Women’s beliefs about medicines and adherence to pharmacotherapy in pregnancy: Opportunities for community pharmacists?

Background During pregnancy women might weigh benefits of treatment against potential risks to the unborn child. However, non-adherence to necessary treatment can adversely affect both mother and child. To optimize pregnant women’s beliefs and medication adherence, community pharmacists are ideally positioned to play an important role in primary care. Objective This narrative review aimed to summarize the evidence on 1) pregnant women’s beliefs, 2) medication adherence in pregnancy, and 3) community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. Method Three search strategies were used in Medline and Embase to find original studies evaluating women’s beliefs, medication adherence and community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. All original descriptive and analytic epidemiological studies performed in Europe, North America and Australia, written in English and published from 2000 onwards were included. Results We included 14 studies reporting on women’s beliefs, 11 studies on medication adherence and 9 on community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. Women are more reluctant to use medicines during pregnancy and tend to overestimate the teratogenic risk of medicines. Risk perception varies with type of medicine, level of health literacy, education level and occupation. Furthermore, low medication adherence during pregnancy is common. Finally, limited evidence showed current community pharmacists’ counselling is insufficient. Barriers hindering pharmacists are insufficient knowledge and limited access to reliable information. Conclusion Concerns about medication use and non-adherence are widespread among pregnant women. Community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy is insufficient. Further education, training and research are required to support community pharmacists in fulfilling all the opportunities they have when counselling pregnant women

Vaccinations Administered During Off-Clinic Hours at a National Community Pharmacy: Implications for Increasing Patient Access and Convenience

PURPOSE Approximately 50,000 adults die annually from vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. Most traditional vaccine providers (eg, physician offices) administer vaccinations during standard clinic hours, but community pharmacies offer expanded hours that allow patients to be vaccinated at convenient times. We analyzed the types of vaccines administered and patient populations vaccinated during off-clinic hours in a national community pharmacy, and their implications for vaccination access and convenience. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed data for all vaccinations given at the Walgreens pharmacy chain between August 2011 and July 2012. The time of vaccination was categorized as occurring during traditional hours (9:00 am-6:00 pm weekdays) or off-clinic hours, consisting of weekday evenings, weekends, and federal holidays. We compared demographic characteristics and types of vaccine. We used a logistic regression model to identify predictors of being vaccinated during off-clinic hours. RESULTS During the study period, pharmacists administered 6,250,402 vaccinations, of which 30.5% were provided during off-clinic hours: 17.4% were provided on weekends, 10.2% on evenings, and 2.9% on holidays. Patients had significantly higher odds of off-clinic vaccination if they were younger than 65 years of age, were male, resided in an urban area, and did not have any chronic conditions. CONCLUSIONS A large proportion of adults being vaccinated receive their vaccines during evening, weekend, and holiday hours at the pharmacy, when traditional vaccine providers are likely unavailable. Younger, working-aged, healthy adults, in particular, accessed a variety of immunizations during off-clinic hours. With the low rates of adult and adolescent vaccination in the United States, community pharmacies are creating new opportunities for vaccination that expand access and convenience

Final COVID dataset full.

This Zip file contains the complete dataset used for all analyses, tables, and figures. Dates were adjusted by a random constant to assure deidentification. A data definition document is also included. (ZIP)</p

Distribution of Ct value differences between the S-gene and the average of N and ORF1ab-genes in Alpha and Omicron B.1.1.529/BA.1/BA.1.1 variants.

Distribution of Ct value differences between the S-gene and the average of N and ORF1ab-genes in Alpha and Omicron B.1.1.529/BA.1/BA.1.1 variants.</p

Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants via rSGTP + SGTF tracking versus WGS-lineage confirmation.

Date range truncated at March 2021 due to low sample volume for sequenced samples prior to this date.</p

Rates of rSGTP and SGTF in WGS confirmed lineages.

Rates of rSGTP and SGTF in WGS confirmed lineages.</p

Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of proxy calculations by lineage.

Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of proxy calculations by lineage.</p

Ct value differences in WGS confirmed lineages with S-gene amplification.

Ct value differences in WGS confirmed lineages with S-gene amplification.</p