A web-based training program to support chronic kidney disease screening by community pharmacists

Abstract

Background Community pharmacists' role in screening of several chronic diseases has been widely explored. The global health burden of chronic kidney disease is high; however, the progression and adverse outcomes can be prevented or delayed by detecting and treating the disease in its initial stages 1-3. Therefore, a web-based training program was developed to enhance pharmacists' knowledge and skills required to perform a chronic kidney disease screening service in a community setting. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a web-based training program on community pharmacists' knowledge and skills associated with chronic kidney disease screening. As secondary aim, pharmacists' satisfaction with the training program was assessed. Setting Community pharmacy practice. Method A web-based training program was developed by four pharmacists and a nephrologist. Quantitative data was collected by employing a self-administered, web-based questionnaire, which comprised a set of five multiple-choice knowledge questions and one clinical vignette to assess skills. A nine-item Likert scale was used to determine pharmacists' satisfaction with the training program. Main outcome measure Pharmacists' knowledge and skills scores at pre and post-training, reliability of the Likert scale, and the proportion of responses to the individual nine items of the satisfaction survey. Results Fifty pharmacists participated in the pre-questionnaire and 38 pharmacists completed the web-based training and post-questionnaire. Significant differences were observed in the knowledge scores (p < 0.001) and skills scores (p < 0.001) at pre- and post-training. Cronbach's alpha for the nine-item satisfaction scale was 0.73 and the majority pharmacists (92.1-100 %) were satisfied with the various aspects of the training program. Conclusion The web-based training program positively enhanced pharmacists' knowledge and skills associated with chronic kidney disease screening. These findings support further development and widespread implementation of the training program to facilitate health promotion and early identification of chronic kidney disease in a community setting.

Australian Community Pharmacists’ Experience of Implementing a Chronic Kidney Disease Risk Assessment Service

“…After a CKD risk assessment service was developed using this tool, all Tasmanian community pharmacies were invited to participate in the CKD risk assessment study. Consequently, the CKD service was implemented and evaluated at 24 pharmacies (20). Because this was a pilot program, determining the feasibility of the CKD service and making refinements were necessary before widespread adoption in the community pharmacy setting.…”

Evaluation of a chronic kidney disease risk assessment service in community pharmacies

“…A letter of invitation explaining the purpose of the study was mailed to all (a total of 143) community pharmacies across Tasmania, and those who agreed to participate were included. The detailed recruitment process and training of community pharmacists has been described elsewhere . Trained community pharmacists ( n = 38), final year pharmacy students ( n = 2) and a researcher ( n = 1) conducted this study.…”

“…The detailed recruitment process and training of community pharmacists has been described elsewhere. 16 Trained community pharmacists (n = 38), final year pharmacy students (n = 2) and a researcher (n = 1) conducted this study. Pharmacies received an incentive of $15/participant recruited.…”

<p>Development and Evaluation of an Educational Program for Community Pharmacists on Cardiovascular Risk Assessment</p>

“…Based on literature review, a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "Definitely yes", "Some", "Not sure", "Not quite" to "Definitely not" was used to evaluate the level of satisfaction. 28,29 For those who accepted to take part in the OSCE, a list of open-ended questions was given at the end asking them to reflect on various aspects of the educational program provided, about their OSCE experience, what they felt about doing things differently at their practice sites, and which steps they felt they were more prepared to take on the basis of what they had learnt through their participation in this educational program.…”