Expanding Access to Patient Care in Community Pharmacies for Minor Illnesses in Washington State.

Introduction: As the shortage of primary care providers widens nationwide, access to care utilizing non-physician providers is one strategy to ensure equitable access to care. This study aimed to compare community pharmacist-provided care for minor ailments to care provided at three traditional sites of care: primary care, urgent care, and emergency department, to determine if care provided by pharmacists improved access with comparable quality and reduced financial strain on the healthcare system. Methods: Pharmacy data was provided from 46 pharmacies and 175 pharmacists who participated across five pharmacy corporations over a 3-year period (2016-2019). Data for non-pharmacy sites of care was provided by a large health plan, matching episodes of care for conditions seen in the community pharmacy. Cost-of-care analysis was conducted using superiority study design and revisit data analysis was conducted using noninferiority study design. Results: Median cost-of-care across traditional sites of care was $277.78 higher than care provided at the pharmacies, showing superiority. Noninferiority was demonstrated for revisit care when the initial visit was conducted by a pharmacist compared to traditional sites. Discussion: The authors conclude community pharmacist-provided care for minor ailments improved cost-effective access for patients with comparable quality and reduced financial strains on the healthcare system.

Leadership Lessons and Career Advice From the Musical Hamilton.

The musical Hamilton, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creatively depicts the life and career of founding father Alexander Hamilton. While Hamilton is the primary focus, highlights of the career and personal journeys of other leaders, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr, are interjected throughout the production. Often the musical numbers in Hamilton focus on aspects of leadership and career development that Hamilton and his contemporaries were learning or needed to learn. These lessons are applicable to the challenges that faculty members in academic pharmacy face today at different stages of a career. These include the importance of maximizing opportunities, listening, self-reflection, compromise, patience, empathy, prioritizing, tending relationships, making difficult decisions, knowing when to say goodbye, and managing a legacy.

Training pharmacy technicians to administer immunizations.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of an immunization training program for pharmacy technicians on technicians' self-reported confidence, knowledge, and number of vaccines administered. METHODS: A one-group pre- and posttest study was conducted with certified pharmacy technicians from Albertsons and Safeway community pharmacies in Idaho. Thirty pharmacy technicians were recruited to participate in an immunization administration training program comprising a 2-hour home study and a 2-hour live training. Pharmacy technician scores on a 10-question knowledge assessment, responses on a pre- and posttraining survey, and number of immunizations administered in the 6-month period following the training were collected. RESULTS: Twenty-five pharmacy technicians completed the home study and live portions of the immunization training program. All 29 pharmacy technicians who took the home study assessment passed with greater than 70% competency on the first attempt. Technicians self-reported increased confidence with immunization skills between the pretraining survey and the posttraining survey. From December 2016 to May 2017, the technicians administered 953 immunizations with 0 adverse events reported. CONCLUSION: For the first time, pharmacy technicians have legally administered immunizations in the United States. Trained pharmacy technicians demonstrated knowledge of vaccination procedures and self-reported improved confidence in immunization skills and administered immunizations after participating in a 4-hour training program.

Faculty development program models to advance teaching and learning within health science programs.

Within health science programs there has been a call for more faculty development, particularly for teaching and learning. The primary objectives of this review were to describe the current landscape for faculty development programs for teaching and learning and make recommendations for the implementation of new faculty development programs. A thorough search of the pertinent health science databases was conducted, including the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC), MEDLINE, and EMBASE, and faculty development books and relevant information found were reviewed in order to provide recommendations for best practices. Faculty development for teaching and learning comes in a variety of forms, from individuals charged to initiate activities to committees and centers. Faculty development has been effective in improving faculty perceptions on the value of teaching, increasing motivation and enthusiasm for teaching, increasing knowledge and behaviors, and disseminating skills. Several models exist that can be implemented to support faculty teaching development. Institutions need to make informed decisions about which plan could be most successfully implemented in their college or school.

Teaching medication adherence in US colleges and schools of pharmacy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine and describe the nature and extent of medication adherence education in US colleges and schools of pharmacy. METHODS: A mixed-methods research study was conducted that included a national survey of pharmacy faculty members, a national survey of pharmacy students, and phone interviews of 3 faculty members and 6 preceptors. RESULTS: The majority of faculty members and students agreed that background concepts in medication adherence are well covered in pharmacy curricula. Approximately 40% to 65% of the students sampled were not familiar with several adherence interventions. The 6 preceptors who were interviewed felt they were not well-informed on adherence interventions, unclear on what students knew about adherence, and challenged to provide adherence-related activities for students during practice experiences because of practice time constraints. CONCLUSIONS: Intermediate and advanced concepts in medication adherence, such as conducting interventions, are not adequately covered in pharmacy curriculums; therefore stakeholders in pharmacy education must develop national standards and tools to ensure consistent and adequate medication adherence education.

A 1-day course to improve the teaching effectiveness of health professions faculty members.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of a 1-day teaching-methods course for pharmacy and nursing faculty members on teaching proficiency and perceptions of effective teaching. DESIGN: A 1-day teaching-methods course was created and presented to 12 pharmacy and nursing faculty members. Participants' teaching sessions were video-recorded pre- and post-course. ASSESSMENT: A panel of educators evaluated pre- and post-course video-recorded teaching presentations to assess teaching effectiveness. Participants completed pre- and post-course self-evaluations and surveys. Panelists' assessments confirmed significant improvement in 7 of 10 domains. Perceptions of teaching efficacy and proficiency to teach effectively improved after completion of the course. CONCLUSION: A 1-day teaching-methods course, requiring minimal resources, is a valuable development resource that can improve teaching effectiveness through enhanced communication and teaching techniques. Because effective teaching is positively correlated with students' learning, training seminars can be integral to comprehensive quality improvement.