Teaching Homeopathy in U.S. Pharmacy Schools.

Pharmacists often advise patients on the use of over-the counter (OTC) medications. A class of medications that is growing in popularity is homeopathic products. Little is known about student pharmacist education about homeopathy.

The approach of Norm Balance in predicting pharmacists' intention to collaborate with physicians to improve medication therapy.

Objective: Norm Balance is an approach under the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) where subjective norm is weighted by the relative importance of others and self-identity is weighted by the relative importance of self. The relative importance was measured previously by a trade-off measure. In this study, we developed separate measures for the relative importance.

Act for the Future of Community Pharmacy.

Community pharmacies serve as a vital gateway to primary care and public health, offering face-to-face pharmacist expert care to assure safe and effective medication use. However, they are disappearing at an alarming rate, with 20-30% of all community pharmacy locations projected to close within the next year. The objective of this commentary is to highlight the critical need for systemic reforms and collective action within our profession to address the unique challenges faced by community pharmacies, ensuring their sustainability and continued role in providing essential healthcare services for patients.

Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment Status Change for Practicing Pharmacists.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in health care workers experiencing temporary or permanent changes in employment due to layoffs, quits, and postpandemic increased job demand. Analyzing the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with employment changes and results of changes for practicing pharmacists and understanding the associations with demographic and work-related factors could inform practice, policy, and educational programs. This study aimed to explore the frequency, characteristics, and results of employment status changes (ESCs) experienced by pharmacists practicing pharmacy in March 2020 (ie, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic).

Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment Status Change for Practicing Pharmacists.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in health care workers experiencing temporary or permanent changes in employment due to layoffs, quits, and postpandemic increased job demand. Analyzing the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with employment changes and results of changes for practicing pharmacists and understanding the associations with demographic and work-related factors could inform practice, policy, and educational programs. This study aimed to explore the frequency, characteristics, and results of employment status changes (ESCs) experienced by pharmacists practicing pharmacy in March 2020 (ie, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic).

Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment Status Change for Practicing Pharmacists.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in health care workers experiencing temporary or permanent changes in employment due to layoffs, quits, and postpandemic increased job demand. Analyzing the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with employment changes and results of changes for practicing pharmacists and understanding the associations with demographic and work-related factors could inform practice, policy, and educational programs. This study aimed to explore the frequency, characteristics, and results of employment status changes (ESCs) experienced by pharmacists practicing pharmacy in March 2020 (ie, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic).

Pharmacist-community-based organization collaboration to address health-related social needs.

Background: Community-based organizations (CBOs) help address community issues, including health-related social needs (HRSNs). Community pharmacies are positioned to collaborate with CBOs to help their patients identify and address HRSNs to optimize medication use.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate 2 models of community pharmacy-CBO collaboration to address HRSNs facing patients taking medications.

Identifying Services Provided in Community Pharmacy Practice Settings.

To better address their patients' needs, community pharmacists are expanding from their traditional role of dispensing to managing medications and providing other care. This study characterized services reported by pharmacists practicing in community pharmacy settings in the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS). The 2019 NPWS was conducted via an online survey.

Effect of an Innovative Immunization Practice Model to Improve Population Health: Results of the Project IMPACT Immunizations Scaled Demonstration.

U.S. adult vaccination rates remain low.

Determining essential elements and functionalities for a patient record system in community pharmacy.

Background: As community-based pharmacy continues to evolve from a focus on product distribution to a practice focused on patient care, a key requirement is for pharmacists to document their patient care activities. Some community-based pharmacies are working to routinely use the Pharmacist eCare Plan standard in documenting their new care activities.

Objectives: With the need for a robust patient record in community-based pharmacies, the purpose of this study was to identify key elements and functionalities for a community-based pharmacy patient record.

A Simple, Lightweight, and Low-Cost Customizable Multielectrode Array for Local Field Potential Recordings.

Local field potential (LFP) recording is a valuable method for assessing brain systems communication. Multiple methods have been developed to collect LFP data to study the rhythmic activity of the brain. These methods range from the use of single or bundled metal electrodes to electrode arrays that can target multiple brain regions.

Examining the case for direct contracting: A multistakeholder case study.

Background: Employers and pharmacies are challenged by a complex system for prescription payment. Cost plus direct contracts for prescriptions and bundled services may yield benefits.

Objectives: This study aimed to (1) explore direct contracting using multistakeholder interviews, (2) compare employer costs and employee copays for 6 months of prescription charges under their pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) with projected costs under a pharmacy direct contract, (3) project pharmacy revenue, costs, and net profit had these prescriptions been processed through the direct contract, and (4) assess employee satisfaction under the direct contract.

Influence of exposure time, physicochemical properties, and plant transpiration on the uptake dynamics and translocation of pharmaceutical and personal care products in the aquatic macrophyte Typha latifolia.

Typha latifolia is widely used as a phytoremediation model plant for organic compounds. However, the dynamic uptake and translocation of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and their relationship with physicochemical properties, such as lipophilicity (LogKow), ionization behavior (pKa), pH-dependent lipophilicity (LogDow), exposure time and transpiration, are scarcely studied. In the current study, hydroponically grown T.

Neural oscillations in the ventral striatum reveal differences between the encoding of palatable food and ethanol consumption.

Background: Across multiple levels of investigation, there appear to be convergent neuronal processes underlying substance use and other motivated behaviors (i.e., the pursuit and consumption of rewarding substances).

Establishing the Approach of Norm Balance toward Intention Prediction across Six Behaviors under the Theory of Planned Behavior.

: An innovative approach of Norm Balance is proposed under the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). In this approach, the measurement score of subjective norm is weighted by the relative importance of others, and the measurement score of self-identity is weighted by the relative importance of self. The study objective was to examine the effect of Norm Balance to predict behavioral intentions in two groups of college students.

What drives job satisfaction among community pharmacists? An application of relative importance analysis.

Background: Pharmacy employers want to improve pharmacists' job satisfaction, but ratings of job satisfaction are highly subjective, as evaluating job satisfaction involves weighing simultaneously the importance of multiple correlated determinants that are often perceived unequally.

Objectives: To 1) describe the application of relative importance analysis in estimating the predictive ability of correlated determinants of job satisfaction, and to rank the determinants in order of relative importance, and 2) explore how the perceived relative importance of job satisfaction predictors may vary across community pharmacists' age, gender, and work setting categories.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2019 National Pharmacy Workforce Survey administered to 96,110 licensed U.

Quantifying the Root-to-Shoot Transfer of 4,4'-Methylenedianiline Using Pressure Chamber and Intact Plant Methods.

The high-production-volume chemical 4,4'-methylenedianiline (4,4'-MDA) is an aromatic amine used to manufacture 4,4'-methylenedianiline diisocyanate for polyurethane production. Based on 4,4'-MDA's octanol/water partition coefficient (K ) and correlations with the transpiration stream concentration factor (TSCF), significant plant uptake and root-to-shoot transfer are predicted. However, most correlations between K and TSCF were developed for neutral organics and may not be applicable for ionizable bases such as 4,4'-MDA.

Patient preferences and willingness-to-pay for community pharmacy-led Medicare Part D consultation services: A discrete choice experiment.

Introduction: Community pharmacies currently offer Medicare Part D consultation services, often at no-cost. Despite facilitating plan-switching behavior, identifying potential cost-savings, and increasing medication adherence, patient uptake of these services remains low.

Objectives: To investigate patient preferences for specific service-offering attributes and marginal willingness-to-pay (mWTP) for an enhanced community pharmacy Medicare Part D consultation service.

Ambulatory care pharmacy practice: Findings from the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Survey.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the demographics, training, clinical specialties, and practice activities of ambulatory care pharmacists using data from the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS).

Summary: The 2019 NPWS was conducted using a 3-contact electronic survey sent to a random sample of 94,803 pharmacists using the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Foundation e-Profile system. The 2019 NPWS had a response rate of 67.

Medication-Related Problems and Interventions Identified and Addressed by Pharmacists Conducting Enhanced Medication Therapy Management Services.

Pharmacists identify, resolve, and document medication-related problems (MRPs) in community pharmacies. Enhanced medication therapy management (eMTM) targets specific situations, such as high-risk medications, while continuous medication monitoring (CoMM) occurs for every patient and is integrated into the dispensing process. This study describes types and frequencies of MRPs and interventions for health plan-directed eMTM and pharmacist-identified CoMM for a cohort of Medicare Part D patients.

Leadership aspiration: An intersectional analysis of racial and gender equity in pharmacy.

Background: The glass ceiling is a metaphor used to describe an invisible barrier that prevents an underrepresented group from rising beyond a certain level. Among pharmacists, underrepresented groups face various barriers and limitations to their successes.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to apply the intersectionality framework to data collected from the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS) to understand the association of gender and race with leadership aspiration among pharmacists, including differences in perceived barriers and attractors for pursuing leadership.

A taxonomy for community pharmacy patient care services reported in Pharmacist eCare Plans.

Background: Pharmacies belonging to the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Service Networks (CPESN) are transforming their practices with support of the Flip the Pharmacy initiative. These pharmacies are submitting eCare plans that describe care that they have provided to patients.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were (1) To develop a taxonomy for services reported by community pharmacies participating in year 1 of the Flip the Pharmacy initiative and (2) to illustrate the use of the taxonomy for hypertension-related services.

Maternal immune activation and adolescent alcohol exposure increase alcohol drinking and disrupt cortical-striatal-hippocampal oscillations in adult offspring.

Maternal immune activation (MIA) is strongly associated with an increased risk of developing mental illness in adulthood, which often co-occurs with alcohol misuse. The current study aimed to begin to determine whether MIA, combined with adolescent alcohol exposure (AE), could be used as a model with which we could study the neurobiological mechanisms behind such co-occurring disorders. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with polyI:C or saline on gestational day 15.

Evaluating the coaches' experience in the Flip the Pharmacy program.

Background: The Flip the Pharmacy (FtP) program aims to transform pharmacy practice to be patient centered and professionally sustainable through hands-on peer coaching, where the peer coaches' roles are to support their teams and provide them with feedback. There is a need to describe the coaches' experiences in transforming pharmacy practice, to better use coaching in future programs.

Objectives: This study aims to (1) describe peer coaches' experiences in cohort 1 year 1 of the FtP program, (2) identify barriers and facilitators for program implementation, and (3) provide recommendations for future coaches.

Exploring the moderating role of job resources in how job demands influence burnout and professional fulfillment among U.S. pharmacists.

Background: Job stress, burnout, and fulfillment can be modeled using the Job Demands and Resources model (JD-R).

Objective: This study explores the relationship between job demands and burnout and professional fulfillment in pharmacists, and the moderating role of job resources.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Survey of a random sample of U.