Pharmacy, Volume 4, Issue 3 (September 2016) – 6 articles

This paper presents the results of the second European Delphi round on the ranking of competences for pharmacy practice and compares these data to those of the first round already published. A comparison of the numbers of respondents, distribution by age group, country of residence, etc., shows that whilst the student population of respondents changed from Round 1 to 2, the populations of the professional groups (community, hospital and industrial pharmacists, pharmacists in other occupations and academics) were more stable. Results are given for the consensus of ranking and the scores of ranking of 50 competences for pharmacy practice. This two-stage, large-scale Delphi process harmonized and validated the Quality Assurance in European Pharmacy Education and Training (PHAR-QA) framework and ensured the adoption by the pharmacy profession of a framework proposed by the academic pharmacy community. The process of evaluation and validation of ranking of competences by the pharmacy profession is now complete, and the PHAR-QA consortium will now put forward a definitive PHAR-QA framework of competences for pharmacy practice. Full article

This paper presents an analysis of the end of degree expectations, expressed as learning outcomes, for pharmacy graduates from Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. The authors compare the end of degree expectations, through mapping these requirements to the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Global Competency Framework (GbCF). The anticipated end of degree expectations are similar but also reveal some individual characteristics. Irrespective of degree title, achievement of learning outcomes specified in any one of the four jurisdictions should enable students to become pharmacists who are patient-orientated medicines experts. The mapping provides impetus for cross-border institutional networking to generate a dependable set of assessment tools across national borders developing a common metric for outcome assessment irrespective of different program delivery. Full article

The Belgian Association of Hospital Pharmacists (BAHP) is a professional and scientific association representing all pharmacists who work in hospital institutions, whether private or public, university, general or psychiatric. This association was created in 1953. The aim of this short paper is to tell the history of its continuous development in a few words. The main development is reviewed from 1950 to now including: regulation, professional association roles, agreement and continuing education, development of clinical pharmacy, and updating of university training program. A new decree for the hospital pharmacist is in the course of being finalized, including new technologies: automated dispensing, automated compounding, centralization of sterile compounding, e-learning, traceability of medical devices and clinical pharmacy. Full article

As the majority of prescribing in hospital is undertaken by intern doctors, the aims of this systematic review were to compile the evidence of the qualitative literature on the views and experiences of intern doctors and to examine the role of the pharmacist in assisting in prescribing by interns. A systematic review of the qualitative literature was done according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement. The findings were synthesized using thematic analysis. Seven publications were included. Factors influencing prescribing behaviour were related to the environment; collaboration in medical teams; hierarchical structures; and patient and individual factors. This review confirmed that interns’ prescribing behaviour is influenced by multiple factors, and further highlighted the need for an educational intervention that supports the intern completing the prescribing task in a complex environment, and not just addresses the presumed knowledge gap(s). Full article

The pharmacy profession continues to experience change regarding roles and responsibilities. The supply of medicines still remains a central function, but patient-facing, clinical roles are now becoming more commonplace, where pharmacists use their expert knowledge to maximise patient use of medicines. This transitional state from supplier of medicines to medicines expert raises questions over the contemporary professional identity of pharmacists. This literature-informed commentary highlights the current situation regarding how pharmacists’ identity is formed and reinforced. The authors suggest that the profession needs to be clearer in articulating what pharmacy does, and advocate the need for strong branding that the profession, public and other healthcare practitioners understand. Full article

Background:Continuous infusion ketorolac is sometimes utilized for analgesia in postoperative coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients despite contraindications for use. Limited literature surrounds this topic; therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the safety of this practice. Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the primary outcome of mortality and secondary outcomes of incidence of bleeding and myocardial infarction (MI). All patients who underwent isolated CABG surgeries and received continuous infusion ketorolac during the study period were included. An equal number of randomly selected isolated CABG patients served as control patients. Electronic medical records and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) database were utilized to determine baseline characteristics and outcomes; Results: One hundred and seventy-eight patients met inclusion; 89 in each group. More patients in the control group underwent on-pump surgeries (78.6% vs. 29.2%, p = 0.01) and had higher STS risk scores (1.1% vs. 0.6%, p = 0.003). There was no difference in mortality between the ketorolac group and control group (2.2% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.605). Additionally, no patients experienced a MI and there was no difference in bleeding incidence (5.5% vs. 6.7%, p = 0.58); Conclusions: No association was found between continuous infusion ketorolac and increased risk of mortality, MI, or bleeding events in postoperative CABG patients. Considerations to differences in baseline characteristics must be made when interpreting results. Full article