Pharmacy practice
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Benzodiazepine and z-hypnotic prescribing has slowly decreased over the past 20 years, however long-term chronic prescribing still occurs and is at odds with prescribing guidance. ⋯ One in three patients were prescribed a benzodiazepine or z-hypnotics at discharge with 1 in 5 receiving continuous long-term treatment (prescriptions) for 12 months post-discharge. As chronic long-term B-Z prescribing and use still remains an issue, future strategies using routine patient-level prescribing data may support prescribers to review and minimise inappropriate long-term prescribing.
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Pets, pet owners (referred to as clients in veterinary medicine and throughout this article), veterinarians, and community pharmacies may all benefit from veterinary compounding services provided in community pharmacies, but the benefits of this service are not well-documented in the literature. ⋯ This study assessed client and veterinarian perceptions of veterinary compounding service benefits, barriers, and need in community pharmacies. Clients identified more opportunities for veterinary compounding services in community pharmacies when compared to veterinarians. Both groups identified a need for veterinary compounding services and agreed community pharmacies providing these services would benefit pets and clients.
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There is a dearth of literature on perceptions of preparedness to practise, which explores the extent to which educational institutions prepare their students to fulfil their professional role. ⋯ Participants experiences in university, and experiential placements varied greatly and were perceived to impact greatly on preparedness to practise. Further multiple perspective exploration of perceptions of preparedness to practise is warranted.
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Medication reconciliation is a major component of safe patient care. One of the main problems in the implementation of a medication reconciliation process is the lack of human resources. With limited resources, it is better to target medication reconciliation resources to patients who will derive the most benefit from it. ⋯ There is a high failure rate in medication reconciliation process in patients admitted to the medical and surgical department. The reconciliation process proves to be a useful tool since nearly half of avoided reconciliation errors were unintentional and had the potential for harm. This strategy, based on our results and the difficulty of applying the process to all patients should be directed primarily to the patients at increased risk of error.
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To explore whether an association exists between health care professionals' (HCPs) asthma knowledge and inhaler technique demonstration skills. ⋯ This study revealed significant associations between asthma knowledge and inhaler technique scores for all HCPs. Providing inter-professional workshops for all HCPs involved integrating education on asthma knowledge and practice of inhaler technique skills are looked-for.