Current status of pharmacies and qualifications of pharmacists in community pharmacies of India

India is a developing nation and has progressive health care facilities. An important part of its health care system is the community pharmacy, where registered pharmacists provide pharmaceutical services to the public. Community pharmacy is the first place the public looks for drug-related information and medication counseling. The main objective of this study was to investigate the current status of pharmacies and the impact of the Pharm D program (professional pharmacy doctoral program) on the qualifications of pharmacists in India. This research specifically addressed the fate of community pharmacies after the implementation of this program. This research was conducted in the form of a cross-sectional survey in the Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh state, India. The sample included representative pharmacies in the district covering urban and rural areas. Earlier, the majority of pharmacies had non-pharmacists dispensing or counseling patients. Though Pharm D graduates were found to be dispensing medications in pharmacies, there was only minimal progress. It is recommended that the Government of India should make the Pharm D mandatory for a dispensing pharmacist to improve patient care

Utah Science Vol. 58 No. 4, Summer 1998

2 CLONING RESEARCHERS TILL A NEW KIND OF PHARM 6 RESEARCH UNTANGLES SPIDER LAMB SYNDROME 7 THE CALLIPYGE CHOP: STILL A MEATY PROBLEM 12 THE NEW SCIENCE FINDS A HOME ON THE RANGE 18 FARMLAND BECOMING GROWTH\u27S BARROW PIT 20 TOXIC SHOCK: ALL-NATURAL DOESN\u27T MEAN ALL-SAF

Bio- és gyógyszermolekulák mikrospeciációja = Microspeciation of bio- and drug molecules

A kutatás csoportosított eredményei az alábbiak: 1) Új elvek és módszerek bio- és gyógyszermolekulák mikrospeciációjában 1)a) A mikroszkópikus lipofilitás meghatározása, különös tekintettel az ikerionos és töltésmentes protonáltsági izomerekre A hatóanyagok felszívódásában kulcsfontosságú mikroszkópikus lipofilitás jellemzéséhez levezettük a szükséges összefüggéseket és meghatároztuk konkrét értéküket több jelentős molekulára (morfin, tiroxin, nifluminsav, vinpocetin) 1)b) Torzításmentes, erősen lúgos oldatokban is használható, NMR alapú pH-meghatározási módszerkidolgozása és alkalmazása 2) Bio-, gyógyszer- és gyógyszerjelölt molekulák részecskéinek receptor-kötési vizsgálata in silico módszerekkel 3) Biomolekulák metabonomikai analízise 4) Biológiai alapmolekulák (szerotonin, tiroxin, arginin) mikrospeciációja 5) Néhány hatóanyag (cetirizin, famotidin, tolperizon, fluorokinolonok) mikrospeciációja 6) Bio- és gyógyszermolekulák ciklodextrin komplexeinek részecske-specifikus egyensúlyi és szerkezeti jellemzése 7) Új gyógyszerjelölt vegyületek szintézise és jellemzése 8) Összefoglaló közlemények megjelentetése a témakörben Ezen eredmények 31 közlemény és egy könyvrészlet formájában jelentek meg jelentős nemzetközi folyóiratokban ( J. Med. Chem, J. Proteom. Res, Anal. Bioanal. Chem, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal., Eur, J. Pharm. Sci., Electrophoresis, Tetrahedron Letters, stb.) | Results of the funded research can be sorted as follows: 1) New principles and methods in the microspeciation of bio and drug molecules 1)a) Determination of microscopic lipophilicity, with special regard to the noncharged and zwitterionic protonation isomers. Physicochemical relationships of microscopic lipophilicity, the key parameter in pharmacokinetics have been deduced, and real microscopic lipophilicities have been determined for such important molecules as morphine, thyroxin, niflumic acid, vinpocetine. 1)b) Elaboration and application of an undistorted, NMR-based pH determination method that can be used in highly basic solutions too. 2) Receptor-binding studies on bio-, drug and drug candidate molecules, by in silico techniques. 3) Metabonomic analysis of biomolecules 4) Microspeciation of some fundamental biomolecules (serotonin, thyroxin, arginin) 5) Microspeciation of some therapeutic agents (cetirizin, famotidin, tolperizon, fluorokinolons9 6) Species-specific equilibrium and structural characterization of cyclodextrin complexation of bio- and drug molecules 7) Synthesis and characterization of new drug candidates 8) Publishing related review papers These results have been published as 31 papers and one book chapter in prestigious international journals, including J. Med. Chem., J. Proteome. Res, Anal. Bioanal. Chem, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal., Eur, J. Pharm. Sci., Electrophoresis, Tetrahedron Letters

Joining the professional doctorate in pharmacy

The Pharm D programme is a new course being offered by the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Malta in collaboration with the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, USA. This course was developed to provide for the rapidly growing niche area in pharmacy related to a professional doctorate. It is a means to develop professionals with a research oriented approach and with skills in advanced clinical pharmacy practice.peer-reviewe

Application of models of regional innovation systems to the analysis of pharmaceutical clusters in Russia

The article is devoted to analysis of sectoral innovation systems (SIS) in pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical clusters, with the aim of classification of pharm clusters in Russia according to models of regional innovation systems (RIS), because they have the same institutional fundament. At the end of the article there are the main results of the research and three groups of Russian pharm clusters

Kinetic analysis of drug release from nanoparticles

PURPOSE. Comparative drug release kinetics from nanoparticles was carried out using conventional and our novel models with the aim of finding a general model applicable to multi mechanistic release. Theoretical justification for the two best general models was also provided for the first time. METHODS. Ten conventional models and three models developed in our laboratory were applied to release data of 32 drugs from 106 nanoparticle formulations collected from literature. The accuracy of the models was assessed employing mean percent error (E) of each data set, overall mean percent error (OE) and number of Es less than 10 percent. RESULTS. Among the models the novel reciprocal powered time (RPT), Weibull (W) and log-probability (LP) ones produced OE values of 6.47, 6.39 and 6.77, respectively. The OEs of other models were higher than 10%. Also the number of errors less than 10% for the models was 84.9, 80.2 and 78.3 percents of total number of data sets. CONCLUSIONS. Considering the accuracy criteria the reciprocal powered time model could be suggested as a general model for analysis of multi mechanistic drug release from nanoparticles. Also W and LP models were the closest to the suggested model RPT

Joining the professional doctorate in pharmacy

The Pharm D programme is a new post-graduate course being offered by the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Malta in collaboration with the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, USA. This course was developed to provide for the rapidly growing niche in pharmacy related to a professional doctorate. It is a means to develop professionals with a research-oriented approach and with skills in advanced clinical pharmacy practice with a focus on patient safety. Pharmacists who would like to take up the area of Clinical Pharmacy as their specialisation will be able to develop the skills and attributes of undertaking research in the field while reading for a level 8 Doctorate level degree.peer-reviewe

Evaluating comfort measures for commonly performed painful procedures in pediatric patients.

Introduction: Management of pediatric pain from medical procedures is of great importance for improving both patient care and experience. In this study, we investigated methods of managing acute pain in infants and children by studying the correlation between the number of attempts to complete painful procedures, given different comfort measures. Methods: The study is a retrospective review of 74,276 procedures performed at two pediatric hospitals in an integrated academic children\u27s health system between 2013 and 2016. We compared three comfort measures most frequently offered: positions of comfort (POC), distraction (DIST), and pharmacological (PHARM). These methods were compared in the setting of four procedures: peripheral intravenous (PIV) catheter insertion, gastrointestinal tube placement, incision procedures, and bladder catheterization. We used the number of attempts needed to complete a procedure as a measure of efficacy minimizing distressing experience in an acutely painful setting (single attempt vs repeat attempts). Results: Among younger children, DIST appears superior to the other two methods; it performs significantly better for three of the four procedures (PIV catheterization, incision wound, and urinary catheterization) among infants agedchildren, POC tends to perform slightly better than the other two methods, although it is significantly better only for PIV catheterization among adolescents aged 13-21 years and urinary catheterization among children aged 9-12 years. Conclusion: Results from this study may be used to determine appropriate comfort measures for painful procedures in pediatric setting

Community Pharmacy: an untapped patient data resource

As community pharmacy services become more patient centred they will be increasingly reliant on access to good quality patient information. This paper describes how the information which is currently available in community pharmacies can be used to enhance service delivery and patient care. With integration of community pharmacy and medical practice records on the horizon the opportunities this will provide are also considered. The community pharmacy held patient medication record, which is the central information repository, has been used to identify non-adherence, to prompt the pharmacist to clinically review prescriptions, identify patients for additional services and to identify those patients at greater risk of adverse drug events. Whilst active recording of patient consultations for treatment over the counter may improve the quality of consultations and information held, the lost benefits of anonymity afforded by community pharmacies needs to be considered. Recording of pharmacy staff activities enables workload to be monitored, remuneration to be justified and critical incidents to be learned from but is not routine practice. Centralisation of records between community pharmacies enables practices to be compared and consistent problems to be identified. By integrating pharmacy and medical practice records, patient behaviour with respect to medicines can be more closely monitored and should prevent duplication of effort. When using patient information stored in a community pharmacy it is however important to consider the reason why information was recorded in the first instance and whether it is appropriate to use it for a different purpose without additional patient consent. Community pharmacies currently have access to large amounts of information which if stored and used appropriately can significantly enhance the quality of provided services and patient care. Integrating records increases opportunities to enhance patient care yet further. Whilst community pharmacies have significant amounts of information available to them this is frequently untapped