The impact of critical thinking skills on student pharmacist GPA at a historically Black university.

INTRODUCTION: Limited information is available regarding whether malleable factors such as critical thinking skills are associated with academic performance among underrepresented minority pharmacy students. This study assessed the relationship between critical thinking skills and grade point average (GPA) among pharmacy students attending a Historically Black College. METHODS: A cross sectional study design was utilized to evaluate the association between student's GPA and critical thinking skills. Demographic data and GPA were abstracted from student records. The health sciences reasoning test with numeracy was administered to pharmacy students at Howard University during the 2017 to 2018 academic year. Critical thinking scores were classified as weak, moderate, or strong/superior. A one way analysis of variance was conducted to ascertain if the average GPA differed based on critical thinking skills category. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine whether student's critical thinking skill category was associated with the cumulative GPA after accounting for other factors. RESULTS: Among 217 students, the mean GPA among students with a weak critical thinking skills score (3.22 ± 0.40) was lower compared to students with a strong/superior score (3.39 ± 0.33) with a p-value of 0.029. After adjusting for other factors, a strong/superior critical thinking skills score was associated with a higher GPA (p-value = 0.024) in comparison to weak critical thinking skills. CONCLUSION: Stronger critical thinking skills scores are associated with better academic performance among underrepresented minority pharmacy students.

National trends in reported past year opioid misuse among black women.

BACKGROUND: The opioid crisis within the United States has been widely studied; however, some gaps within the literature still exist. There is limited information on trends in opioid misuse as it relates to income among a national sample of Black Women. Given the recent increase in opioid overdose deaths in Black Americans and the vulnerability of women who misuse opioids, research in this population is important. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate trends of past year opioid misuse (PYOM) among Black women by income over the study period. METHODS: A cross-sectional study among adult aged Black women captured in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2015 to 2019 was conducted. Descriptive statistics for all study variables was conducted. Weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate predictors of PYOM. A stratified analysis was also conducted to examine possible differences between income strata on predictors of PYOM. RESULTS: A total of 15,196 Black women were included in the study (16,008,921 weighted visits). Among the women included, 41.5% were age 50+, 57.7% were unemployed, 63.8% reported very good/good health, 59.5% had past year alcohol use, 44.1% had never been married, 39.1% received government assistance, and 90.1% resided in a metro area. An estimated 3.14% of Black women reported PYOM. Findings from the regression analysis showed that Black women who were between 18 and 25, had past year major depressive episode, had alcohol use, illicit drug use, and who received government assistance had significantly greater odds of PYOM. Those reporting an excellent general health rating and higher education had significantly lower odds of PYOM. Income was not associated with PYOM in this study. CONCLUSION: Overall, income was not found to be a significant predictor of PYOM. However, income was found to modify the effects of major depressive episode and alcohol use on PYOM, especially among Black women who reported earning ≥$75,000/year. These findings suggest that high-earning Black women may be just as at risk for opioid misuse as low-earning Black women. Further studies are warranted to explore these effects among other gender/racial groups to determine if this trend is unique to Black women.

A Cross-Sectional Survey on the Post-Pandemic Acceptability of Pharmacist-Delivered Telehealth Services Among HCV-HIV Patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic enhanced the use of telehealth as a means of delivering services to patients who required continued and uninterrupted care. This helped to reduce readmission to hospitals where COVID-19 hospitalization was prioritized. Patients with HCV and HIV and other chronic diseases require this type of care. This study evaluated the post-pandemic acceptability of pharmacist-delivered telehealth services among HCV and HIV monoinfected and coinfected patients in Washington DC. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a community pharmacy setting in Washington DC whose primary outcome was the acceptability of pharmacist-delivered telehealth services through a proposed platform(docsink). A validated questionnaire, borrowed from the literature was used to determine telehealth acceptability, measured as behavioral intention, among patients who receive care from this pharmacy. The study recruited 100 participants. Descriptive statistics were conducted as well as bivariable and multivariable analyses to assess predictors of telehealth acceptability. In the unadjusted model, PU/EM (OR 0.571, 95% confidence interval (0.45-0.73), P < .0001)), PEOU(OR 0.72, 95% confidence interval (0.61-0.85)) and IM(OR 0.733, 95% confidence interval (0.62-0.87), P = .0003)) were significant predictors of behavioral intention. Overall, the study found that lower Perceived Usefulness/Extrinsic Motivation scores decrease the odds of intending to use pharmacist-delivered telehealth (OR = 0.490, 95% confidence interval (0.29-0.83), P = .008). This study determined that the impact of perceived usefulness and extrinsic motivation was critical to the acceptance of pharmacist-delivered telehealth among a predominantly Black/African American study population.

Evaluation of knowledge of the new Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule among pharmacists and physicians.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess and evaluate knowledge and application of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule (PLLR) among pharmacists and physicians. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge of and attitudes toward the new FDA PLLR among pharmacists and physicians. The primary outcome for this study was knowledge of the FDA PLLR. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted for all study variables, and linear regression analyses were conducted to assess predictive factors of knowledge of the FDA PLLR. SPSS version 25 was used, and all analyses were conducted at an alpha value of 0.05. RESULTS: In a cross-sectional study that included 167 pharmacists and physicians, majority were pharmacists (78.4%), and the rest were physicians (21.6%). The overall knowledge score was low with the average number of items answered correctly being 3.03 out of 7. Of all explored predictors, only gender (P < 0.01) and pregnancy letter category knowledge score (P < 0.05) were significant predictors of PLLR knowledge, adjusting for the other factors. CONCLUSION: The study's findings showed several gaps in the knowledge of the new PLLR among physicians and pharmacists, thus demonstrating a need to have concerted continuing pharmacy and medical education efforts. Increasing knowledge in this area will lead to better risk communication and quality of care for expectant and nonexpectant women of reproductive age.

A Pre-matriculation Success Program to Improve Pharmacy Students' Academic Performance at a Historically Black University.

Objective. The Pharmacy Biomedical Preview program is a five-week summer academic reinforcement program held for students entering the Howard University College of Pharmacy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the program and preadmission factors on pharmacy students' first semester academic performance.Methods. A retrospective cohort study was conducted of students entering the preview program from 2012 to 2015. The primary outcome assessed was first semester grade point average (GPA). Descriptive statistics of all study variables were conducted. Bivariable analyses were used to compare students by program status. Pearson correlations and point biserial R were conducted to evaluate which factors were associated with the first semester GPA. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate whether participation in the preview program predicted GPA during the first semester in pharmacy school after adjusting for other factors. All analyses were conducted using SPSS, version 23, at an alpha of .05.Results. Incoming overall undergraduate GPA was the strongest predictor of students' first semester GPA in pharmacy school, followed by participation in the Pharmacy Biomedical Preview Program. After adjusting for other factors, mandatory participation in the program was associated with a higher first semester GPA, and voluntary participation in the program was also associated with a first semester GPA that was higher.Conclusion. Findings from this study indicated that implementation of a pre-matriculation success program at a college of pharmacy in a historically Black institution is a viable strategy to improve students' academic success in the first year.

Determination of predictors impacting performance on the third-year pharmacy curriculum outcomes assessment at a historically Black college of pharmacy.

INTRODUCTION: The Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA) is a standardized exam developed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) in 2008 to measure the curriculum in relation to student progress. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of pre-admissions and pharmacy school variables on third-year student PCOA performance at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) College of Pharmacy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from three cohorts of students who took the PCOA in their third professional year from 2015 to 2017. An independent samples t-test, correlation analysis, and multivariate linear regression were conducted to determine the relationship between student characteristics and the PCOA score. RESULTS: The mean PCOA scaled score for the third-year pharmacy students was 349.6 ± 46.20 while the mean Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) percentile was 62.7 ± 14.5. Most students (67%) self-identified as Black and the majority (54.9%) were female. The PCOA scores were correlated with the PCAT percentile (P < .001) and the cumulative grade point average (GPA) through the fall semester of the third professional year (P < .001). After adjusting for other factors, the cumulative GPA through the fall semester of the third professional year (P < .001) and PCAT percentiles (P < .001) remained predictive of students PCOA scores. CONCLUSIONS: The cumulative GPA through the third-year fall semester and PCAT percentiles are important factors in helping to predict PCOA scores among third year pharmacy students at a HBCU.