The Potential for Screening for Interpersonal Violence in Community Pharmacies: an Exploratory Study

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem of epidemic proportion; the only known effective health care intervention is routine screening for IPV exposure. Despite professional guidelines for routine screening, this intervention has been poorly adopted. Expansion of screening efforts to the community pharmacy setting provides an opportunity to have a substantial impact on the health, well-being of pharmacy patients. This investigation is the first to examine IPV screening related to the pharmacy environment. An existing measure of physicians\u27 readiness to manage IPV (PREMIS) was adapted for the community pharmacy environment and validated in a national random sample of practicing community pharmacists. Additionally, a study of female pharmacy consumers was conducted to examine the acceptability of IPV screening in pharmacies. Results indicate that community pharmacists have minimal exposure to IPV education/training. While respondents expressed concern regarding training and time, they indicated that participation in screening may be valuable to patient health and as a relative advantage for their pharmacies. Female pharmacists were more likely to report intent to screen targeted patients for IPV. Consumers agreed that IPV screening is important for health care providers to do, but were uncertain as to whether pharmacists specifically should engage in screening. Comments indicated that consumers are unaware that pharmacists are trained in patient communication/counseling, suggesting a need for recognition of the skills and capabilities of community pharmacists. The potential for expanding IPV screening to community pharmacies should be prioritized among future studies of methods to address the public health problem of IPV

As a man eateth so is he

Citation: Barnard, Etta Marie. As a man eateth so is he. Senior thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1902.Morse Department of Special CollectionsIntroduction: “Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth now withering on the ground.” Man is the dominant and superior being of this great and grand universe. We have all grades and cases, all types and stamps of this human being we call man; but what of man if his food be not considered, for does not man depend entirely upon food, and the great majority upon a large amount and that of a good quality. Man could not survive long in this world if it was not for the abundant supply of food which nature has unhesitatingly given him. It might be well here to clearly explain the term food. Webster says, “Food is that which goes to support life by being received within and, assimilated by, the organism of an animal or a plant.” So we see all living things depend upon food for the life they possess. Thus we see by our definition that even the combination of H and O, which we call water, and that of O, H, and N, we call air, both the very essentials of life are foods to the living human body. Foods are divided into two classes, nitrogenous or proteid food, that is, those which contain nitrogen, and non-nitrogenous, or those which do not contain nitrogen. The latter group embraces the fats and carbohydrates which collectively are sometimes termed heat producers or respiratory foods, since by oxidation in the body they produce heat. The proteids are known as plastic foods or tissue formers since no tissue can be formed without them; but both of these groups are useful in other ways than for heat and tissue

Pharmacy student education related to opioids: A scoping review protocol

Pharmacy student education related to opioids: A scoping review protocol Authors: Marie Barnard, Ph.D. and Dorothy Reid, M.A.T. Abstract: Opioid misuse is a major public health concern, with increasing rates of addiction, overdose, and death. As frontline healthcare providers, pharmacists play a critical role in ensuring the safe use of prescription opioids. While pharmacists receive training on the pharmacology and therapeutics of opioid analgesics, they may lack the broader knowledge and skills needed to effectively prevent opioid misuse. To address this issue, the ACPE 2020 Special Committee on Substance Use and Pharmacy Education made curricular recommendations to better prepare students for managing opioids in practice. While some training programs have been reported, there is a need to better understand the current landscape and identify best practices for training future pharmacists. A scoping review will be conducted to map what is known about educational and training initiatives for student pharmacists. Understanding the types of initiatives, how they are being evaluated, and what is known about their effectiveness is being examined. Findings will be mapped to the four educational content areas recommended by the ACPE special committee. The results can be used to identified and encourage dissemination of evidence-based teaching efforts to better prepare student pharmacists to practice, as well as identify gaps in coverage of content areas that can guide future efforts at opioid-related curriculum development

Epidemiology of adolescent and young adult hospital utilization for alcohol and drug use, poisoning, and suicide attempts in the United States

Purpose: This study examined the patterns and characteristics of adolescent and young adult hospital discharges for alcohol and drug use, poisonings, and suicide attempts. Methods: This population-based retrospective study analyzed 2010 U.S. National Hospital Discharge Survey data. Discharges associated with alcohol and drug use, poisonings, and suicide attempts for 10-24 year olds were examined. Weighted population estimates were derived and Rao-Scott Chi square tests evaluated group differences. Results: Discharge rates per 10,000 adolescents and young adults for alcohol/drug use, poisonings, and suicide attempts were 54.1, 9.2, and 2.94 per 10,000 respectively. Conclusions: Self-harming behaviors result in a substantial number of hospital admissions, with seasonal, age and gender-related trends that could be valuable in developing targeted interventions and resource planning

Mapping the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacy graduate students’ wellness

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes in pharmacy graduate students\u27 (PhGS) lives. While pharmacy graduate programs across the U.S. have reported adjustments due to the pandemic, there is currently no data on the PhGS’ wellness, and the impact on and extent to which offered supports and guidance has met PhGS needs. Objective: This study\u27s objectives were 1) to explore PhGS′ perspectives on their challenges and the impact of these challenges on their wellness, and 2) to identify PhGS′ suggestions for pharmacy graduate programs to improve guidance and support offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study conducted semi-structured interviews based on the Objective, Reflective, Interpretative, Decisional (ORID) methodology. Pharmacy students working on completing a PhD in programs across the United States were invited to participate. All interviews were conducted using the Zoom platform between May and June 2020. Digital audio recordings were auto transcribed using the Trint platform. Thematic analysis was conducted using the six-dimensional model of wellness developed by Hettler as a guide, while open coding of the PhGS’ suggestions was conducted inductively. Results: Thirteen PhGS across six universities in the U.S. were interviewed. During the pandemic, all six dimensions of the Wellness model were found to be challenged for PhGS. PhGS′ challenges differed based on their laboratory-based vs. non-laboratory-based research settings. International PhGS reported differing challenges from domestic PhGS. PhGS also provided 18 practical suggestions for improving the teaching process and facilitating student\u27s academic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, graduate programs should continue developing a robust and tailored system to encourage and maintain mentorship programs to facilitate graduate students’ successful path through their doctoral studies. Moreover, the suggestions offered by the PhGS participants in this study, when appropriately implemented, can also position graduate program success post-pandemic

Development of a clinical teaching evaluation and feedback tool for faculty

Copyright © 2019 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Sigma-2 receptors, recently identified as TMEM97, have been implicated in cancer and neurodegenerative disease. Structurally distinct sigma-2 receptor ligands induce cell death in tumor cells, linking sigma-2 receptors to apoptotic pathways. Recently, we reported that sigma-2 receptors can also stimulate glycolytic hallmarks, effects consistent with a prosurvival function and upregulation in cancer cells. Both apoptotic and metabolically stimulative effects were observed with compounds related to the canonical sigma-2 antagonist SN79. Here we investigate a series of 6-substituted SN79 analogs to assess the structural determinants governing these divergent effects. Substitutions on the benzoxazolone ring of the core SN79 structure resulted in high-affinity sigma-2 receptor ligands (Ki 5 0.56–17.9 nM), with replacement of the heterocyclic oxygen by N-methyl (producing N-methylbenzimidazolones) generally decreasing sigma-1 affinity and a sulfur substitution (producing benzothiazolones) imparting high affinity at both subtypes, lowering subtype selectivity. Substitution at the 6-position with COCH3, NO2, NH2, or F resulted in ligands that were not cytotoxic. Five of these ligands induced an increase in metabolic activity, as measured by increased reduction of MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetra-zolium bromide) in human SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cells, further supporting a role for sigma-2 receptors in metabolism. Substitution with 6-isothiocyanate resulted in ligands that were sigma-2 selective and that irreversibly bound to the sigma-2 receptor, but not to the sigma-1 receptor. These ligands induced cell death upon both acute and continuous treatment (EC50 5 7.6–32.8 mM), suggesting that irreversible receptor binding plays a role in cytotoxicity. These ligands will be useful for further study of these divergent roles of sigma-2 receptors

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Self-Reported Management of Chronic Conditions

Chronic conditions (CCs) management during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic on patient activation (PA) and health locus of control (HLOC) remain unknown. This cross-sectional online survey study examined the role of COVID-19 pandemic-related worry or fear in PA and HLOC among patients with CCs. Individuals with CCs (n = 300) were recruited through MTurk Amazon. The questionnaire included sociodemographic questions, the Patient Activation Measure, and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control–Form B. Out of the 300 participants, 9.7% were diagnosed with COVID-19, and 7.3% were hospitalized. Patients with cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, drug abuse/substance abuse, and stroke reported significant difficulties in managing their CCs due to worry or fear because of COVID-19. More than half of the sample (45.7%) reported COVID-19-related worry or fear about managing their CCs, and these patients had lower PA and lower external HLOC compared to patients not affected by COVID-19-related worry or fear. Health professionals should provide more support for patients facing difficulties in managing their CCs during the COVID-19 pandemic

Graduate Student Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behavior Related to HPV and HPV Vaccination: A Scoping Review of the Literature

This review seeks to delineate what is known about the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to HPV and the HPV vaccine in graduate and post-baccalaureate professional students in the United States

Interventions to increase uptake of the human papillomavirus vaccine in unvaccinated college students: A systematic literature review

© 2019, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. All rights reserved. The Committee was charged with the responsibility for examining the need for change in pharmacy education and the models of leadership that would enable that change to occur across the academy. They also examined the question of faculty wellbeing in a time of change and made several recommendations and suggestions regarding both charges. Building upon the work of the previous Academic Affairs Committee, the 2018-19 AAC encourages the academy to implement new curricular models supporting personalized learning that creates engaged and lifelong learners. This will require transformational leadership and substantial investments in faculty development and new assessment strategies and resources. Recognizing that the magnitude of the recommended change will produce new stress on faculty, the committee identified the need for much additional work on student, faculty and leaders’ wellbeing, noting the limited amount of empirical evidence on pharmacy related to stress and resilience. That said, if faculty and administrators are not able to address personal and community wellbeing, their ability to support their students’ wellbeing will be compromised