Online Workshop to Improve Telemedicine and Medication Counseling Skills in Diabetes Care / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

In the field of diabetes mellitus, medical practice and medication counseling that elicits self-management by patients are desired. Thus, the improvement of communication skills of healthcare professionals and adopting an interdisciplinary approach to diabetes patients are considered important.In the COVID-19 pandemic era, the adoption of telemedicine and remote medication counseling to actual clinical practice has become an important issue; however, training opportunities for the skills required, especially in the diabetes field, are scarce. Therefore, we held an online training session for healthcare professionals to improve their telemedicine and remote medication counseling skills.

Evaluation of the patient medication counseling services in the Philippine General Hospital using the CIPP model

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objectives.</strong> The patient medication counseling (PMC) services at Philippine General Hospital (PGH) started 21 years ago. While several changes have been incorporated into the program, no formal evaluation has been conducted to date. The objective of this evaluation was to assess the relevance, usefulness, responsiveness, acceptability, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the service using the context, input, process (CIPP) model of Stufflebeam.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods.</strong> The study utilized a mixed-methods study design. Interviews and surveys were conducted on pharmacist-counselors, a purposive sample of doctors, nurses, and other stakeholders. A review of records from the Department of Pharmacy of UP College of Pharmacy (UPCP) and PGH, such as patient and student satisfaction surveys and monthly reports of counseled patients served from 2015 to 2019, was conducted. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Results.</strong> Context evaluation revealed that the establishment of PMC resulted from informal interactions with hospitalized patients due to incorrect use of prescription medicines. Correct information was envisioned to address the irresponsible use of medicines. The input evaluation revealed that only 24% (N=75) of the pharmacists are involved in PMC, which comprise only 10% of their workload. There was also a lack of comprehensive training for counseling and insufficient physical facilities. The process evaluation identified lack of time (94%) as a significant limiting factor for the involvement of pharmacists in PMC. The interns became an additional workforce for the service, but scheduling and the consistent availability of both students and faculty-preceptors were experienced. The product evaluation revealed positive perceptions among the pharmacists, faculty, and student interns. From the patient satisfaction survey records of 5,071 patients counseled, 98 to 100% expressed high service satisfaction, and 100% were likely to recommend PMC to other patients. The pharmacists, interns, and faculty-preceptors suggested that PMC improved their confidence, communication skills, and decision-making.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion.</strong> The PMC service is relevant and valuable to ensure patients' rational and quality use of medicines. As a value-added service to existing hospital pharmacy services, it serves as a venue for enhancing soft skills among pharmacists and students alike. However, physical and human resources and current processes need to be upgraded to improve efficiency, ensure sustainability, and expand service coverage to more patients.</p>

Text Analysis of Support Overview by Community Pharmacists to Prevent Self-interruption of Medication in Depressed Patients / 社会薬学

Depression requires continuous long-term treatment. However, many patients drop out from their treatment program. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of pharmacists’ support for depressed patients at higher risk of self-discontinuation of medication. This was a cross-sectional study of community pharmacists’ support for depressed patients using a web-based questionnaire. The survey items were 1) pharmacists’ basic attributes and 2) pharmacists’ support to prevent patients from dropping out of their treatment. Morphological analysis was performed using text mining to analyze the free responses, and the relationships between the extracted categories were examined using hierarchical cluster analysis. Free responses were obtained from 77 pharmacists. The morphological analysis extracted 26 categories from their responses, and the category with the highest frequency of occurrence was “explain” (44 times). The extracted categories were stratified into clusters 1 to 6 using hierarchical cluster analysis.

The influence of a medication counseling program for hypertensive soldiers at the Army General Hospital: A pilot study

Background@#The incidence of hypertension and its complications continue to increase in the Philippine Army due to non-adherence resulting in poor health outcomes. @*Objective@#This study implemented a Medication Counseling Program (MCP) for hypertensive soldiers, and assessed the effects of the program on knowledge of disease and treatment (Knowledge), attitude towards medication (Attitude), adherence to treatment (Adherence), and blood pressure (BP). It identified and categorized pharmacist interventions applied during the counseling sessions. The perceptions of patients and physicians on pharmacist's clinical roles were also determined. @*Methodology@#The program was implemented from March to October 2015 in a government hospital for the Philippine Army. Knowledge, attitude, adherence, and BP (converted as mean arterial pressure or MAP) were measured at baseline, 30, 60, and 90th day after initial counseling. Data for pharmacist interventions were collected from patient's documentary form. The interview was conducted to patients after their 90-day counseling period and physicians after the 8-month duration of the program. @*Results@#A total of 20 patients were enrolled in the program, but only 13 patients completed the study. Of the 62 counseling sessions conducted by the pharmacist for the 8-month period, a total of 252 pharmacist interventions were administered. Knowledge, attitude, adherence, and MAP scores improved, and 100 % of the patients achieved normal/controlled BP after the 90-day counseling period. @*Conclusion@#A pharmacist MCP intervention may improve a patient's knowledge, attitude, adherence, and BP. The program enabled the pharmacist to apply pharmacist interventions to identified drug-therapy problems of the patients and resolved these through collaboration with the physicians and cooperation of the patients.

Analysis of Satisfaction Level and Comprehension Level between Patient and Pharmacist Group on Patient Counseling Standards

BACKGROUNDS: Patient counseling has been forced since June. 19, 2014. Prior to this, there was no study to try to standardize medication counseling to improve quality. PURPOSE: This study was to investigate satisfaction level and comprehension level between the pharmacist group and the patient group about standardized medication counseling sheet. METHODS: Questionnaires to assess standardized patient counseling sheet were posted at online survey software (Qualtrics) to pharmacists who worked at community pharmacy and patients who had visited community pharmacy before. RESULTS: Three hundred thirty five patients and three hundred nineteen pharmacists were responded to the questionnaire (Response rate: 72.9%). More than half of each group were satisfied with standardized medication counseling sheets 'for the general public', 'for the pregnant women and nursing mothers', 'for the chronic patient', and 'for the aged' and patient group were more satisfied than pharmacist group. Similarly, more than half of each group comprehended with the medication counseling sheets 'for the general public', 'for the pregnant women and nursing mothers', 'for the chronic patient', and 'for the aged'. Patient group tended to expect longer patient counseling time per one drug than pharmacist group. Also, the majority of both groups wanted to provide standardized medication counseling sheets constantly and extend for all drugs. CONCLUSION: Both groups were satisfied and comprehended standardized medication counseling sheets, and agreed to expand standardized medication counseling sheets to all drugs. So, it is necessary to build the standardized medication counseling of all drugs.