Evolution of self-care education.

During the past 15 years, the curriculum content for nonprescription medication and self-care therapeutics has expanded significantly. Self-care courses ranging from stand-alone, required courses to therapeutic content and skills laboratories, have evolved in colleges and schools of pharmacy to accommodate rapid changes related to nonprescription medications and to meet the needs of students. The design of and content delivery methods used in self-care courses vary among institutions. Teaching innovations such as team-based learning, role playing/vignettes, videos, and social media, as well as interdisciplinary learning have enhanced delivery of this content. Given that faculty members train future pharmacists, they should be familiar with the new paradigms of Nonprescription Safe Use Regulatory Expansion (NSURE) Initiative, nonprescription medications for chronic diseases, and the growing trends of health and wellness in advancing patient-care initiatives. This paper reviews the significant changes that may be impacting self-care curriculums in the United States.

Status and recommendations for self-care instruction in US colleges and schools of pharmacy, 2006.

Teachers of pharmacy self-care courses have met annually since 1998 at the Nonprescription Medicines Academy (NMA) held in Cincinnati, Ohio. During these meetings, self-care faculty members discuss methods of enhancing the teaching of self-care in US colleges and schools of pharmacy. Self-care courses are taught using a variety of methods and content is woven into pharmacy curricula in many different ways. This manuscript sets forth the current state of self-care instruction in pharmacy curricula including the recommended core curriculum, instructional methodologies, course mechanics, existing standards, and assessment and curricular placement, and makes recommendations for the future.

Improving aspirin prophylaxis in a primary care diabetic population.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and improve adherence to American Diabetes Association guidelines for prophylactic aspirin therapy in ambulatory patients with diabetes using a pharmacy-directed intervention. DESIGN: Unblinded, single intervention. SETTING: Rural, primary care clinic. SUBJECTS: Eighty-five patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. INTERVENTION: Patients with diabetes were identified from database searches and routine clinic visits. Medical records were screened for aspirin use, allergies, adverse events, and contraindications. During routine clinic visits or structured telephone interviews, patients with indications for aspirin therapy were advised to begin enteric-coated aspirin 81 mg/day A follow-up survey assessed adherence. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: At baseline, 28 (33%) of 85 patients were receiving aspirin therapy An additional 8 patients had contraindications to aspirin, and 2 patients had no indications for aspirin therapy Aspirin was recommended to 27 patients during clinic interventions and to 15 patients during telephone interventions. Two patients declined the recommendation. At the completion of this intervention, 70 (82%) of 85 patients were receiving daily aspirin or had accepted the recommendation to begin therapy. CONCLUSIONS: A pharmacy-directed intervention increased prophylactic aspirin therapy in patients with diabetes from 33% of patients at baseline to 82% at the end of the study The intervention, which has a simple, patient-focused design, serves as a template for improving aspirin prophylaxis among patients with diabetes in other ambulatory settings.