Characterising the health and social care segment of the BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT) membership and their continuing professional development needs.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify and characterise the health and social care membership of the British Computer Society (BCS), an international informatics professional organisation, and to determine their ongoing development needs. Methods: A prepiloted online survey included items on professional regulatory body, job role, work sector, qualifications, career stage, BCS membership (type, specialist group/branch activity (committees, event attendance)), use of BCS.org career planning/continuing professional development (CPD) tools, self-reported digital literacy and other professional registrations. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in JASP V.0.9.2 to report frequencies and correlations. Results: Responses were received from 152 participants. Most were male (n=103; 68%), aged 50–59 years (n=41; 28%), working in England (n=107; 71%) with master’s or honours degrees (n=80; 53%). Most were either new (5 years or less; n=61; 40%) or long-term members (21 years or more; n=43; 28%) of BCS. Most were not interested in health specialist groups (n=57; 38%) preferring non-health specialist groups such as information management (n=54; 37%) and project management (n=52; 34%). Discussion: This is the first paper to characterise the health and social care membership of an IT-focused professional body and to start to determine their CPD needs. There are further challenges ahead in curating the content and delivery. Conclusion: This study is the starting point from which members’ CPD needs, and ongoing interest, in being recognised as health and social care professional members, can be acknowledged and explored. Further research is planned with the participants who volunteered to be part of designing future CPD content and delivery

The Impact of COVID-19 on smoking behaviours and support for smoke-free zones in Saudi Arabia.

This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on smoking and smoking cessation behaviours and support for smoke-free zones in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A pre-tested structured survey was distributed by email in October–November 2020 to students and staff at the University of Jeddah. Responses were analysed using descriptive statistics with summative content analysis of open text. Participants providing open text comments (n = 374/666; 56.4%) were non-smokers (n = 293; 78.3%), former smokers (n = 26; 7.0%) and current smokers (n = 55; 14.7%). Some had household members (n = 220; 58.8%) and friends who smoke (n = 198; 52.9%) plus daily exposure to secondhand smoke at home (n = 125; 33.4%). There was an awareness during COVID-19 of: smoking inside cafes/restaurants and other indoor and outdoor public places; exposure to warnings in the media both against and promoting smoking; widespread support for smoke-free zones. Smokers plans for accessing smoking cessation support are inconsistent with retrospective reports. Many express positivity highlighting reductions in smoking but there were also negative reports of increased smoking. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of society worldwide. People have been at home more with restricted freedom of movement and limitations on social liberty. These individual accounts can help to focus evidence-based smoking prevention and cessation programmes during and post-COVID-19

Characterising the health and social care segment of the BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT) membership and their continuing professional development needs

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify and characterise the health and social care membership of the British Computer Society (BCS), an international informatics professional organisation, and to determine their ongoing development needs. METHODS: A prepiloted online survey included items on professional regulatory body, job role, work sector, qualifications, career stage, BCS membership (type, specialist group/branch activity (committees, event attendance)), use of BCS.org career planning/continuing professional development (CPD) tools, self-reported digital literacy and other professional registrations. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in JASP V.0.9.2 to report frequencies and correlations. RESULTS: Responses were received from 152 participants. Most were male (n=103; 68%), aged 50–59 years (n=41; 28%), working in England (n=107; 71%) with master’s or honours degrees (n=80; 53%). Most were either new (5 years or less; n=61; 40%) or long-term members (21 years or more; n=43; 28%) of BCS. Most were not interested in health specialist groups (n=57; 38%) preferring non-health specialist groups such as information management (n=54; 37%) and project management (n=52; 34%). DISCUSSION: This is the first paper to characterise the health and social care membership of an IT-focused professional body and to start to determine their CPD needs. There are further challenges ahead in curating the content and delivery. CONCLUSION: This study is the starting point from which members’ CPD needs, and ongoing interest, in being recognised as health and social care professional members, can be acknowledged and explored. Further research is planned with the participants who volunteered to be part of designing future CPD content and delivery

Staff and student experiences and attitudes towards smoking and smoking cessation, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Introduction: Tobacco smoking causes an estimated 7 million deaths per annum with 70 thousand of those occurring in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) where the National Transformation Program highlights the need to prioritize smoking cessation. The objective of this study was to determine the experiences and attitudes of university staff and students, who have been or are currently smokers, towards smoking and smoking cessation. Methods: A link to a cross-sectional online survey was distributed by email in October and November 2020 to students and staff (n=34872) at the University of Jeddah, KSA. The survey was based on WHO GATS, CSS-21 and a systematic review. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in JASP (version 0.14.1) [Computer software]. Results: A total of 666 responses were collected. Most respondents had never smoked (n=556; 83.5%) with some current smokers (n=72; 10.8%) and few former smokers (n=12; 1.8%). Major challenges of quitting smoking identified by the CSS-21 tool were intrinsic factors such as 'withdrawal symptoms' (n=28; 37.8%), 'being addicted to cigarettes' (n=24; 34.8%), 'having strong emotions or feelings' (n=28; 38.4%), and 'seeing things or people which reminded me' (n=25; 34.2%). The extrinsic factors were mostly reported as 'not a challenge', such as 'use of other substances like cannabis, alcohol, etc.' (n=60; 87.0%) or 'lack of support or encouragement from health professionals to stop smoking' (n=50; 69.4%). Many staff and students were 'asked if you smoked tobacco products' at a healthcare professional appointment with (n=5; 83.3%) and (n=27; 71.1%), respectively. Both staff (n=6; 75.0%) and students (n=19; 34.5%) thought 'face-to-face counselling' would help support their future attempts to quit. Conclusions: The majority of smokers who participated saw intrinsic factors more of a challenge than extrinsic factors. This new knowledge has the potential to influence decision makers. There is potential for encouraging healthcare practitioners to promote smoking cessation conversations

Perceived roles and barriers in caring for the people who are homeless:a survey of UK community pharmacists

Background: Community pharmacists can be an accessible source for advice and support for the people who are homeless, given their utilisation of a variety of currently available services such as dispensing of medicines, drugs and alcohol services. Objective: To determine community pharmacists’ training, experiences and behavioural determinants in counselling and management of homeless population. Setting: UK community pharmacies. Method: A questionnaire based on literature and theoretical domains framework was mailed to randomly sampled community pharmacies in England and Scotland (n = 2000). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Main outcome measures: Pharmacists’ perspectives, pharmacists’ training, pharmacists’ experiences and behavioural determinants. Results: A total of 321 responses (RR 16.1%) were received. Respondents indicated lack of knowledge, skills, intentions as well as contextual factors such as lack of guidelines impacted on their counselling and management of homeless patients. Less than a third (n = 101, 32.2%) indicated that they knew where to refer a homeless patient for social support. Broaching the subject of homelessness was outside their comfort zone (n = 139, 44.3%). Only four (1.2%) respondents could correctly answer all knowledge assessment questions. Conclusions: Community pharmacist identified lack of education, training opportunities and guidelines in counselling and management of homeless patients. Targeting community pharmacists’ knowledge, skills and intention to provide care to the homeless patients may enable addressing health inequality through community pharmacy

General public awareness and views of community pharmacy in Scotland: the 'first port of call' study.

The recently published ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care: a Strategy for Scotland’ urges community pharmacy (CP) to make itself the ‘first port of call’ for healthcare advice. The aim of this research is to explore the Scottish general public's awareness of CP services and their openness to consider CP their ‘first port of call’ for healthcare advice

General public awareness and views of community pharmacy services in Scotland: the 'first port of call' study.

Background: The recently published 'Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care: a Strategy for Scotland' urges community pharmacy (CP) to make itself the 'first port of call' for healthcare advice. Purpose: To explore the Scottish general public's awareness of CP services and their openness to consider CP their 'first port of call' for health care advice. Methods: A Scotland-wide survey was administered up to 20 times in each of 117 CPs by pre-registration pharmacy graduates. It included Likert scales of attitudinal statements with items developed from existing literature. Ethical approval had been gained. Results: To date, the 2260 surveys have been completed from 117 CPs giving a response rate of 96.5%. Varying ages and standards of health are represented. Respondents were aware CPs 'are contracted to the NHS' (87.4%) and that 'pharmacists with an additional qualification can diagnose and prescribe' (53.3%). 87.6% would likely/very likely view CP as their 'First port of Call' for common illnesses. However, 71.4% were unlikely/very unlikely to approach CP with 'more serious symptoms'. Intentions for 'monitor or review of regular medicines' were less clear (unlikely/very unlikely (38.2%) against likely/very likely (35.1%)). 44% lacked an awareness of CP services in general. 75.3% indicated the pharmacist 'should have access to read and update relevant parts of my electronic health record' and pharmacist access to electronic records would make 67.8% more likely to view CP as a 'first port of call' for health issues. Conclusions: This Scotland-wide survey indicated the general public's positivity and openness to access community pharmacy services, however, being recognised as a 'First Port of Call' may require awareness raising

A multi-perspective evaluation of specialist mental health clinical pharmacist prescribers practising withing general practices in NHS Highland.

Mental health issues are a common feature of primary care consultations and around a third of GP consultations have a mental health element. The Scottish Government’s 10 year Mental Health Strategy has ambitions to transform services so every GP practice has multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) who can support and treat patients with mental health issues while ensuring good communication with community mental health teams (CMHT) and secondary care services. Despite these strategic plans, there is currently a lack of specialist mental health clinical pharmacist prescriber input to the care of patients with mental health issues within general practice in NHS Highland. A 12 month pilot, funded by the Scottish Government’s Primary Care Transformation Fund, has been conducted during which two specialist mental health clinical pharmacist prescribers consulted with patients with depression and anxiety by appointment at one of two GP Practices in NHS Highland

Pharmacists' training, experiences and behaviours in managing homeless patients.

Community pharmacists are well-situated to offer proactive and opportunistic support and advice to the homeless. The aim of this research was to investigate pharmacists' training, experiences and behaviours in managing homeless patients. A questionnaire using both open and closed questions was developed, based on existing literature, researcher expertise and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) - a synthesis of behaviour change theory. The TDF outlines fourteen individual domains perceived to influence behaviour, including knowledge, skills, beliefs about capabilities and social influences. The questionnaire was reviewed and piloted with fifty pharmacists, and NHS R&D approval was obtained. The questionnaire was then sent to a random sample of 1,951 community pharmacies in England and Scotland, with two follow-up reminders. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics. 321 responses (response rate 16.5%) were received. The mean (SD) age of respondents was 39 (plus or minus 12) years with a third (n=94, 29.3%) having been qualified as a pharmacist for fewer than five years. Many respondents (n = 187) reported having managed a homeless patient in their pharmacy, with approximately 17% (n=53) saying that this was a daily activity. The majority (n=242, 75.4%) of participants said that homelessness was not included in their undergraduate, postgraduate or continuous professional development (CPD) pharmacy training (n=225, 70.1%). Only a third (n=100, 31.1%) agreed or strongly agreed that they knew to whom they should refer a homeless patient for social support. Approximately 42% (n=137) indicated they would discuss homelessness only if raised by the patient. Only one fifth (n=71, 22.1%) felt comfortable advising homeless patients on how to minimise the impact of homelessness on their medication use, and the vast majority of respondents reported a lack of clear guidelines (n=294, 94.2%). The results of this study suggest lack of appropriate opportunities - at undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD level - for training on how to manage homeless patients. There is a need to develop guidelines that will enable community pharmacists to better support homeless patients in alleviating the impact of homelessness; these guidelines should include advice on the pharmacist's role in supporting homeless medicine management and providing signposting to appropriate social services

Evaluation of Pharmacy Teams in GP Practice

In Scotland, and globally, public health systems are coming under increasing pressures due to several complex and inter-related factors, including the lack of capacity within the primary care workforce and an expanding population of older people. Older people often have multiple conditions and the associated increase in medicines use and healthcare appointments has led to an overwhelming medicines and healthcare service burden; adversely impacting patients’ quality of life and access to primary care services. A key element of the Scottish response is the better integration and transformation of our health and social care services, and a shift in the balance of care from hospital to the community setting.1 This direction of travel has brought focus to primary care, the challenges and pressures facing frontline practitioners and the need to transform services through building broader multidisciplinary teams (MDTs). The clinical leadership community has shaped and endorsed the 2020 Vision for our public services with clear policy direction and supporting policy documents: Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care – a Strategy for Scotland (2017) commits to “Integrating pharmacists with advanced clinical skills and pharmacy technicians in GP Practices to improve pharmaceutical care and contribute to the multidisciplinary team2, and, Practicing Realistic Medicine (2018), states that “by 2025, everyone who provides healthcare in Scotland will demonstrate their professionalism through the approaches, behaviours and attitudes of Realistic Medicine”