Perception of learners on the effectiveness and suitability of MyDispense: a virtual pharmacy simulation and its integration in the clinical pharmacy module in Viet Nam.

BACKGROUND: My Dispense is a virtual pharmacy simulation developed for students to train and practice dispensing skills in a safe environment that causes no harm to patients. This study was aimed to investigate learners' perspectives on the effectiveness of MyDispense and its suitability to integrate into the clinical pharmacy module in Viet Nam. METHODS: A mixed method approach was undertaken. Fourth- and fifth-year pharmacy students at University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh city and community pharmacists were invited to complete a survey questionnaire and to participate in semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: A total of 92/99 participants agreed to take part, of which 75% of participants were students and 65.2% were female. About three-quarters of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that MyDispense improved their dispensing skills, such as patient counselling (70.6%) and collecting patient infomation (85.9%). The majority of the participants (84.8%) considered that MyDispense was suitable to integrate into the clinical pharmacy module. Qualitative analysis from the interviews highlighted the advantages of MyDispense, comprising high interactivity with users, safe environment for practicing medication dispensing, and diversity of common marketed medications. In addition, certain barriers of this programme were also reported, including the complicated process, inconsistent quality of product images, and mixed English-Vietnamese languages. CONCLUSIONS: From learner's perspectives, MyDispense was an effective tool to enhance dispensing skills and was suitable to integrated into the clinical pharmacy module in Viet Nam.

Dietary tofu intake and long-term risk of death from stroke in a general population.

BACKGROUND & AIM: Although dietary soy intake is linked with health benefits, a relation with stroke has not been established. The present study examined the association between the intake of tofu, the richest source of dietary soy, with stroke mortality in a general population cohort of Japanese men and women. METHODS: Data comprise 9244 Japanese enrolled in the National Nutrition Survey of Japan in 1980. Participants were free of cardiovascular disease and followed for 24 years. Dietary intake was estimated from 3-day weighed food records. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios across levels of tofu intake. RESULTS: During follow-up, there were 417 deaths due to stroke (88 cerebral hemorrhage [CH], 245 cerebral infarction [CI], and 84 of other subtypes). Among all men, and in women aged 65 years or more, tofu intake was unrelated to each form of stroke. For young women (<65 years of age), a significantly lower risk of CH in the top versus bottom quartile of tofu intake was observed (Multivariable-adjusted HR = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.08-0.85). CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study with long follow-up of Japanese men and women, consumption of tofu was unrelated to the risk of stroke except for CH in women <65 years of age. Whether the association in younger women is real or due to chance alone warrants further study.

Epidemiology of cardiovascular risk factors in Asian countries.

The distribution and burden of 5 conventional risk factors (elevated blood pressure, high total cholesterol, diabetes, obesity/overweight and smoking) for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) were reviewed in 10 selected Asian countries, in addition to the United Kingdom and the United States. Over the past 3 decades, age-standardized systolic blood pressure was on the decline in high-income countries but on the rise in low- to middle-income countries. Similar patterns were observed for total cholesterol levels, although the absolute levels remained higher in high-income countries. A pronounced increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus was seen in most of the Asian countries, corresponding to an increase in the levels of body mass index. The number of smokers declined markedly with time, particularly in men, in some selected Asian countries (Japan, Singapore, China, Vietnam). However, the prevalence of current smokers for all countries in 2011 remained excessive. The population-attributable risks for stroke and ischemic heart were highest for high blood pressure, followed by total cholesterol, obesity, and smoking. Evidence suggests that in both Asia and the West, no country is in sufficient control of any of these factors and that intervention programs to alter their effect on CVD are of equal importance.