Evaluation of a New Home Patient Services Practicum for Community Pharmacy Students in Japan.

This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the practicum as well as assess the knowledge, skills, and various specific realizations that the students gained from it. A total of 244 students role-played a scenario in which a pharmacist visited a patient at home and provided pharmaceutical management services. After completing the practicum, the students completed (i) a questionnaire survey consisting of six questions that assessed their level of understanding of the role of pharmacists in home medical care and (ii) a rubric survey that evaluated their learning achievement. In addition, they submitted practicum portfolios describing the patients' living conditions, physical conditions, and background as well as the services that required consideration of said variables. Their responses to the portfolio item "What were noticed through the practicum" were analyzed using the grounded theory approach. After the practicum, 45% and 53% of the students reported having a full and partial understanding of a pharmacists' role in home medical care. The students' mean ± standard deviation rubric score was 3.0 ± 0.4. They classified monitoring drug use, support for improving medication adherence, and observation to identify side effects early as major service categories in home medical care. The practicum led the students to perceive the need for communication with patients and various healthcare professionals to improve their readiness for practical training.

Comparison of Chinese and American clinical pharmacy education and reflections / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Clinical pharmacy is an important part of hospital pharmacy. Education of clinical pharmacy is one of the most important tasks in clinical pharmacy personnel training. At present, there is a considerable progress in the development of clinical pharmacy education in China, however, the professional quality of clinical pharmacists is still insufficient and there is a gap between the disciplinary education and clinical practice. In this article, we discuss the origin, development, academic degree, curriculum, teaching methods and practice certification of clinical pharmacy education in China and in United States, in order to explore the applicable methods of clinical pharmacy education in China. It will provide ideas and references for the optimization of the training of clinical pharmacy professionals, accelerating the development of clinical pharmacy in China.

Clinical Pharmacy Education and Practice in Nepal: A Glimpse into Present Challenges and Potential Solutions.

This commentary article highlights the challenges in providing clinical pharmacy education in Nepal and suggests a few ways forward. Contrary to other health care professions, clinical pharmacy practice is a new healthcare discipline in the country which is currently undergoing transition. The existing pharmacy curriculum and training in the country can provide competencies needed for pharmacists in industrial settings. Considering the importance of clinical pharmacists in patient care, the Government of Nepal has implemented a policy recommending the recruitment of clinical pharmacists in hospitals. However, the education and training for pharmacists provided in the country are not sufficient enough for optimum patient care and for delivering clinical pharmacy services. International collaborations in terms of faculty and student exchanges, preceptor training, and accreditation by international organizations such as Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), establishment of need-based curriculum, incorporating clinical pharmacy department under the organizational structure of hospitals, etc., may be the right approaches to improve the current status of clinical pharmacy education in the country.

The description and evaluation of virtual worlds in clinical pharmacy education in Northern Sweden.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate the use of a three-dimensional virtual world (3DVW) in a clinical pharmacy course. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Students are provided with training opportunities in simulated ward rounds and patient meetings in a 3DVW. The 3DVW enables students to practice communication with patients and colleagues in a professional manner. To evaluate the course and use of the 3DVW, an online course evaluation was completed by students after they had finished the clinical pharmacy course. FINDINGS: Forty-two students completed the online course evaluation (62%). Most students (83%) reported that they could adopt the role of a clinical pharmacist in the 3DVW. Sixty percent reported that the environment felt authentic, although some noted that "it can never be quite the same as sitting next to a real person to talk". More than half of the students (66%) described the use of the 3DVW as a worthwhile exercise. The majority (93%) rated the overall quality of the course as good or very good, with 76% reporting that the pedagogical design of the course helped them with their studies. DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY: Students at Umeå University valued the use of 3DVWs in clinical pharmacy teaching. However, there is a need to make the virtual environment more realistic and easier to use. The invaluable feedback gathered from students will help to improve the future use of virtual worlds in pharmacy education.

Development and current status of clinical pharmacy education in China.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the current status and developing trend of clinical pharmacy education in China. METHODS: Descriptive analysis of data and information about the clinical pharmacy specialty, pharmacy colleges, and curriculum from literature, college websites, and statistics from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Education (MOE) websites was conducted. RESULTS: Clinical pharmacy programs were established in China in 1989 but developed more fully after 2006. In 2012, there were 30 pharmacy colleges with clinical pharmacy undergraduate programs, which included a bachelor's degree in clinical pharmacy and a clinical pharmacy concentration within the BS programs of pharmacy or medicine. More than 40 colleges within the university system offer 4 types of master's degree programs in clinical pharmacy. Five universities offer a PhD program in clinical pharmacy. Three postgraduate programs exist, which train hospital pharmacists and clinical pharmacists: the 3+2 year Hospital Pharmacist Standardized Training Program at Peking hospitals; the 1-year Clinical Pharmacist Training Program sponsored by the MOH; and the 2-year Clinical Pharmacist Residency Program provided by West China Hospital at Sichuan University. CONCLUSION: A growing clinical pharmacy education system has been established and has become an important subfield in Chinese pharmacy education. Measures should be taken to further promote the development of clinical pharmacy education in China.

Cost-Effectiveness of Clinical Pharmacy Education on Infection Management among Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease in an Indonesian Hospital.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the clinical and economic impacts of clinical pharmacy education (CPE) on infection management among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 4 and 5 in Haji Adam Malik Hospital, Indonesia. METHODS: A quasi-experimental economic evaluation comparing CPE impact on 6-month CKD mortality was conducted on the basis of payer perspective. The experimental group (n = 63) received care by health care providers who were given CPE on drug-related problems and dose adjustment. The control group (n = 80) was based on the historical cohort of patients who received care before the CPE. Measure of clinical outcome applied in this study was number of lives saved/100 patients treated. Cost-effectiveness ratios for CKD stages 4 and 5 patients without CPE and with CPE and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for CKD stages 4 and 5 patients were analyzed. RESULTS: Lives saved (%) in the treatment of CKD without CPE: CKD stage 4, 78.57; CKD stage 5, 57.58. Lives saved (%) in the treatment of CKD with CPE: CKD stage 4, 88.89; CKD stage 5, 65.45. Cost-effectiveness ratios for stage 4 with and without CPEs were Rp3,348,733.27 and Rp3,519,931.009, respectively. Cost-effectiveness ratios for stage 5 with and without CPEs were Rp7,137,874.93 and Rp7,871,822.27, respectively. ICERs were Rp2,045,341.22 for CKD stage 4 and Rp1,767,585.60 for CKD stage 5. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of CKD stages 4 and 5 with CPE was more effective and cost-effective compared with treatment of CKD stages 4 and 5 without CPE. The ICERs indicated that extra costs were required to increase life saved in both stages.

Developing the Education of clinical Pharmacy to Conform to the Trend / 中华医学教育探索杂志

As the economy develops rapidly and the medical care system is being reformed continuously in China,the patient-centered mode of Pharmacy custody and the Clinical Pharmacy based on rational medicine have become the main work of pharmacy in hospitals in the new epoch.However,because of the lag of Clinical pharmacy education in our country,there is a shortage of the qualified clinical pharmacists,which restricts the transformation of the mode of pharmacy in hospitals.So to conform to the trend of international pharmaceutical science,it is necessary to set the clinical pharmacy program to train clinical pharmacists,quicken the education of clinical pharmacy and promote the development of pharmacy.

A Rustic Opinion on clinical Pharmacy Education / 中国药房

This artical is a brief introduction to clinical pharmacy education in USA Japan and China. A discussion on developing the clinical pharmacy education of our country is also presented.