Infringement of clinical pharmacist's authority.

Clinical pharmacists are healthcare practitioners who have advanced education and training in comprehensive medication management. Clinical pharmacists work with other members of the healthcare team to manage particular medications or disease states. Even though clinical pharmacists are members of healthcare teams, there are still many cases of challenge in the interprofessional relationship with other healthcare team members, especially related to drug management. Increasing interprofessional communication between physicians and clinical pharmacists within the healthcare system could enhance the role of clinical pharmacists. Earlier studies reported that physicians were comfortable with pharmacists detecting and preventing prescription errors, but were uncomfortable with them recommending drug therapy to patients. Acceptance of pharmacists' suggestions by prescribers is a necessary component of the evaluation of clinical pharmacy services. The role of clinical pharmacists could be improved by increasing interprofessional communication between doctors and clinical pharmacists in the healthcare system.

Effectiveness of collaboration in older adults: do interprofessional teams improve nutritional status more compared to usual care?

BACKGROUND: Ageing is accompanied by many changes that make it more difficult for nutritional needs to be met. Management of malnutrition in older adults requires collaboration among multiple clinical disciplines. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of interprofessional collaboration and practice (IPCP) implementation for older adults with malnutrition compared to usual care. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental study using an untreated control group design with dependent pretest and posttest sample of older adults with malnutrition. The intervention group worked as a team to give the intervention based on their own roles and responsibilities. The older adults of the control group received usual care from primary health care. Outcome measurement of nutritional status used the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). RESULTS: The study results show significant differences between before and after IPCP implementation in the intervention group which had better scores of MNA after implementation. In the control group, there was no significant difference between before and after implementation of usual care. The statistical analysis showed there was a significant difference between the control and intervention groups who had improved nutritional status after IPCP implementation. IPCP had strong correlation with nutritional status based on correlation analysis. These results demonstrate that the collaboration by more than one health profession can improve nutritional status better than usual daily care. CONCLUSION: IPCP has a strong and significant correlation with the nutritional status in older adults. The IPCP implementation could significantly improve their nutritional status after the IPCP implementation compared to usual care.

Malnutrition in older adults: how interprofessional teams see it? A systematic review of the qualitative research.

BACKGROUND: The understanding of health care providers' experiences involved in malnutrition treatment is a key component that should be explored. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to explore the views and perceptions of community health care providers related to malnutrition and its management for older adults, through synthesizing the qualitative studies. METHODS: Six electronic databases were used to search relevant articles. Qualitative research synthesis using Sandelowski and Barroso's method and thematic synthesis were used to broaden the range of methodology in this study. Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Tools for Qualitative Research was used to enable judgement about the strength of qualitative research. RESULTS: A total of four qualitative studies of health care providers' views and perceptions related to malnutrition in older adults were analysed. The results showed that there are three main themes that reflect their malnutrition experiences: (i) knowledge and skills about malnutrition, (ii) management of malnutrition and (iii) the need for collaborative teams. CONCLUSION: While health care professionals understand about the aetiology of malnutrition, however screening for malnutrition is not routine in their practice. Proper education and training about nutritional care is needed. Dietary changes and public education are preferable over oral nutritional supplements. Some solution and recommendations for management of malnutrition in older adult such as supportive interventions include environmental changes, nutritional counselling, food modification, oral nutrition supplement and pharmacotherapy if needed, routine screening and multidisciplinary approach.