The objective of this prospective, pre-post longitudinal study was to assess the impact of pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) services on employees' health and well-being by evaluating their clinical and humanistic outcomes. City of Toledo employees and/or their spouses and dependents with diabetes with or without comorbid conditions were enrolled in the pharmacist-conducted MTM program. Participants scheduled consultations with the pharmacist at predetermined intervals. Overall health outcomes, such as clinical markers, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), disease knowledge, and social and process measures, were documented at these visits and assessed for improvement. Changes in patient outcomes over time were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank and Friedman test at an a priori level of 0.05. Spearman correlation was used to measure the relationship between clinical and humanistic outcomes. A total of 101 patients enrolled in the program. At the end of 1 year, patients' A1c levels decreased on average by 0.27 from their baseline values. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure also decreased on average by 6.0 and 4.2 mmHg, respectively. Patient knowledge of disease conditions and certain aspects or components of HRQoL also improved. Improvements in social and process measures also were also observed. Improved clinical outcomes and quality of life can affect employee productivity and help reduce costs for employers by reducing disease-related missed days of work. Employers seeking to save costs and impact productivity can utilize the services provided by pharmacists.

No abstract

Results showed that a large number of patients continued to smoke even after the diagnosis of COPD and lung cancer; whereas only a few among them used smoking cessation agents. Ethnicity disparities and insurance status were associated with the use of smoking cessation agents. Differential use among population sub-groups suggests a requirement for need based smoking cessation programs and appropriate prescription drug coverage. Further research needs to be done to evaluate reasons for disparities in smoking cessation agents' use. The study had limitations common to research designs based on observational and self-reported datasets.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess realized access, determine the existence of equitable or inequitable access and find the factors affecting the adherence to the three diabetes care components. MethOds: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2010 was used as the data source. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to determine equitable or inequitable access to the recommended levels of diabetes care. Data analysis was performed using SAS ® version 9.2 Results: Realized access was highest for biannual glycosylated hemoglobin testing (80.30%) followed by annual dilated eye examination (70.39%) and daily self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) (63.00%). Hierarchical logistic regression revealed, enabling resources drove access to recommended level of SMBG and HbA1c testing, while recommended level of eye exams were driven by predisposing characteristics. Uninsured individuals and those who did not receive diabetes education were less least to adhere to diabetes care. cOnclusiOns: Realized access of daily SMBG needs to be increased by appropriate measures. The results suggest that inequitable access exists for all the three diabetes care components. Thus, measures for increasing equitable access are recommended. Knowing the factors affecting adherence to diabetes care may assist intervention planners, diabetes educators and health care professionals in attempting to improve diabetes management.

Objective. To determine the indicators of quality for application activities in pharmacy team-based learning (TBL). Methods. A modified Delphi process was conducted with pharmacy TBL experts. Twenty-three experts met the inclusion criteria, including having at least four years of TBL experience, designing at least eight TBL sessions, training others to use TBL, and authoring a peer-reviewed TBL pharmacy paper. In round 1, panelists responded to five open-ended questions about their successful TBL applications activities, including satisfaction with the activity and methods for creating positive student outcomes. In round 2, panelists indicated their level of agreement with the round 1 quality indicators using a four-point Likert rating. Consensus was set at 80% strongly agree/agree. In an open comment period, panelists provided suggestions to help expand the indicator descriptions. Indicators were verified based on TBL and the education literature. Results. Twenty panelists (87% of those eligible) responded in round 1 and 17 (85% participation) in round 2. Sixteen quality indicators were identified in round 1, with 14 achieving consensus in round 2. "Uses authentic pharmacy challenges or situations" (88% strongly agree/agree) and "incorporates or provides effective feedback to groups" (88% strongly agree/agree) met consensus. However, "has multiple right answers" (76% strongly agree/agree) and "incorporates elements from school specific emphases (eg, faith, underserved)" (53% strongly agree/agree) did not reach consensus. Conclusions. These indicators can assist faculty members in designing application activities to provide high-quality TBL exercises that promote deep thinking and engaged classroom discussion. The indicators could also guide faculty development and quality improvement efforts, such as peer review of application activities.