The relationship between leadership style and provision of the first Danish publicly reimbursed cognitive pharmaceutical service--a qualitative multicase study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that leadership style is important to the sustainability of cognitive pharmaceutical services, yet only scarce literature on the relationship exists. OBJECTIVES: Support of the sustainability of the first publicly reimbursed cognitive service in Denmark, the Inhaler Technique Assessment Service (ITAS), was ascertained through a qualitative study to explore how leadership style shapes the implementation process of the service. Sustainability in this project was defined as the state where those asthma patients whose symptom status is negatively clinically affected (as defined by Global Initiative for Asthma guidelines) by inappropriate inhalation technique are identified and offered the service by pharmacy staff. METHODS: The study was an exploratory qualitative multicase study that used triangulation of both data sources and methods. A theoretical framework of Bolman and Deal inspired the analysis of how leadership style influenced the local process of implementation of the ITAS. Four pharmacies were selected for the analysis because they differed in terms of leadership actions in their implementation process and achievement of ITAS sustainability. The analysis was inductive and linked factors that influence ITAS provision as perceived by employees with the interpreted leadership style of the owner. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: (1) the alignment of the owner and staff values, (2) whether owners perceived ITAS development as being under their own control, and (3) whether owners explicated the responsibilities of employees in the implementation process. The themes were interrelated. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy owner's leadership style was significant to sustainability of the ITAS. A strong wish by the owner to have ITAS implemented was important, followed by aligning the owner's values and visions with those of the employees. The widespread perception by owners that experienced users are not interested in the ITAS needs to be addressed to achieve sustainability.

Sustaining delivery of the first publicly reimbursed cognitive service in Denmark: a cross-case analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim was to identify local organisational factors that affect sustained delivery of the first Danish publicly reimbursed cognitive service, the Inhaler Technique Assessment Service (ITAS). The ITAS is a 10-min interactive counselling session during which pharmacy staff assess the inhalation technique of individual asthma patients at the pharmacy counter, and correct any errors. Knowledge of how the organisation of a local pharmacy influences ITAS provision will be used to develop quality indicators as part of a targeted quality-assurance system to support the sustainability of the service in all Danish community pharmacies. METHODS: Qualitative methods included field observations, semi-structured interviews, group interviews and the collecting of documentary material. Data-source and method triangulation were applied. Seven pharmacies were included in the study. A cross-case analysis compared pharmacies with sustained and reduced numbers of services based on three selected themes: administration of the ITAS, leadership interventions and professional values of pharmacy owner and staff. KEY FINDINGS: Pharmacies with sustained delivery had introduced systematic evaluations of the local delivery of the ITAS and made ongoing efforts to improve staff competencies. They dealt with individual barriers such as lack of knowledge of rarely distributed inhalation devices and communication techniques. Pharmacy staff in general rarely assessed patients' clinical needs before offering the service and rarely provided follow-up. Thus, pharmacy staff failed to utilise the full clinical potential of the ITAS. CONCLUSIONS: In order to achieve and support further ITAS sustainability, the knowledge, skills and professional values of pharmacy staff must be developed. Human resource leadership techniques would be useful in achieving this aim, as would focusing on the service by providing systematic evaluations.

Development of a qualitative exploratory case study research method to explore sustained delivery of cognitive services.

OBJECTIVE: To develop, apply and evaluate a new research method to establish relationships between structural and process elements of the provision of cognitive services. In-depth knowledge about how local organisational structural elements of community pharmacies shape the implementation process of cognitive services is needed to develop targeted quality assurance systems to ensure that the services are continuously provided to the patients who need them. The first publicly reimbursed cognitive service in Denmark, the Inhaler Technique Assessment Service (ITAS) is used as the case. SETTING: The research method was developed at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen and later applied to seven community pharmacies geographically spread around Denmark. METHODS: A pilot study as well as a subsequent literature review was conducted to determine which structure-process elements to focus on in the research method as well as to select appropriate theories and methods. RESULTS: The developed research method was a qualitative exploratory multi-case study, that was based on method triangulation of field observations, semi-structured interviews, group interviews as well as collection of documentary material. The three main themes of the research method were: the administration of tasks, leadership style and professional values. We integrated the organisational theories of Mintzberg, Bolman and Deal as well as Sørensen to support and clarify the data collection process and analyses. A cross-case analysis and an exploratory contextual analysis relating the leadership style of the pharmacy owner to the ITAS provision were applied to the collected data. CONCLUSION: The developed qualitative exploratory multi-case study research method was satisfactory with regard to achieving nuanced and in-depth results of some relationships between structural and process elements of provision of cognitive services. The research method can be considered an important supplement to the existing literature on the sustainability of cognitive services.

The relevance of political prestudies for implementation studies of cognitive services in community pharmacies.

BACKGROUND: Studies of cognitive services implementation in the pharmacy sector traditionally focus on individual and/or organizational factors to explain why some pharmacies are successful and others are not. The social and political context of the origins of these services is rarely part of the analysis. Researchers and practitioners in the field of pharmacy practice research are increasingly being encouraged to take into account the specific political and societal climate which often plays a defining role in the success or failure of cognitive services implementation in community pharmacies. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to argue for the inclusion of political pre-studies as part of the study design for implementation studies on reimbursed services in community pharmacy. METHODS: A political pre-study of the Inhaler Technique Assessment Service (ITAS) introduced in Denmark in 2004 serves as an example of this approach and is described in detail. Documentary analysis was used in order to gain knowledge of the political background of the ITAS. RESULTS: Political pre-studies provide a more precise understanding of the background of the cognitive services and the way they are being performed, thereby supporting more valid results for subsequent implementation studies. CONCLUSION: Political pre-studies were shown to be a useful prerequisite when designing implementation studies of cognitive services in community pharmacies and can provide valuable insight into the ultimate success or failure of these services.

[Suitability of the Personal Electronic Medication profile for estimation of medication compliance]. / Anvendelighed af den personlige elektroniske medicinprofil til vurdering af komplians.

INTRODUCTION: Denmark operates a so-called personal electronic medication record (PEM) containing information about prescription medicine purchased by patients. This study examined the PEM compliance module in order to determine its suitability for evaluating patient compliance. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected data from 256 patients who participated in an intervention project conducted on Funen among users of antihypertensive medication. Data were collected from patient information in PEM. The data were used to compare three types of compliance which were all based on information in PEM: 1) calculating compliance, 2) compliance chart, 3) DDD (defined daily doses) chart. RESULTS: The 256 patients used a total of 1,062 medications (1-13 medications per person). It was not possible to calculate compliance for 240 (23%) medications distributed on 141 patients (55%). Compliance was highest for method 1 and lowest for method 3; conversely, non-compliance was lowest for method 1 and highest for method 3. Combining the three revealed a considerable discrepancy (44-66%) in the assessment of patient compliance. CONCLUSION: The PEMs lacked information for approx. 1/5 of the medications; consequently it was not possible to calculate compliance for these persons. The results indicate that for compliance assessment, PEM quality is less than optimal.

Using an action research process in pharmacy practice research--a cooperative project between university and internship pharmacies.

BACKGROUND: Action research (AR) is a common research-based methodology useful for development and organizational changes in health care when participant involvement is key. However, AR is not widely used for research in the development of pharmaceutical care services in pharmacy practice. OBJECTIVES: To disseminate the experience from using AR methodology to develop cognitive services in pharmacies by describing how the AR process was conducted in a specific study, and to describe the outcome for participants. METHODS: The study was conducted over a 3-year period and run by a steering group of researchers, pharmacy students, and preceptors. The study design was based on AR methodology. The following data production methods were used to describe and evaluate the AR model: documentary analysis, qualitative interviews, and questionnaires. RESULTS: Experiences from using AR methodology and the outcome for participants are described. A set of principles was followed while the study, called the Pharmacy-University study, was being conducted. These principles are considered useful for designing future AR studies. Outcome for participating pharmacies was registered for staff-oriented and patient-oriented activities. Outcome for students was practice as project leaders and enhancement of clinical pharmacy-based skills. Outcome for researchers and the steering group conducting the study was in-depth knowledge of the status of pharmacies in giving advice to patient groups, and effective learning methods for students. CONCLUSION: Developing and implementing cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS) involves wide-reaching changes that require the willingness of pharmacy and staff as well as external partners. The use of AR methodology creates a platform that supports raising the awareness and the possible inclusion of these partners. During this study, a set of tools was developed for use in implementing CPS as part of AR.

The impact of an automated dose-dispensing scheme on user compliance, medication understanding, and medication stockpiles.

BACKGROUND: It has been assumed that a new health technology, automated dose-dispensing (ADD), would result in benefits for medication users, including increased compliance, enhanced medication understanding, and improved safety. However, it was legislators and health professionals who pinpointed the assumed user benefits. Neither Danish nor international studies dealt with users' perspective on ADD in general or with respect to the pinpointed benefits, and thus exploration was needed. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to respond to the following research question: How does ADD affect users' handling and consumption of medication in terms of compliance behavior, and how does the assumption of user benefits made by health professionals and legislators measure up to users' experiences with ADD? METHODS: The results built on a secondary analysis of 9 qualitative interviews with a varied selection of Danish ADD users. Decontexualizing and recontextualizing provided the framework for data analysis. Compliance behavior was framed by a theory classifying noncompliance as either conscious or unconscious. RESULTS: Most interviewees were noncompliant in various ways, with conscious noncompliance being the more frequent type of behavior. After switching to ADD, most users experienced no change in understanding of their medications. ADD did not lead to automatic removal of old medications in users' homes; in fact for some users, ADD led to even larger medication stockpiles. Overall, reports from patients do not show evidence of the positive implications of switching to ADD assumed by health professionals and legislators before implementation. CONCLUSIONS: As a technical aid to simplify complex medication regimes, ADD alone does not appear to eliminate noncompliance or provide a better medication understanding, nor does it automatically eliminate stockpiles of old medication in users' homes. The gap between the perspectives of users and health professionals makes a compelling case for considering users' voices in the development and implementation of future health technologies.

Systematic review of the incidence and characteristics of preventable adverse drug events in ambulatory care.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence and describe characteristics of preventable adverse drug events (pADEs) in ambulatory care. DATA SOURCES: Studies were searched in PubMed (1966-March 2007), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970-December 2006), the Cochrane database of systematic reviews (1993-March 2007), EMBASE (1980-February 2007), and Web of Science (1945-March 2007). Key words included medication error, adverse drug reaction, iatrogenic disease, outpatient, ambulatory care, primary health care, general practice, patient admission, hospitalization, observational study, retrospective studies, health services research, and follow-up studies. Additional articles were found in the reference sections of retrieved articles. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Peer-reviewed articles assessing pADEs in ambulatory care, with detailed descriptions/frequency distributions of (1) ADE/pADE incidence, (2) clinical outcomes, (3) associated drug groups, and/or (4) underlying medication errors were included. Study country, year and design, sample size, follow-up time, ADE/pADE identification method, proportion of ADEs/pADEs and ADEs/pADEs requiring hospital admission, and frequency distribution of adverse outcome, associated drug groups, or medication errors were extracted. DATA SYNTHESIS: Twenty-nine studies met inclusion criteria: 14 were ambulatory-based and 15 were hospital-based. Seven studies enrolled only elderly patients. The median ADE incidence was 14.9 (range 4.0-91.3) per 1000 person-months, and the pADE incidence was 5.6 per 1000 person-months (1.1-10.1). The median ADE preventability rate was 21% (11-38%). The median incidence of ADEs requiring hospital admission was 0.45 (0.10-13.1) per 1000 person-months, and the median incidence of pADEs requiring hospital admission was 4.5 per 1000 person-months. Cardiovascular drugs, analgesics, and hypoglycemic agents together accounted for 86.5% of pADEs, and 77.2% of pADEs resulted in symptoms of the central nervous system, electrolyte/renal system, and gastrointestinal tract. Medication errors resulting in pADEs occurred in the prescribing and monitoring stages. The most frequent drug therapy problem and error of commission reported in ambulatory-based studies on pADEs was the use of inappropriate drugs (42.7%; 40.4-45%). For pADEs requiring hospital admission, the most frequent drug therapy problem and error of omission reported was inadequate monitoring (45.4%; range 22.2-69.8%). Failure to prescribe prophylaxis to patients taking nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs or antiplatelet drugs frequently caused gastrointestinal toxicity, whereas lack of monitoring of diuretic, hypoglycemic, and anticoagulant use caused over- or under-diuresis, hyper- or hypoglycemia, and bleeding. CONCLUSIONS: ADEs in ambulatory care are common, with many being preventable and many resulting in hospitalization. Quality improvement programs should target errors in prescribing and monitoring, especially for patients using cardiovascular, analgesic, and hypoglycemic agents.

Drug-related problems in patients with angina pectoris, type 2 diabetes and asthma--interviewing patients at home.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: The objective of the overall study was to create a foundation for improving the quality of counselling practice in pharmacies. The research question addressed in this sub-study was to describe drug-related problems (DRPs) in terms of frequency as well as type in people with angina pectoris, type 2 diabetes and asthma, as the problems were identified through medication reviews and home interviews. SETTING AND METHOD: During their pharmacy internships, fourth-year pharmacy students collected data for the study in 1999, 2000 and 2001 by carrying out medication reviews, conducting home interviews and registering DRPs for 414 patients. Data were collected from the following patient groups in the years indicated: in 1999, 123 angina pectoris patients; in 2000, 192 type 2 diabetes patients, and in 2001, 99 asthma patients. The interviews dealt with the patient's drug-related experiences, knowledge, perceptions, problems and actions. The DRPs were registered according to the so-called PI-Doc system. RESULTS: A medication review was supplemented by qualitative interviews with the three patient groups, which revealed a relatively high number of DRPs compared to other studies. An average of 2.8 DRPs were identified per angina pectoris patient; 4.1 DRPs per type 2 diabetes patient and 4.0 DRPs per asthma patient. "Inappropriate use of medicines by the patient" and "Other problems" (such as limited knowledge of the illness, inappropriate lifestyle, fear of medication, lack of information, etc.) were the two most common DRP sub-categories identified in all three patient groups. CONCLUSION: The study provided a profile of a pharmacy-based population of 414 patients visiting the pharmacy, all of whom are at high risk of experiencing drug-related problems. Pharmacy staff needs to take this high rate of DRPs in people with angina pectoris, asthma and type 2 diabetes into account when dispensing medicines to and advising patients from the three groups, especially when explaining how to use medicines appropriately.

Medication- and illness-related factual knowledge, perceptions and behaviour in angina pectoris patients.

As part of a study in Danish internship pharmacies, 70 fourth-year pharmacy interns interviewed 123 angina pectoris patients. Information was collected about the patients' medication- and illness-related factual knowledge and perceptions as well as their medication use. The results obtained showed that patients' perceptions and factual knowledge about medications and illness varied greatly, and that they administered their medication in a variety of ways. Patients' factual knowledge on illness, illness prevention and the function of medication was generally low. The patients were grouped in different categories according to their perceptions of illness and medication. A quarter had actively and reflectively self-regulated their medication and the rest of the patients did not do any deliberate self-regulation in terms of their medication. Half of the patients occasionally forgot to take their medication. Health care personnel should incorporate the results of this study in their efforts to improve patient counselling on illness, medication and other health-related matters.

A user perspective on type 1 diabetes: sense of illness, search for freedom and the role of the pharmacy.

The aim of the study described in this article was to explore young type 1 diabetic patients self-perceived knowledge, perception of diabetes, ways of regulating insulin intake, purpose of behaviour and attitudes about and requirements of the pharmacy. The interest group for utilising this study comprises pharmacy practice researchers and staff at community pharmacies who plan to focus on type 1 diabetic patients. The study, based on 10 semi-structured qualitative interviews, showed how young type 1 diabetic patients can be divided into three different groups based on the way they regulate their insulin intake. These groups are described and discussed in detail in the article. What drives the diabetic patients in terms of regulating insulin intake is primarily their experience-based knowledge and their search for freedom.

Basing pharmacy counselling on the perspective of the angina pectoris patient.

AIM OF THE STUDY: A participatory action research study design was developed and tested in 40 Danish internship pharmacies as part of a 3-year study supported by the Research Centre for Quality in Medicine Use. The aim of the study was to create a foundation for improving the quality of counselling practice in pharmacies by comparing the pharmacy staff's views on, knowledge of and behaviour towards a specific patient group with the knowledge, perceptions and medication use of the same patients. METHOD: Pharmacy students in their fourth year collected data for the study. In 1999, the students carried out 123 qualitative interviews with angina pectoris patients and collected 569 questionnaires from pharmacy staff in 40 internship pharmacies. RESULTS: The results indicate that discrepancies exist between the patients' and pharmacy staff's perspectives on important issues such as knowledge about medicines (patients)/provision of information about medicines (pharmacy staff), experienced side effects (patients)/information about side effects (pharmacy staff), knowledge on prevention and lifestyle (patients)/information on lifestyle and prevention (pharmacy staff) and expectations of pharmacies (patients)/initiatives started in pharmacies (pharmacy staff). CONCLUSION: The study gives reason to believe that angina pectoris patients might benefit if pharmacies provided more information on the relationship between lifestyle factors and angina pectoris, the possible side effects of medicines and the function of medicines.