Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Nov 2016
Examination of England's New Medicine Service (NMS) of complex health care interventions in community pharmacy.
Community pharmacies are increasingly commissioned to deliver new, complex health interventions in response to the growing demands on family doctors and secondary health care services. Little is known about how these complex interventions are being accommodated and translated into the community pharmacy setting and whether their aims and objectives are realized in practice. The New Medicine Service (NMS) is a complex medicine management intervention that aims to support patients' adherence to newly prescribed medicines for a long-term condition. ⋯ This study identifies the multifaceted and complex processes involved in implementing a new community pharmacy service in England. Community pharmacy workflow, infrastructure, and public and professional relationships all affect NMS implementation. Greater prior engagement with the pharmacy workforce and GPs, robust piloting and a phased rollout together with ongoing support and updates, are potentials strategies to ensure future implementation of pharmacy services meet their intended aims in practice.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Nov 2016
ReviewA systematic review of interventions to improve medication information for low health literate populations.
Health literacy is a barrier to accurately understanding medication information. Current medication information is too difficult to understand for low health literate populations, which imposes a higher risk of misinterpreting prescription label instructions, dosage, duration, frequency, warning labels, written information and verbal pharmacist counseling. ⋯ Interventions designed to support low health literate populations can improve patients' medication knowledge and adherence. The most effective interventions include additional aids that enforce written information, information that is personalized, information that is easy to navigate and tools that can be accessed when needed.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Sep 2016
Effects of the Affordable Care Act's young adult insurance expansion on prescription drug insurance coverage, utilization, and expenditures.
The US Affordable Care Act (ACA) extended the age of eligibility for young adults to remain on their parents' health insurance plans in order to address the disproportionate number of uninsured young adults in the United States. Effective September 23, 2010, the ACA has required all private health insurance plans to cover dependents until the age of 26. However, it is unknown whether the ACA dependent coverage expansion had an impact on prescription drug insurance or the use of prescription drugs. ⋯ While the main goal of the ACA's young adult insurance expansion was to increase health insurance coverage among young adults, it also had the unintended positive effect of increasing coverage for prescription drug insurance. Additionally, young adults experienced substantial decreases in out-of-pocket spending for prescription drugs. It is important for evaluations of health care policies to assess both intended and unintended outcomes to better understand the implications for the broader health system.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Sep 2016
Changes in medication regimen complexity and the risk for 90-day hospital readmission and/or emergency department visits in U.S. Veterans with heart failure.
Heart failure (HF) hospitalization is associated with multiple medication modifications. These modifications often increase medication regimen complexity and may increase the risk of readmission and/or emergency department (ED) visit. ⋯ Changes in medication regimen complexity that occur during hospitalization may also be associated with optimization of medical therapy and do not necessarily portend worse outcomes in patients with HF.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Sep 2016
Pharmacists' counseling on oral contraceptives: A theory informed analysis.
Providing correct and complete counseling on the use of oral contraceptives (OCs) is central to securing the autonomy of women in child-bearing age and is a powerful, proven tool of social change. Pharmacists in many developing countries such as Egypt are involved in dispensing and at times prescribing pharmaceuticals, including oral contraceptives that are readily available without a prescription. ⋯ The TPB appears to help predict pharmacists' OC counseling. There is a need to prepare pharmacists who are frequently requested to assist women with the selection of an oral contraceptive. Interventions that would facilitate women's requests for information may be valuable to increase pharmacists' counseling on oral contraceptives. Future qualitative and observational studies are needed to assess complexities in counseling on oral contraceptives in developing countries.