Exploration of the effects of an innovative mentalization-based training on patient-centered communication skills of pharmacy staff:A video-observation study

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether a mentalization-based communication training for pharmacy staff impacts their ability to elicit and recognize patients' implicit and explicit medication related needs and concerns.METHODS: A single-arm intervention pilot study was conducted, in which pre-post video-recordings of pharmacy counter-conversations on dispensed-medication (N = 50 and N = 34, respectively; pharmacy staff: N = 22) were coded. Outcome measures included: detecting needs and concerns, and implicitly and explicitly eliciting and recognizing them. Descriptive statistics and a multi-level logistic regression were conducted. Excerpts of videos with needs or concerns were analyzed thematically on mentalizing attitude aspects.RESULTS: Indications show that patients more often express their concerns in an explicit way post-measurement, just as pharmacy staffs' explicit recognition and elicitation of needs and concerns. This was not seen for patients' needs. No statistically significant differences were found for determinants for detecting needs or concerns (i.e., measurement-, professional-type, or interaction). Differences in mentalizing attitude were observed between pre-post-measurements, e.g., more attention for patients.CONCLUSION: This mentalizing training shows the potential of mentalizing to improve pharmacy staff members' explicit elicitation and recognition of patients' medication-related needs and concerns.PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The training seems promising for improving patient-oriented communication skills in pharmacy staff. Future studies should confirm this result.</p

Impact of substituents on the enantioseparation of racemic 2-amidotetralins on polysaccharide stationary phases .1. Chiralcel OD

The direct enantiomeric separation of 32 racemic 2-amidotetralins on the commercially available tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) derivative of cellulose, coated on silica gel (Chiralcel OD), is presented. To date, the selection of a column for the chiral separation of a racemic mixture is done empirically. Studying the impact of small changes in the chemical structure of a series of amidotetralins on the separation behavior may help to give an insight in the chiral recognition mechanism. The amidotetralins differed structurally in three of their substituents, which were never directly located on the chiral carbon atom. The enantiomers of 24 out of 32 amidotetralins could be resolved with a resolution >1.5. Hydrogen bonding and pi-pi interactions are supposed to be the major analyte-chiral stationary phase (CSP) interactions. However, the spatial arrangement of the enantiomers may play an important role too. Increasing the bulkiness of the acyl substituent led to an increase in the resolution (R(s)), whereas a more bulky substituent on the aromatic ring resulted in a very low resolution. The introduction of a chlorine atom into the acyl substituent additionally increased the resolving power. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc

2-Amido-8-methoxytetralins: A series of nonindolic melatonin-like agents

A series of unsubstituted and methoxy-substituted 2-amidotetralins (4a-q) was prepared and evaluated for their ability to compete for 2-[I-125]iodomelatonin binding to chicken retinal membranes and for their potency to inhibit the calcium-dependent release of [H-3]dopamine from rabbit retina. The lead compound, 2-acetamido-8-methoxytetralin (4j), showed a moderate affinity (K(i) = 46 nM) and potency (IC50 = 1.4 nM) at the melatonin receptor. The structural requirements necessary for optimal agonistic activity at the melatonin receptor are as follows. First, the amido group, which should have a small, nonbranched alkyl group, is essential for affinity, and second, the methoxy substituent at the 8-position of the 2-amidotetralin ring is essential for optimal agonistic activity at the melatonin receptor. We concluded that this series of unsubstituted and methoxy-substituted 2-amidotetralins constitutes a class of nonindolic melatonin-like agents that can be used as pharmacological tools to further characterize melatonin receptors and to elucidate the mode of action of melatonin