Kentucky pharmacists' perceptions regarding provision of hormonal contraception.

Background: Although Kentucky pharmacists recently gained authority to provide protocol-driven care for 13 conditions, provision of prescription hormonal contraception (HC) services is not currently authorized. A board-approved protocol allowing for provision of nonprescription over-the-counter (OTC) emergency contraception (EC) was recently approved by the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy but has yet to be implemented.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were (1) to assess Kentucky pharmacists' interest in providing prescription HC and OTC EC services via protocol and (2) to identify perceived benefits/barriers regarding provision of prescription HC.

Development of the Barriers to Error Disclosure Assessment Tool.

Objectives: An interprofessional group of health colleges' faculty created and piloted the Barriers to Error Disclosure Assessment tool as an instrument to measure barriers to medical error disclosure among health care providers.

Methods: A review of the literature guided the creation of items describing influences on the decision to disclose a medical error. Local and national experts in error disclosure used a modified Delphi process to gain consensus on the items included in the pilot.

Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Implications for the Pharmacist and Other Health Professionals.

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medications is big business for pharmaceutical manufacturers and has altered the relationship between patients and health professionals. Seeing promotional messages from the manufacturer of a pharmaceutical can have both positive and negative impacts. These are discussed along with current efforts to control activities in this area as well as possible future developments.

Legal and ethical issues regarding social media and pharmacy education.

Widespread use of social media applications like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter has introduced new complexities to the legal and ethical environment of higher education. Social communications have traditionally been considered private; however, now that much of this information is published online to the public, more insight is available to students' attitudes, opinions, and character. Pharmacy educators and administrators may struggle with the myriad of ethical and legal issues pertaining to social media communications and relationships with and among students.

Educational innovations: Categories of bulletin board postings designed to increase awareness of contemporary pharmaceutical policy issues.

Objective: The goal of this project was to categorize and classify bulletin board postings pertaining to pharmaceutical policy from both the professional and lay press.

Methods: Bulletin board postings were used to supplement in-class discussion to keep students, faculty and staff up-to-date on emerging trends. A bulletin board located in the main classroom area of the College of Pharmacy Building where students would pass by on the way to class and congregate during break periods was used to display articles from various sources concerning topics related to pharmaceutical policy.

Pharmacists on Facebook: online social networking and the profession.

Objective: To provide a brief history of Facebook and online social networking and discuss how it has contributed and can contribute in the future to a paradigm change in social communications.

Summary: When student pharmacists complete school and enter practice, they encounter enhanced expectations to act appropriately and professionally. Facebook expands the dilemma of separating private and public life--a challenge for individuals in all professions.

State boards of pharmacy regulation of the supervision of pharmacist interns.

Objectives: To compare the regulations of state boards of pharmacy for pharmacist intern supervision and review publications of service-learning experiences in pharmacy curricula for methods of supervision.

Methods: Online state pharmacy statutes and board of pharmacy regulations were searched to characterize which states' regulations included provisions for the supervision of pharmacist interns, permitted nonpharmacist supervision for student volunteers, and included provisions on interns participating in the practice of pharmacy. Additionally, a PubMed search was conducted for articles describing the supervision of service-learning experiences of pharmacy students at various colleges and schools of pharmacy.

Alternative ways to resolve contract disputes: implications for pharmacists, facilities, and patients.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been developed as an alternative to going to court to resolve disputes. Arbitration and mediation are the two most common forms, with arbitration involving a neutral third party who decides the controversy, the award being either binding or nonbinding on the parties base d on prior agreement. Mediation also involves a neutral third party, but the decision comes from the parties themselves reaching an agreement, with the mediator focused more on the process of securing a meeting of the minds.

Issues surrounding lethal injection as a means of capital punishment.

Lethal injection as a method of state-sanctioned capital punishment was initially proposed in the United States in 1977 and used for the first time in 1982. Most lethal injection protocols use a sequential drug combination of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. Lethal injection was originally introduced as a more humane form of execution compared with existing mechanical methods such as electrocution, toxic gassing, hanging, or firing squad.

A multistate trial of pharmacy syringe purchase.

Pharmacies are a potential site for access to sterile syringes as a means for preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but the type and extent of their utility is uncertain. To examine pharmacy syringe purchase, we conducted a standardized, multistate study in urban and rural areas of four states in which attempts to purchase syringes were documented. Of 1,600 overall purchase attempts, 35% were refused.