Hypertension Management: Making Sense of Guidelines and Therapy Options for the Elderly

Goal: The goal of this activity is to increase the awareness of the pharmacist on the complications surrounding hypertension management in the elderly individual, clarify the differences in current guideline recommendations, and aid in making the most appropriate drug therapy decisions regarding the management of hypertension

Survey of Pharmacist-Managed Primary Care Clinics Using Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA)

Objectives: The primary objective was to expand upon results of a previously piloted patient perception survey with Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA), to identify areas within pharmacist-managed clinics needing improvement. Methods: The survey was adapted for use in pharmacist-managed clinics. Patients completed the survey following regularly scheduled pharmacist appointments. Data were analyzed with a method adapted from HFMEA. Product scores could range from five to 25. A product of five indicates that pharmacists are doing a good job on the items that patients place the most value on, while a product score of 25 indicates that pharmacists are doing a poor job. A score greater than or equal to ten was used to identify areas for improvement. Results: Seventy-one patients completed surveys. Thirteen components were assessed and no item achieved a mean product greater than or equal to ten. The survey item with the highest mean product pertained to discussion of potential medication side effects (mean: 7.06; interquartile range: 5-10). Analysis of each survey item found that all survey items had multiple individual responses that provided a product score of greater than or equal to ten. The survey items most frequently listed in the overall population as being most valued were “Told you the name of each of your medicines and what they are used for”, “Answered your questions fully,” and “Explained what your medicines do”. Conclusions: Educational components provided during pharmacist-managed clinic appointments are aligned with patients’ needs and are successfully incorporating the components that patients value highly in a patient-healthcare provider interaction. The HFMEA model can be an important teaching tool to identify specific processes in need of improvement and to help enhance pharmacists’ self-efficacy, which may further improve patient care

Evaluating student-pharmacists’ perspectives in medication adherence before and after a pillbox simulation. [abstract]

Poster presented at 2013 AACP Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois; July 2013

Implementation and evaluation of a health literacy workshop for medical residents [abstract 13]

Poster presented at the 31st ACCP Annual Meeting, Awarded finalist for Best Resident poster, Austin, Texas; October 2010

Beers criteria and STOPP/START criteria: medication evaluation with screening tools in elderly outpatients. [abstract 79]

Poster presented at the ACCP Virtual Poster Symposium; May 2012

Survey of Pharmacist-Managed Primary Care Clinics Using Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA)

Objectives: The primary objective was to expand upon results of a previously piloted patient perception survey with Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA), to identify areas within pharmacist-managed clinics needing improvement.Methods: The survey was adapted for use in pharmacist-managed clinics. Patients completed the survey following regularly scheduled pharmacist appointments.  Data were analyzed with a method adapted from HFMEA.  Product scores could range from five to 25. A product of five indicates that pharmacists are doing a good job on the items that patients place the most value on, while a product score of 25 indicates that pharmacists are doing a poor job.  A score greater than or equal to ten was used to identify areas for improvement. Results: Seventy-one patients completed surveys. Thirteen components were assessed and no item achieved a mean product greater than or equal to ten. The survey item with the highest mean product pertained to discussion of potential medication side effects (mean: 7.06; interquartile range: 5-10). Analysis of each survey item found that all survey items had multiple individual responses that provided a product score of greater than or equal to ten. The survey items most frequently listed in the overall population as being most valued were “Told you the name of each of your medicines and what they are used for”, “Answered your questions fully,” and “Explained what your medicines do”.Conclusions: Educational components provided during pharmacist-managed clinic appointments are aligned with patients’ needs and are successfully incorporating the components that patients value highly in a patient-healthcare provider interaction. The HFMEA model can be an important teaching tool to identify specific processes in need of improvement and to help enhance pharmacists’ self-efficacy, which may further improve patient care

Patient perceptions of pharmacist-managed clinics: a qualitative analysis

Background: Pharmacist-managed clinics have consistently demonstrated improvement in patient outcomes. Quantitative research offers the benefit of objective outcomes to track progress toward therapeutic goals at pharmacist-managed clinics. While quantitative studies are readily available in the literature, there is a paucity of qualitative studies to capture the patients\u27 perspectives of pharmacy services. Objective: To assess through the use of qualitative research methods patient perceptions of pharmacist-managed services within ambulatory care clinics that operate under a collaborative practice agreement. Methods: A semi-structured interview questionnaire was developed, pilot tested, and revised using a focus group of clinical pharmacists. The questionnaire was used to conduct face-to-face patient interviews at 6 pharmacist-managed clinics in central Indiana. English-speaking patients with a minimum of 2 visits with the clinical pharmacist were included in this study. Pharmacist-managed clinics without established collaborative practice agreements were excluded. Patient interviews were conducted by a trained research assistant, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. The interview transcripts were analyzed to identify cross-cutting themes without predetermined definitions via inductive qualitative analysis. Four study investigators independently identified themes using a sample of the transcripts. Additional themes were identified and defined in a series of independent reviews and investigator meetings using the remaining transcripts until theme saturation. All themes were assigned to segments of the interview transcripts according to the consensus definitions. Results: A total of 30 interviews were conducted across the clinics. Ten themes from the interview transcripts emerged, including disease state management expertise, patient alliance, practice novelty, accessibility, increased sense of patient well-being, and compassion. Conclusions: Patient perceptions from qualitative interviews revealed that pharmacists are viewed as medication experts who provide patient-centered care. This study highlights unique in-depth perspectives from the patient that further support maintenance and expansion of pharmacist-managed services