Pharmacist perceptions of new competency standards

Objective: To suggest revisions to the Thai pharmacy competency standards and determine the perceptions of Thai pharmacy practitioners and faculty about the proposed pharmacy competency standards. Methods: The current competency standards were revised by brainstorming session with nine Thai pharmacy experts according to their perceptions of society’s pharmacy needs. The revised standards were proposed and validated by 574 pharmacy practitioners and faculty members by using a written questionnaire. The respondents were classified based on their practice setting. Results: The revision of pharmacy competency standard proposed the integration and addition to current competencies. Of 830 distributed questionnaires, 574 completed questionnaires were received (69.2% response rate). The proposed new competency standards contained 7 domains and 46 competencies. The majority of the respondents were supportive of all 46 proposed competencies. The highest ranked domain was Domain 1 (Practice Pharmacy within Laws, Professional Standards, and Ethics). The second and third highest expectations of pharmacy graduates were Domain 4 (Provide pharmaceutical care) and Domain 3 (Communicate and disseminate knowledge effectively).Conclusion: The expectation for pharmacy graduates’ competencies were high and respondents encouraged additional growth in multidisciplinary efforts to improve patient care

Avian and pandemic human influenza policy in South-East Asia: the interface between economic and public health imperatives.

The aim of this study was to analyse the contemporary policies regarding avian and human pandemic influenza control in three South-East Asia countries: Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. An analysis of poultry vaccination policy was used to explore the broader policy of influenza A H5N1 control in the region. The policy of antiviral stockpiling with oseltamivir, a scarce regional resource, was used to explore human pandemic influenza preparedness policy. Several policy analysis theories were applied to analyse the debate on the use of vaccination for poultry and stockpiling of antiviral drugs in each country case study. We conducted a comparative analysis across emergent themes. The study found that whilst Indonesia and Vietnam introduced poultry vaccination programmes, Thailand rejected this policy approach. By contrast, all three countries adopted similar strategic policies for antiviral stockpiling in preparation. In relation to highly pathogenic avian influenza, economic imperatives are of critical importance. Whilst Thailand's poultry industry is large and principally an export economy, Vietnam's and Indonesia's are for domestic consumption. The introduction of a poultry vaccination policy in Thailand would have threatened its potential to trade and had a major impact on its economy. Powerful domestic stakeholders in Vietnam and Indonesia, by contrast, were concerned less about international trade and more about maintaining a healthy domestic poultry population. Evidence on vaccination was drawn upon differently depending upon strategic economic positioning either to support or oppose the policy. With influenza A H5N1 endemic in some countries of the region, these policy differences raise questions around regional coherence of policies and the pursuit of an agreed overarching goal, be that eradication or mitigation. Moreover, whilst economic imperatives have been critically important in guiding policy formulation in the agriculture sector, questions arise regarding whether agriculture sectoral policy is coherent with public health sectoral policy across the region