intelligence between the two countries evaluated.

The success ofIn recent years, there has been significant interest in the application of continuous quality improvement (CQI) and total quality management (TQM), and patient‐focused care (PFC) in health care organisations around the globe. The hospital industry has substantially embraced the concepts of CQI and TQM with the belief that these concepts and programmes will lead to an improvement in both the quality and efficiency with which health services are delivered. The objective of this article is to achieve better outcomes in health care services with fewer resources by studying the implementation of patient‐focused care in the health care provision context and particularly in the area of pharmaceutical care management as an integrated process in the delivery of health care in a hospital setting. The changes in health care provision have in many instances meant that the provision of pharmaceutical services needed re‐assessing.

This study aims to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of PhD students in India regarding research ethics and institutional review boards (IRBs), assess awareness levels, identify training gaps, examine ethical priorities and understand challenges in the IRB application process.

A quantitative approach was used, and a self-evaluator questionnaire was distributed electronically to PhD students. Data collection occurred between 1 March 1 and 30 March 2024, with analysis conducted using SPSS software.

The study reveals a significant gap in formal training on IRB procedures within PhD programs and challenges in completing IRB applications despite recognising ethical priorities such as informed consent and confidentiality.

This study provides insights into PhD students’ perspectives on research ethics and IRBs in India, highlighting the need for enhanced education and awareness initiatives to promote responsible conduct and safeguard research participants.

This study explores nurses' views as to whether they see community pharmacists as “entrepreneurial” and what this might mean for working together in primary care. Pharmacists are expected to fully integrate with their colleagues – particularly nurses – under the New Zealand health policy. Yet, there is scarce literature that examines multidisciplinary teamwork and integration through an entrepreneurial identity lens. This is particularly important since around the world, including New Zealand, community pharmacies are small businesses.

This was an exploratory qualitative study. A total of 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses from primary care, nursing professional bodies and academics from nursing schools. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Coding was undertaken through general inductive thematic analysis.

In total three key themes emerged through analysis: the entrepreneurial profile of the community pharmacist, the lack of entrepreneurship across the profession, and the role identity and value that community pharmacists hold, as viewed by nurses. There appeared to be pockets of entrepreneurship in community pharmacy; nurses did not express a blanket label of entrepreneurship across the whole sector. Nurses also discussed several forms of entrepreneurship including commercial-oriented, clinical and social entrepreneurship. The social entrepreneurship identity of community pharmacists sat most comfortably with nurse participants. Overall, nurses appeared to value community pharmacists but felt that they did not fully understand the roles that this profession took on.

This paper contributes to the academic literature by identifying three domains of entrepreneurship relevant to community pharmacy as well as multi-level barriers that will need to be jointly tackled by professional bodies and policy-makers. Improving nurses' and other healthcare professionals' knowledge of community pharmacists' role and expertise is also likely to facilitate better inter-professional integration.

There is scarce literature that attempts to understand how entrepreneurial identity plays out in health organisation and management. This study adds to the knowledge base of factors influencing integration in healthcare.