Students' use of health literacy communication tools during encounters with independent-living senior residents can result in greater patient understanding and empowerment, which may in turn help improve medication adherence.

Objective. To develop a comprehensive instrument specific to student pharmacist-patient communication skills, and to determine face, content, construct, concurrent, and predictive validity and reliability of the instrument. Methods. A multi-step approach was used to create and validate an instrument, including the use of external experts for face and content validity, students for construct validity, comparisons to other rubrics for concurrent validity, comparisons to other coursework for predictive validity, and extensive reliability and inter-rater reliability testing with trained faculty assessors. Results. Patient-centered Communication Tools (PaCT) achieved face and content validity and performed well with multiple correlation tests with significant findings for reliability testing and when compared to an alternate rubric. Conclusion. PaCT is a useful instrument for assessing student pharmacist communication skills with patients.Keywords: communication tools; provider-patient relationship; patient-centered; pharmacist-patient instrument INTRODUCTIONEffective communication requires active participation by patients and health care providers to ensure that messages are received and interpreted accurately by all parties. This is especially true for pharmacists as evidenced by a World Health Organization (WHO) report indicating that one of the seven roles of the pharmacist is "communicator."1 The 2016 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) guidelines for Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs explicitly define expectations for communication in the standards.2 Standard 3 (Approach to Practice and Care), Key Element 3.6 outlines that "graduates must be able to effectively communicate verbally and nonverbally when interacting with individuals, groups, and organizations." Additionally, professional communication is described as a required element of the didactic curriculum in Appendix 1 of the Standards. 2 The Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) is recognized by schools and colleges of pharmacy, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), and ACPE as the foundational driver for curricular design, mapping, and setting program expectations. Updated outcomes were released by CAPE in 2013 that specifically mention communication in Domain 3 (3.6 Communicator) and indirectly within the description of collaboration (3.4 Collaborator). 3Studies have shown that pharmacist communication skills can be improved with education and training.4,5 A recent literature review of communications training and assessment in pharmacy education by Wallman and colleagues revealed that the majority of education and training occurs with patient-focused communication activities, such as learning interviewing techniques, patient counseling or public health promotion.6 Several published articles describe objective assessment of student pharmacist oral communication with a patient, such as structured exam, pre/post evaluations, and expert/professor assessment of skills. Other articles describe subjective a...

A partnership to improve access to health information via an urban public library system was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2011. A multiyear project was outlined that included an information needs assessment, a training class for public library staff, information kiosks at library branches for delivering printed consumer health materials, and a series of health-related programming. The partnership evolved to include social service and community organizations to carry out project goals and establish a sustainable program that met the health and wellness interests of the community.

have all achieved high economic growth rates in a relatively short period of time; they also have shared values. The phenomenon of rapid economic growth in a short period, however, raises questions about government effectiveness in managing sociopolitical issues such as corruption, human rights, and crime. By using the 2003 AsiaBarometer surveys, this article examines citizens' perceptions about government effectiveness on the issues of corruption, human rights, and crime as well as the economy in the three countries. It then looks at the impact of said perceptions on trust in political institutions such as the central government, the legal system, and the legislature. The multilevel estimates suggest that effective management of the economy primarily affects trust in the central government; how the government deals with corruption primarily affects trust in parliament; whereas the management of human rights as well as crime reflects on trust in the legal system.