Current Issue : April-June Volume : 2026 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
This study describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a Competency-Based Pharmacy Education (CBPE) program for 120 direct-to-patient (DTP) pharmacists in China, aimed at improving pharmaceutical care and pharmacotherapy skills. The program, which integrated Case-Based Learning (CBL) and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), included both online and in-person sessions. A cross-sectional analysis of participant performance and satisfaction showed a mean total OSCE score of 68.31. Participants demonstrated strengths in communication and documentation, with one-third of participants achieving high scores, while weaknesses were noted in patient education and care planning. Participant surveys revealed significant perceived improvements in communication and patient education skills among 62.5% of the participants. These findings suggest that CBPE is a promising approach for pharmacist training, advocating for its broader adoption to meet the evolving demands of healthcare and improve patient outcomes....
Chemotherapy for breast cancer includes pertuzumab and trastuzumab regimens with docetaxel (PHD) or paclitaxel (PHP). Current approaches for using supportive care drugs to manage the side effects of PHD and PHP are unclear. Here, we investigated the occurrence of side effects before and after supportive care medications were modified by discontinuing antipyretic analgesics. We retrospectively analyzed adverse events that occurred within 24 h of treating 76 patients with PHD or PHP. The frequencies of adverse effects in the groups before and after modification did not differ significantly (45.5% [15/33] and 44.2% [19/43], respectively). Severity also did not significantly differ between the groups. Therefore, discontinuing antipyretic analgesics as supportive care drugs had little effect on the frequency of side effects. Symptoms of feeling hot, pyrexic, and flushed were frequent, and their severity increased in the group after the support drugs were modified. Discontinuation of supportive care medications, including antipyretic analgesics, might affect the severity of certain symptoms and lead to the development of side effects that require medical intervention. Overall, our findings indicate the need to consider premedication with antipyretic analgesics, including further analysis of the risk factors that can predict symptoms....
Pharmacist interventions (PIs) are central to optimising pharmacotherapy, preventing drug-related problems, and improving patient outcomes. In Portugal, the absence of a validated tool to consistently document and classify PIs limits data comparability and service development. Given these gaps, this study aimed to describe hospital pharmacists’ attitudes towards PI documentation and classification, following confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of a survey instrument, and to provide a comprehensive overview of current practices and behaviours in hospital settings across Portugal. An online questionnaire, previously validated, was distributed online to all hospital pharmacists registered with the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (October–December 2024). Sociodemographic data and the cognitive and behavioural domains of pharmacists’ attitudinal model were analysed descriptively, and CFA tested the three-factor structure (Process, Outcome, Satisfaction) of the attitudinal affective domain. Of 1848 pharmacists, 260 responded (14%). Respondents reported performing a mean of 49 PIs/month (SD = 196), although many never recorded (28.8%), classified (56.2%), or analysed (52.3%) interventions. Only 2.7% declared to use a validated classification framework. The CFA supported the structural coherence of the Process factor but revealed some overlapping between Process and Outcome and instability in the Satisfaction factor. The nationwide scope and application of CFA provided partial support for the hypothesised model and highlighted areas for refinement, including revision of Satisfaction items and reconsideration of Process and Outcome as overlapping constructs. Findings highlight strong professional commitment to PIs but persistent barriers, including less clear procedures and satisfaction, underscoring the need for a unified, standardised national system to support consistent recording, classification, and evaluation....
Background/Objectives: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be a global public health concern. Several antiretroviral drugs have been approved for the treatment, post-exposure, and pre-exposure prophylaxis of HIV. Darunavir (DRV) is a protease inhibitor (PI) approved for the management of HIV globally. This study aims to generate safety signals for DRV through data mining and analysis of adverse events (AEs) reported to the United Kingdom (UK) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Yellow Card Scheme. Methods: Disproportionality analysis was conducted using reporting odds ratio (ROR), proportional reporting ratio (PRR), and Bayesian confidence propagation neural network (BCPNN) approaches to identify potential safety signals. Results: The MHRA database contained n = 779 reports (n = 1791 AEs) attributed to DRV. The majority of AEs were reported for males. Positive safety signals were identified at both the system organ class (SOC, n = 5) and preferred term level (PT, n = 95). At SOC level, endocrine disorders emerged as a signal of interest n = 33 cases (ROR: 8.17, 95% CI: 5.78–11.56; PRR:7.96, 95% CI: 5.68–11.15; and IC: 2.85, IC025: 2.51). Among the results, 40 new potential safety signals are not listed on the product labelling in the UK. These include serious AEs such as cerebrovascular accident, brain injury, thrombosis, and pregnancy, puerperium, and perinatal AEs. Conclusions: This study provides additional real-world safety data for DRV in the UK and paves the way for future observational studies to investigate the identified safety signals....
Background: Clinical pharmacy services (CPS) have been shown to confer significant advantages in patient care. It remains to be clarified how CPS resources are allocated across routine care settings. It remains to be clarified which recommendations are made to resolve the drug-related problems (DRP) identified by CPS and which adverse drug reactions (ADR) actually arise from the identified DRP. Methods: Following positive ethical approval, patient chart analyses, evaluation of pharmacy documentation on CPS and pharmacist interviews were performed to characterize CPS at all medical departments of the Bundeswehr Hospital Hamburg. We developed and pre-tested instruments for standardization: A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the practical exercise and documentation of CPS by the pharmacists performing them, a standardized form (checklist) for retrospective data collection as part of this study, and a standardized questionnaire for conducting the pharmacist interviews including a risk assessment according to the NCC-MERP score. Results: In total, 1000 CPS were documented in 504 patients (mean age: 69.95 years; 229 female) on 16,705 treatment days. A total of 66.87% CPS was initiated when pharmacists participated in ward rounds. In all CPS, “Indications” was the topic addressed most frequently (37.70%). “Agents for obstructive respiratory diseases” was the most frequently involved drug class (11.32%). The most frequent processing time per CPS was 16–30 min (48.61%). The number of CPS ranged from 0.36/100 treatment days in dermatology to 12.47 in oncology. Severity of 358 DRP was classified “very severe” (5.03%), “severe” (42.74%), “moderate” (34.36%), “low” (15.08%), “very low” (1.40%), or “without impact” (1.40%). The probability of DRP occurrence was classified as “high” in 13.13% and “very high” in 3.35%. In 15.36% of the DRP, an ADR actually occurred. In 504 patients, 932 specific recommendations were forwarded to solve the DRP identified during CPS. Of those, 53.97% were implemented. Conclusions: In almost all CPS, a considerable number of DRP with serious clinical consequences were identified. Half of the forwarded recommendations were implemented....
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