Objectives. To determine change in cultural competency knowledge and perceived confidence of second-year pharmacy students to deliver culturally competent care after completing a required cultural competency curriculum. Design. Cultural competence material was covered in the second-year PharmD curriculum through lectures, laboratories, and an experiential/out-of-class assignment. Assessment. Eighty-five second-year (P2) pharmacy students completed a survey which assessed influence of classroom activities related to cultural competence. Mean values for knowledge and perceived confidence were significantly higher for posttest compared to pretest ( p , 0.01), after cultural competency activities. Focus groups were used to solicit students' opinions on instructional effectiveness, relevance of activities, and areas for enhancement. Conclusion. The cultural competency curriculum increased pharmacy students' awareness of and confidence in addressing cultural diversity issues that affect pharmaceutical care delivery.Keywords: culture, cultural competence, diversity, assessment INTRODUCTIONThe United States population is becoming more diverse, with significant increases in numbers and proportions of people representing various ethnic groups.1 The US Census Bureau's national population projections predict that by the year 2050, less than 53% of the US population will be non-Hispanic white; 16% will be black; 23% of Hispanic origin; 10% Asian and Pacific Islander; and about 1% American Indian.1 Clearly, future pharmacists will have to interact with patients from diverse backgrounds who have different languages and cultures, as well as different opinions, beliefs, behaviors, and practices about healthcare and illness. These differences directly impact the patient-provider communication process 2 and may increase healthcare disparities.3 Helping pharmacists become culturally competent is a cited approach to eliminate long-standing health disparities. 4-6 Culture and Cultural CompetenceCulture is the first and most important frame of reference from which one's identity evolves.7 Culture refers to integrated patterns of human behaviors that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups.5 Culture can be defined as a mix of beliefs, values, and behavior that are shared within a group of people. 8 Patients from diverse cultural background may bring to the healthcare setting various preformed perspectives, beliefs, and behaviors regarding health and well-being. These preconceived beliefs about health and the healthcare system may affect the patient-provider communication.Cultural competence is an important tool for dealing with culturally diverse patients, and is a key measure of quality of care for patients from diverse cultural backgrounds. 9 There are many accepted definitions of cultural competence in the literature.10,11 The US Department of Health and Human Services defines cultural competence as the level of knowledge-based...

Objective: To present an overview of comic books as an educational tool and discuss the use of comic books in pharmacy education. Literature Identification: This research is comprised of a narrative literature review and critical analysis of the information retrieved. Key words included: comic(s), graphic novels, and pharmacy education. News articles, dissertations, theses, books, and scholarly articles from peer reviewed journals were selected and reviewed for inclusion in this article. Results: Comics have been used as a pedagogical tool to motivate students to read, help them remember the content, and make the whole learning process fun. They have been used as supplemental readings in biochemistry, physics, and business ethics. Comic books have been used in educating patients about the challenges of dialysis, promoting health, and informing consumers about diseases such as AIDS and cancer. Conclusion: In today’s media rich environment, comic books could be a visually interactive and innovative educational tool. Pharmacy faculty could use comic books or graphic novels as stand-alone texts or as part of a larger curriculum. Comic books could help students learn pharmacy-relevant content while enjoying the reading. Conflict of Interest The author declares no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties   Type: Review

High development costs and multiple barriers to entry have led to a decline in the number of vaccine manufacturers. Although a number of vaccine policies have met with mixed success in increasing the supply of and demand for vaccines, a variety of concerns remain, including developing vaccines for complex pathogens and increasing immunization rates with available vaccines. New policy innovations such as advance market commitments and Medicare Part D vaccine coverage have been implemented and may aid in resolving some of the problems in the vaccine industry.

This study compared the following effects of two vaccine information flyers-one developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) versus one adapted from this information to a comic medium (comic)-on adults: (a) attitude toward the flyer; (b) perceived informativeness of the flyer; (c) intention to seek more information about adult immunizations after viewing the flyer; and (d) intention to get immunized after viewing the flyer. A between-group, randomized trial was used to randomly assign adults (age 18 years or older) at an ambulatory care center to review the CDC or comic flyer. Participants were asked to complete a survey to measure several outcome variables. Items were measured using a 7-point semantic differential scale. Independent-samples t-test was used for comparisons. A total of 265 surveys (CDC n = 132 vs comic n = 133) were analyzed. The comic flyer had a statistically significant effect on participants' attitudes and their perception of the flyer's informativeness compared to the CDC flyer. Flyer type did not have a statistically significant effect on intention-related variables. The study findings showed that the comic flyer was positively evaluated compared to the CDC flyer. These findings could provide a new direction for developing adult educational materials.

Background Fondaparinux sodium has been compared with low‐molecular‐weight heparins ( LMWH ) in randomized controlled trials for perioperative surgical thromboprophylaxis. However, the results from these studies are inconsistent in terms of efficacy and safety to reach a clinical decision. The objective of this study was to systematically review the randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy and safety of fondaparinux and LMWH for perioperative surgical thromboprophylaxis. Methods and Results Systematic search in various databases was done to identify randomized controlled trials comparing fondaparinux and LMWH published during the years 2000 to 2017. Outcomes of interest in this study included venous thromboembolism up to day 15, all‐cause mortality up to day 90, major bleeding, and minor bleeding during the treatment period. Analyses were performed with the relative odds based on a random‐effects model using Mantel‐Haenszel statistics. Results were presented as odds ratios with their 95% CIs. The assessment of study quality was performed as per Cochrane collaboration. After screening 10 644 articles, 12 randomized controlled trials including 14 906 patients were included in the final analyses. Pooled analyses showed the odds of venous thromboembolism in the fondaparinux group were 0.49 times the odds in LMWH group ( OR =0.49 [0.38–0.64]). However, the odds of major bleeding in the fondaparinux group were 1.48 times the odds in the LMWH group ( OR =1.48 [1.15–1.90]). Conclusions Fondaparinux was associated with a superior efficacy in terms of reduction of venous thromboembolism in this meta‐analysis. However, it was also associated with increased odds of major bleeding.