Cultural Sensitivity and Global Pharmacy Engagement in Asia: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam.

Schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States increasingly interact with those in Asian countries for various purposes such as education and research. For both those visiting and those hosting, it is important to understand and respect the culture of the other's country to enrich these interactions. This paper, the second of two manuscripts on Asian countries, focuses on India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam. For each country, the following information is provided: general introduction, health care system, pharmacy practice, and pharmacy education, stereotypes and misconceptions, recommendations for US-based health care professionals, faculty members, and students who visit these Asian countries, and recommendations for them to host visitors from these Asian countries. The aim of this paper is to assist US health care professionals, faculty members, and students in initiating and promoting a culturally sensitive engagement.

Partners in Public Health: Public Health Collaborations With Schools of Pharmacy, 2015.

To collect data on public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy, we sent a short electronic survey to accredited and preaccredited pharmacy programs in 2015. We categorized public health collaborations as working or partnering with local and/or state public health departments, local and/or state public health organizations, academic schools or programs of public health, and other public health collaborations. Of 134 schools, 65 responded (49% response rate). Forty-six (71%) responding institutions indicated collaborations with local and/or state public health departments, 34 (52%) with schools or programs of public health, and 24 (37%) with local and/or state public health organizations. Common themes of collaborations included educational programs, community outreach, research, and teaching in areas such as tobacco control, emergency preparedness, chronic disease, drug abuse, immunizations, and medication therapy management. Interdisciplinary public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy provide additional resources for ensuring the health of communities and expose student pharmacists to opportunities to use their training and abilities to affect public health. Examples of these partnerships may stimulate additional ideas for possible collaborations between public health organizations and schools of pharmacy.

Digital health evaluation workshop for interprofessional healthcare students.

The use of online resources by patients for their daily health needs has escalated with the proliferation of mobile devices and mobile apps. While healthcare professionals can help their patients access quality online resources and tools, they may not have received the education and training to do this effectively. To meet this educational need, a daylong workshop was developed at a health sciences university that aimed to increase awareness of students in various health disciplines of mobile health-related apps and federally sponsored websites that provide patient-friendly medical information.

Assessing the Effectiveness of an Evidence-based Practice Pharmacology Course Using the Fresno Test.

Objective. To assess the effectiveness of an evidence-based practice (EBP) pharmacology elective course to teach EBP skills using the Fresno Test (FT). Methods. Pharmacy faculty members and medical librarians developed the elective course and offered it to two cohorts of doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students. A pre/post intervention study design was used. Seven of 12 FT items were chosen to measure specific EBP skills: Ask, Access, Appraise and Apply. Pre/postcomposite and FT item mean scores were compared using Student's t test with p<0.05 set as significant a priori. Results. Composite FT mean scores increased significantly for both cohorts. Mean scores for both cohorts increased significantly in four of the seven FT items but on different FT items. Conclusion. As a profession that commonly uses evidence-based guidelines, developing and integrating an EBP course in the PharmD curriculum is worth considering.

An electronic NAPLEX review program for longitudinal assessment of pharmacy students' knowledge.

OBJECTIVES: To track pharmacy student knowledge over time using a proprietary software program in an accelerated program for curricular assessment. METHODS: All students were required to complete a computerized comprehensive diagnostic examination 3 times during the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program: at the beginning of the second year, and near the end of the second and third years. The examination was comprised of 100 questions in 3 content areas: pharmacotherapy, preparation and dispensing of medications, and providing health care information. Within-subject differences in mean area and total percent scores were compared. RESULTS: Based on 123 students' data, mean scores for pharmacotherapy and total percent scores for examination 1 were significantly different from examinations 2 and 3. CONCLUSION: The computer-based comprehensive diagnostic examination shows promise for use as a component of a comprehensive assessment plan.

Evaluation of omalizumab from a health plan perspective.

OBJECTIVE: To review the pathophysiology of allergic asthma and information on the pharmacology, clinical efficacy, safety profile, and direct drug costs for omalizumab to provide a basis for a defined role of this agent in allergic asthma therapy in managed care organizations. SUMMARY: Omalizumab is a monoclonal antibody targeting the high-affinity receptor binding site on human immunoglobulin E (IgE). When bound by omalizumab, IgE does not bind to basophils. As a result, degranulation is attenuated and allergic asthma symptoms are reduced. In asthma trials, omalizumab reduced inhaled corticosteroid and rescue medication requirements and improved asthma control and asthma quality of life in moderate-to-severe allergic asthmatics with disease poorly controlled by inhaled corticosteroids. Omalizumab has generally been well tolerated. However, injection site reactions occur in nearly 1 of every 2 patients, a problem that generally becomes less with continued dose administration. Severe injection site reactions are reported in 12% of patients. Other adverse events commonly reported in clinical trials include viral infections (23%), upper respiratory infections (20%), sinusitis (16%), headache (15%), and pharyngitis (11%). Because the acquisition cost of omalizumab is high (generally $15,000 to $44,000 per patient per year, before contractual discounts), its use is cost-prohibitive in all but the most severe, poorly controlled allergic asthmatic patients who are utilizing large amounts of emergency health care resources to manage exacerbations. Experience with use of this drug beyond 52 weeks is lacking. CONCLUSION: Although omalizumab has demonstrated efficacy and safety in adults and adolescents with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe allergic asthma, its use should be restricted to a narrowly defined population of allergic asthmatics who utilize large amounts of health care resources. If targeted only toward this population, cost-of-care studies suggest that the high cost of this product in these patients could be offset by savings resulting from the less frequent use of high-intensity medical services for asthma exacerbations. The use of omalizumab beyond 52 weeks needs evaluation.