An evaluation of the translation of continuing education into diabetes public health care by pharmacists

Abstract

Background Pharmacists are assuming greater public health roles and partaking in continuing education to advance knowledge and skills necessary for the provision of this patient care. Objective We sought to determine what conditions in a Middle East context influence how community pharmacists actually incorporate new information into practice. Setting Community pharmacies in Qatar. Methods A continuing professional development (CPD) program regarding the management of fasting diabetes patients during Ramadan was developed and delivered. Participants then maintained a record of their patient encounters when attempting to screen fasting diabetes patients for risk and offer medication, lifestyle, and monitoring advice. Diary entries were coded using inductive methods and follow-up focus group discussion was conducted to further corroborate the thematic analysis. Main outcome measure Facilitators and barriers to care. Results Forty-one pharmacists attended the CPD program and 35 subsequently made at least one diary entry during the 3-weeks preceding and during Ramadan. One-hundred and forty-eight submitted records and the transcript of one focus group (n = 6) were analyzed. Three main factors were found to influence pharmacists' ability to engage use new knowledge and skills: situational, patient, and pharmacist. Patient reception was the overwhelming influence whereby positive interactions encouraged pharmacists to continue screening and counseling attempts, but difficult encounters were negative reinforcing stimuli in almost equal measure. Conclusion In this Middle East setting, environmental factors play a considerable role in the pharmacists' ability to engage in public health care and reinforce that continuing education for health professionals must be closely aligned with the realities of practice and purposefully considered as part of its evaluation.

A Continuing Professional Development Program for Pharmacists Implementing Pharmacogenomics into Practice

“…Our evaluation perspective is unique in this field, as there are few examples in the pharmacy continuous professional development field of examining level 5 (performance outcomes) of Moore's framework [13,14], and none have addressed this level of performance relating to pharmacogenomics training. A narrative review on pharmacogenetics education in pharmacy practice recommended the need for educational programs that shift from knowledge-level pharmacogenomics education to curricula that focus on the application of knowledge in clinical practice [8].…”

Comprehensive care for patients with diabetes in Ramadan: A module for pharmacy students and pharmacists

“…Pre-module findings reported here are consistent with other research indicating that many health care providers, including pharmacists, lack knowledge of key issues related to diabetes management in Ramadan ( Gaborit et al, 2011 , Sugiharto et al, 2021 , Yılmaz et al, 2021 ). Several descriptive and interventional studies have specifically addressed pharmacists’ knowledge of diabetes management during Ramadan ( Abdelaziz et al, 2019 , Almansour et al, 2017 , Wilbur et al, 2017 ). Interventional studies consisted of didactic lectures, case-solving scenarios, focus group discussions, and/or role-playing videos ( Ahmedani et al, 2016 , Darko et al, 2020 , Dwivedi et al, 2018 , Wilbur et al, 2017 , Zainudin and Hussain, 2018 ).…”

“…A number of important studies in the curriculum address the issue of training HCPs on caring for patients with diabetes observing Ramadan. The study of Wilbur et al (2017) described a training module consisting of didactic lectures, case scenarios, and role-plays ( Wilbur et al, 2017 ). Darko et al (2020) described another educational program and indicated that the lack of confidence in the intervention, as well as the lack of skills and knowledge, constitute barriers for providing adequate patient education ( Darko et al, 2020 ).…”

“…A number of important studies addressed training for pharmacists and other health professionals on caring for patients with diabetes during Ramadan ( Ahmedani et al, 2016 , Darko et al, 2020 , Dwivedi et al, 2018 , Wilbur et al, 2017 , Zainudin and Hussain, 2018 ). Most of those studies targeted health professionals only rather than health professional students.…”

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

“…22 This model has been applied by several other researchers when developing courses in pharmacy practice education. [23][24][25][26][27] As such, the course used pre-/postquestionnaires, interactive quizzes through the online module, SPs, OSCE and a satisfaction survey in an attempt to assess all 4 levels of Kirkpatrick's evaluation framework.…”