Providing Drug Information Research Articles

A Review on the Pharmaceutical Care Services during COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines

Aims: As a developing country, the Philippines was among the hard-hit countries in the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacists have stressed the significant role they play on the frontlines in the fight to lessen the pandemic's detrimental impacts.
 Methodology: Using available published materials obtained from various journal databases, this article review identifies and discusses the pharmaceutical care activities of pharmacists during the pandemic caused by COVID-19 in the Philippines.
 Results: Pharmaceutical care services like teleconsultation and provision of drug information were provided to the public and even to other healthcare professionals through telepharmacy, managing minor illnesses in the community, maintaining patient’s access to prescription and maintenance medications, teaching and campaigning for vaccination, and even receiving training to administer COVID-19 vaccines to assist in the country’s vaccination programs were documented in this review.
 Conclusion: Indeed, the pandemic has offered a chance to emphasize the critical role pharmacists play in healthcare delivery especially in a country where people perceive pharmacists as merely sellers of medicines.

What Is the Role of Pharmacists in Treating COVID-19 Patients? The Experiences and Expectations of Front Line Medical Staff.

Aims: The study aimed to understand the role and the core values of pharmacists and the professional expectations of medical staff for pharmacists in treating COVID-19 patients from the perspectives of the frontline medical staff. The findings help to understand and provide a reference for the career growth path of future pharmacists.Methods: A phenomenological method was used to conduct in-depth interviews with frontline medical staff working in isolation wards during COVID-19. The interview data were analyzed, and the themes were extracted.Results: Pharmacists played a positive role in ensuring the supply of non-routinely stocked drugs, including traditional Chinese medicine preventative preparations, providing drug information and medication consultation for complex patients, and identifying adverse drug reactions. However, at present, the integration of pharmacists and nurses is poor with inadequate communication, and the pharmaceutical care activities provided to physicians were still not comprehensive.Conclusions: The level of pharmaceutical care provided by pharmacists needs to be further strengthened. Frontline medical teams generally have high professional expectations for pharmacists, including expecting pharmacists to become drug therapy experts. They expect pharmacists to fully participate in clinical decision-making, especially playing a central role in managing drug interactions, contraindications, and other clinical uses of drugs.

THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW SALES TURNOVER COMMUNITY PHARMACIES

Background: Pharmacy managers will make various efforts to increase their income. In spite of this, pharmacies that have the same facilities can generate greatly varied incomes.Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine the difference between high sales turnover pharmacies and low sales turnover pharmacies as observed through employee motivation, organizational culture, and patient satisfaction.Methods: This study used an analytical design with a questionnaire and checklist. Consumers were selected using the purposive sampling system to assess patient satisfaction. All employees were sampled to assess work motivation and organizational culture. Data analysis was performed using descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate testing.Results: Direct observation of pharmaceutical services from the two outlets shows that there were differences in the time it takes for pharmacist to retrieve the drug, the time for providing drug information, collecting information from patients, and the type of drug information provided, as well as employee motivation, organizational culture, and patient satisfaction.Conclusion: Services at pharmacies with high sales turnover are different from pharmacies with low sales turnover. Empathy has the greatest effect on sales turnover, followed by reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and tangible dimensions. Outlets that have high sales turnover have better organizational culture and higher employee motivation when compared to outlets that have low sales turnover. Keywords: motivation, organizational culture, patient satisfaction, sales turnover

Evaluation and Perception of Clinical Pharmacist Participation in a Rapid Response Team During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

The addition of a pharmacist to rapid response teams (RRT) has been shown to improve adherence to advanced cardiac life support protocols and to decrease mortality. A quality improvement study was initiated at a single center to evaluate the addition of a pharmacist to the RRT during cardiopulmonary arrest. Data were prospectively collected on pharmacy response time and interventions performed. In addition, a pre- and post-intervention survey of the interprofessional medical emergency response improvement team (MERIT) was performed to assess the perception of pharmacist involvement. From April to November 2019, the pharmacists responded to 19 RRT activations for cardiopulmonary arrest. An average of 29.8 minutes were spent at each event and an average of 5.5 interventions per event were made. The most common intervention made by pharmacists was medication procurement (54 interventions), followed by providing drug information (14 interventions). Pharmacists also ensured medication reimbursement (13 interventions). The majority of the MERIT strongly agreed or agreed that the addition of a pharmacist to RRT activations improved teamwork (83.1%), decreased medication turnaround time (84.6%), decreased medication errors (66.7%), and may have prevented a poor outcome (71.8%) in the post-implementation survey. Overall, pharmacists demonstrated value as a member of the RRT during cardiopulmonary arrest. The addition of a pharmacist was well received by interprofessional members of the MERIT.

Role of pharmacist in providing drug information and education for patients with chronic diseases during Transition of Care

Introduction: Community pharmacist can play an active role in improving care for recently discharged patient through provision of information and education and more importantly prevent readmission to hospital. 
 Aim: This study aims to investigate the impact of pharmacist providing drug information and education for discharged patient with chronic disease. 
 Methods: A survey was conducted between July to October 2019 involving 153 patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Patients were purposively recruited from 11 pharmacies in East Java. A questionnaire was used to record patient’s opinion regarding provision of drug information and education by pharmacist. The results were descriptively analysed. 
 Results: Overall, patients mentioned that pharmacists mainly provided information about how to use the drugs (83%). The education provided by the pharmacist has improved patients’ understanding about their disease state (70%) and influenced the compliance when using the medicine (68%). Patients acknowledged pharmacist’s effort to ensure the positive outcome of the therapy. However, no data has been recorded whether such service may prevent patients from being readmitted to hospital. 
 Conclusion: Pharmacist is at unique position in the transitions of care. Pharmacist can provide information and education that may contribute to improve patient’s understanding and compliance.

Tingkat Kepuasan Konsumen terhadap Pelayanan Kefarmasian di Apotek Ganesha Farma Kabupaten Lamongan

Pharmaceutical service is a form of health service in pharmacy as an inseparable unit that plays a significant role in improving the quality of life of patients and also increasing patient satisfaction. Based on the preliminary study, the services whose provided by the Ganesha Farma Pharmacy staff are less satisfying to consumers, related to the friendliness of the pharmacy staff and the lack of provision of drug information by pharmacy staff. Therefore, in this study, it is expected to know the level of customer satisfaction at the Ganesha Farma Pharmacy, Lamongan Regency. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of customer satisfaction with pharmaceutical service at Ganesha Farma Pharmacy in Lamongan Regency. The type of research was descriptive with a quantitative approach. The sampling method was non-probability sampling with the purposive sampling technique. The samples obtained were 100 respondents. The method of calculating the level of customer satisfaction was the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) method. The results showed that the level of satisfaction at the reliability dimension of 70.8% (satisfied), responsivenesss 68.8% (satisfied), assurance 69% (satisfied), empathy 69.8 (satisfied), tangible 69.4% (satisfied). The conclusion of this study is the level of customer satisfaction towards pharmaceutical services at Ganesha Farma Pharmacy, Lamongan Regency is 69.56% with the satisfied category. Keywords: L evel of customer satisfaction, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical services

Mobile Medical Apps for Pharmacy and Drug Reference

Libraries play a key role in providing drug information resources. While traditional databases and clinical search engines offer pharmacy-related tools for practitioners, more discipline-specific resources on mobile-friendly platforms have emerged as options for use at the point of care. This review identifies a select number of drug and pharmacy mobile apps best supported through libraries to serve clinicians and educators.

Role of Pharmacists in the Interprofessional Care Team for Patients with Chronic Diseases.

Chronic diseases are a major health problem and cause of death worldwide. Patients with chronic diseases should be managed by an interprofessional care team consisting of general practitioners, medical specialists, nurses, and pharmacists. However, the roles of pharmacists in this interprofessional care team have not been fully explored. This study, therefore, examined their roles as members of the interprofessional care team in managing patients with chronic diseases. A search in PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases was conducted for research articles that discussed pharmacists, interprofessional healthcare, and chronic diseases. From initial 420 identified articles, a total of 27 articles were included in this study. The interprofessional healthcare team should have a sense of tolerance and belonging among its members, which is reflected in five dimensions: partnership, coordination, cooperation, decision-making, and therapeutic outcomes. The five dimensions are closely related because they support each other in the success of the therapy. The presence of pharmacists in an interprofessional healthcare team has been proven to help facilitate access to primary care and improve patient outcomes. Pharmacists can assist in managing chronic disease conditions by providing drug information to patients and other healthcare providers and by acting as a consultant for treatment-related issues. The pharmacist’s role as part of an interprofessional care team reinforces the importance of a collaborative healthcare team in providing clinical services to patients with chronic diseases.

The Drug Manufacturer as a Drug Information Resource.

Pharmacists use a myriad of drug resources for patient care; however, the drug manufacturer is often overlooked and underutilized as a resource for drug information. Pharmaceutical companies have a medical information department that is responsible for providing drug information to pharmacists and the public about the company's products. This article will explain the purpose and functions of the medical information department within a pharmaceutical company. In addition, the type of information that may be requested and the ways to request drug information will be discussed.

Meeting Drug Information Needs of Adolescents

Drugs are an important life concern of adolescents, yet statistics show alarming and disturbing increases internationally in drug abuse. This paper reports on research that examines how adolescents cognitively process information about drugs. It explores why they chose and rejected information, and how they put it to use. The findings have important implications for the role of school libraries in the provision of drug information, the teaching and learning process, information literacy education, as well as for the role of teachers and teacher-librarians in shaping the knowledge and attitudes of adolescents toward a drug-free lifestyle.

Insight Into the Prospects for RNAi Therapy of Cancer.

RNA interference (RNAi), also known as gene silencing, is a biological process that prevents gene expression in certain diseases such as cancer. It can be used to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and stability of treatments, particularly genetic therapies. However, challenges such as delivery of oligonucleotide drug to less accessible parts of the body and the high incidence of toxic side effects are encountered. It is therefore imperative to improve their delivery to target sites and reduce their harmful effects on noncancerous cells to harness their full potential. In this study, the role of RNAi in the treatment of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus disease plaguing many countries, has been discussed. This review aims to ascertain the mechanism and application of RNAi and explore the current challenges of RNAi therapy by identifying some of the cancer delivery systems and providing drug information for their improvement. It is worth mentioning that delivery systems such as lipid-based delivery systems and exosomes have revolutionized RNAi therapy by reducing their immunogenicity and improving their cellular affinity. A deeper understanding of the mechanism and challenges associated with RNAi in cancer therapy can provide new insights into RNAi drug development.

Drug-Related Problems in Prescribing for Pediatric Outpatients in Vietnam.

Background: Our study was conducted to determine the prevalence of drug-related problems (DRPs) in outpatient prescriptions, the impact of DRPs on treatment efficacy, safety, and cost, and the determinants of DRPs in prescribing for pediatric outpatients in Vietnam. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on pediatric outpatients at a pediatric hospital in Can Tho, Vietnam. DRPs were classified according to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe classification (PCNE) of 2020. The study determined prevalence of DRPs and their impacts on efficacy, safety, and cost. Multivariate regression was used to identify the determinants of DRPs. Results: The study included 4339 patients (mean age 4.3, 55.8% male), with a total of 3994 DRPs, averaging 0.92 DRP/prescription. The proportion of prescriptions with at least one DRP was 65.7%. DRPs included inappropriate drug selection (35.6%), wrong time of dosing relative to meals (35.6%), inappropriate dosage form (9.3%), inappropriate indication (7.1%), and drug-drug interactions (0.3%). The consensus of experts was average when evaluating each aspect of efficiency reduction, safety reduction, and treatment cost increase, with Fleiss’ coefficients of 0.558, 0.511, and 0.541, respectively (p < 0.001). Regarding prescriptions, 50.1% were assessed as reducing safety. The figures for increased costs and decreased treatment effectiveness were 29.0% and 23.9%, respectively. Patients who were ≤2 years old were more likely to have DRPs than patients aged 2 to 6 years old (OR = 0.696; 95% CI = 0.599–0.809) and patients aged over 6 years old (OR = 0.801; 95% CI = 0.672–0.955). Patients who had respiratory system disease were more likely to have DRPs than patients suffering from other diseases (OR = 0.715; 95% CI = 0.607–0.843). Patients with comorbidities were less likely to have DRPs than patients with no comorbidities (OR = 1.421; 95% CI = 1.219–1.655). Patients prescribed ≥5 drugs were more likely to have DRPs than patients who took fewer drugs (OR = 3.677; 95% CI = 2.907–4.650). Conclusion: The proportion of prescriptions in at least one DRP was quite high. Further studies should evaluate clinical significance and appropriate interventions, such as providing drug information and consulting doctors about DRPs.

Patients' Informational Needs for Pharmacotherapy and Health Literacy

Health literacy is defined as the ability to obtain, evaluate, and scrutinize health information and make appropriate decisions and actions. The spread of the Internet means that medical and drug information is becoming increasingly accessible to patients. However, there is also a large amount of inappropriate and biased medical- and drug-related information on the Internet. Therefore, patients require a high level of health literacy to ensure the effectiveness and safety of pharmacotherapy. In particular, outpatients need a high level of health literacy because they use their own medications without the supervision of healthcare professionals. In this article, I discuss the situation of health literacy and access to pharmaceutical information on the Internet in Japan. Furthermore, issues related to providing drug information to specific populations are explained using the example of chronic kidney disease. It is essential for all pharmaceutical information stakeholders to work together to solve these problems.

DEVELOPMENT OF CODI (CO-DRUG INTERACTION) SOFTWARE AS DRUGS PRESCRIPTION ANALYSIS

Objective: This study intends to design software algorithms, which is called Co-Drug Interaction (CODI), that able to analyse drug interactions in prescription and recommendations for further correction by replacing active substances based on the E-book Drug Interaction Facts and provide drug information features.&#x0D; Methods: The research used data collection and conversed into programming languages. Java language programme choosed to build the entire application as its considerable free of charge and recognizable interface to use. The reference book is also used to help in prescribing and evaluating the reliability and efficiency of the software.&#x0D; Result: The evaluations were performed by analyzing 30 groups of medicine based on 2 diseases, which are hypertension and diabetes mellitus.&#x0D; Conclusion: The algorithm design and evaluation are in accordance with the planned output.

ROLE OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST IN CLINICAL AUDIT AT DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL MEDICINE

Background of the study: Inaccuracy in writing and poor legibility of handwriting or incomplete writing of a prescription can lead to misinterpretation, thus leading to errors in dispensing and administration. Both individual and system related factors are responsible for prescribing errors. Recognition is the essential step in building safer systems and preventing errors. These errors can be detected by systematic analysis of prescriptions through a prescription audit. Hence, this project was proposed to improve the prescription practice by recommending the prescribing and therapeutic interventions in a selected setting of Anantapur.&#x0D; Research Methodology: The study was approved by the ethical committee of the hospital. Before starting the study, the researcher obtained formal permission from Government General Hospital, Anantapuramu. The data collection period was for 6 months. A prospective observational design was adopted for this study. The prescriptions were selected on the basis of inclusion criteria. Descriptive statistics like frequency and percentage were calculated to describe the data.&#x0D; Results and discussion: The overall observation made from this study was that clinical pharmacist could identify some drug related problems, provides clinical pharmacy services and contribute to better patient care being a part of the healthcare team.&#x0D; Conclusion: There is enormous scope for the clinical pharmacist to play an important role in health care in various aspects like monitoring ADRs, provision of drug information, identifying DRPs and patient counseling which will bring better patient outcome.&#x0D; Key words: Adverse drug reactions, Clinical audit, Clinical Pharmacist, prescription audit

OPTIMALISASI PERAN TENAGA TEKNIK KEFARMASIAN (TTK) PADA PELAKSANAAN SWAMEDIKASI VITAMIN SEBAGAI PENGUAT SISTEM IMUN DIMASA PANDEMI COVID-19

Many people do self-medication to deal with complaints or symptoms of disease by buying drugs at a pharmacy or drug store. Such treatment needs to be carried out appropriately, so that people need clear information in determining the type and amount of drugs to be used rationally and how to use them properly. To be able to increase the understanding of Pharmaceutical Technical Workers in providing self-medicating vitamins as a booster for the immune system during the Covid 19 pandemic, community service was carried out by holding online webinars about vitamin giving material and its classification and characteristics of vitamins, as well as reminding about dosages, indications, side effects and the dangers of overuse of vitamins. In addition, an example video is provided for the provision of vitamin information to help technical understanding of pharmaceutical technical workers in providing drug information services to patients / the public. The webinar was held in two meetings, namely on 19 and 26 September 2020 with presenters being lecturers at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Bhakti Kencana University, to Pharmaceutical Engineering Workers who are members of the JABAR Indonesian Pharmacists Association (PAFI) organization. Community Service Activities through Webinars and screening of vitamin self-medication videos can increase understanding of Pharmaceutical Technical Staff in providing self-medicated vitamins as a booster for the immune system during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Job satisfaction of clinical pharmacists and clinical pharmacy activities implemented at Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in Vietnam pioneered the practice of clinical pharmacy; however, hospitals in HCMC have faced numerous challenges that might influence the job satisfaction of clinical pharmacists (CPs). Additionally, there have been no official statistics about clinical pharmacy activities that have been reported so far. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the current status of the clinical pharmacy profession and to analyze the key factors affecting job satisfaction of CPs in HCMC. This was a cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all the CPs in all the 128 hospitals in HCMC via an online survey tool from May to June 2020. Only about 30% of the respondents were full-time CPs. The percentage of CPs participating in clinical wards was relatively low (52.79%). "Provide drug information for patients and medical employees" was the most common clinical pharmacy activity, with the percentage of CPs participating in it being nearly 90%. Overall, 74.1% of the 197 CPs surveyed were satisfied with their current job. The factors that they were satisfied with the most and the least were "Inter & Intra professional relationships" (95.9%) and "Income" (59.9%), respectively. The only demographic and work-related characteristic that had a statistically significant association with overall job satisfaction was "Ward round participation". Most clinical pharmacy tasks noted a high rate of participation from the CPs. Nevertheless, hospitals in HCMC was found to be experiencing a shortage of CPs and low levels of participation of CPs in ward rounds, and most CPs were unable to completely focus on clinical pharmacy tasks. Regarding CPs' job satisfaction-related aspects, income and ward round participation appear to be the two factors that should be increased, in order to enhance CPs' job satisfaction.

Exploring practice site contributions and professionalization impact of engaging student pharmacists on hematology-oncology advanced pharmacy practice experience rotations.

Student pharmacists contribute meaningfully to patient care during Advanced Practice Pharmacy Experiences (APPEs) in varied settings. We aimed to characterize and evaluate the impact of student participation in hematology-oncology (hem-onc) APPEs on the practice site, and on student professionalization. For students completing hem-onc APPEs during 2016-2019, rotation activities and post-APPE self-reflections describing meaningful impact were reviewed; activities were categorized into direct and indirect patient care, and up to three reflection themes of professionalization impact were extracted from each self-reflection. Hem-onc preceptor cohort was surveyed to assess impact of student contributions on the practice site. 171 students completed hem-onc APPEs in ambulatory care (133) and/or inpatient (38) settings. Of 932 student-reported activities, the most common were: evaluating patient pharmacotherapy (209), providing education to medical staff (132), patient counseling [non-chemotherapy (99); chemotherapy (82)], and providing drug information (96); 89% involved direct patient care/education. Survey results from 16 of 33 preceptors identified the most impactful student activities as evaluating pharmacotherapy, medication education/adherence resources, and in-service presentations. Of 392 student self-reflections, themes of impact focused on professionalization/self-awareness (39.3%), counseling/communication skills (27.8%), practice skills development (20.4%) and collaborative teamwork (12.5%). Pharmacy students make significant direct patient care contributions to hem-onc practice settings by evaluating pharmacotherapy and providing education to patients and healthcare personnel. Participation in hem-onc APPEs is highly influential to the professionalization of students, particularly in developing skills in oncology practice, patient interactions/communications, and developing self-awareness.

Perceptions of the provision of drug information, pharmaceutical detailing and engagement with non-personal promotion at a large physicians network: a mixed-methods study

ObjectiveNon-personal promotion (NPP) such as digital, print-based marketing, direct promotional visits and free drug samples are means of pharmaceutical marketing. This study described practices of drug information, pharmaceutical detailing and...

The Influence of Providing Antihypertensive Drug Information on the Level of Knowledge and Adherence of Prolanis Patients at Gedangan Health Center in Malang Districts

Cardiovascular disease especially hypertension requires proper treatment because it can cause complication such as stroke, heart failure and kidney disease. Provision of drug informasion is one of the factors that can increase the patient’s knowledge in understanding the illness so that it can affect the patient’s level of medication adherence. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of providing drug information on the level of knowledge and adherence of hypertensive patients at Gedangan Health Center in Malang Districs. This research method is a quasi-experimental with one group pre-test post-test design. Purposive sampling method was used to the selection of respondents. There were 68 respondents who met the inclusion criteria was found. Hypertension patients are patients that registered in the chronic disease management program at Gedangan Health Center. The instrument used in this study was a knowledge questionnaire consisting 22 questions, as well as the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) adherencequestionnaire, whichhad previously been tested for validity and reliability. The results of the study were seen from the knowledge and compliance questionnaire score pre-test and post-test. Faculty of Medicine Universitas Brawijaya has ethically approved the research by the number 80/EC/KEPK-S1-FARM/04/2020. The data obtained were statistically analyzed using paired t-test to determine the relationship between the two variables. Paired t-test scores showed that the level of knowledge increased significantly (p = 0. 000) and adherence increased significantly (p = 0. 000) after drug information administration. The conclusion of this study was that there was a significant difference between the level of knowledge and adherence before and after the provision of drug information at Gedangan Health Center of Malang Regency.