Pharmacy students' personal and professional use of social media.

Introduction: Current literature does not describe behaviors or the overarching opinion of pharmacy students on the use of different types of social media for personal and professional purposes. The objectives of this study were to identify predominant beliefs among pharmacy students regarding use of social media for professional and personal purposes, characterize pharmacy students' opinions on the effects of social media on their professional career, and determine pharmacy students' perceptions of using social media as tools for learning and discovery.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was administered to pharmacy students at Auburn University (N = 450) and Lipscomb University (N = 212).

Effect of mobile text messages on antiretroviral medication adherence and patient retention in early HIV care: an open-label, randomized, single center study in south Florida.

Background: People with HIV (PHIV) with limited access to health services often experience suboptimal antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. We investigated whether a daily text messaging intervention improves ART adherence and retention in early HIV care in PHIV in a south Florida hospital-based clinic.

Methods: ART-naïve PHIV receiving care through the clinic's Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program were enrolled and randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups with a 1:1 ratio.

The Florida Mobile Health Adherence Project for People Living With HIV (FL-mAPP): Longitudinal Assessment of Feasibility, Acceptability, and Clinical Outcomes.

Background: For people living with HIV (PLWH), antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence is crucial to attain better health outcomes. Although research has leveraged consumer health information technologies to enhance ART adherence, no study has evaluated feasibility and clinical outcomes associated with the usage of a commercially available, regularly updated mobile health (mHealth) app for improving ART adherence among PLWH.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes of Care4Today, an existing, free, biprogrammatic mHealth app for improving ART adherence among PLWH.

Updating the Model: The Case for Independent Pharmacy to Embrace Digital Health.

Objectives: To advocate for independent pharmacy to embrace digital health as a means to improve patient outcomes and compete more strongly in an increasingly competitive business environment.

Summary: Independent pharmacies are positioned to be at the forefront of adopting digital health tools for a variety of reasons. They often can make changes to their business model faster than a major retail chain, are often in rural locations where few other providers are located, and are already starting to offer the types of clinical services that can be greatly aided by digital health.

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Willingness Toward the Use of mHealth Tools for Medication Adherence in the Florida mHealth Adherence Project for People Living With HIV (FL-mAPP): Pilot Questionnaire Study.

Background: Antiretroviral (ART) adherence among people living with HIV (PLWH) continues to be a challenge despite advances in HIV prevention and treatment. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are increasingly deployed as tools for ART adherence. However, little is known about the uptake and attitudes toward commercially available, biprogrammatic mobile apps (ie, designed for both smartphone and short message service [SMS] messaging) among demographically diverse PLWH.

'Fit-for-purpose?' - challenges and opportunities for applications of blockchain technology in the future of healthcare.

Blockchain is a shared distributed digital ledger technology that can better facilitate data management, provenance and security, and has the potential to transform healthcare. Importantly, blockchain represents a data architecture, whose application goes far beyond Bitcoin - the cryptocurrency that relies on blockchain and has popularized the technology. In the health sector, blockchain is being aggressively explored by various stakeholders to optimize business processes, lower costs, improve patient outcomes, enhance compliance, and enable better use of healthcare-related data.

A Progress Report on the State of Pharmacy Informatics Education in US Pharmacy Schools and Colleges.

To characterize informatics education opportunities in US colleges and schools of pharmacy curricula. Informatics curricular information online was catalogued via publicly available websites. Website content was searched via domain-specific keywords.

Geospatial blockchain: promises, challenges, and scenarios in health and healthcare.

A PubMed query run in June 2018 using the keyword 'blockchain' retrieved 40 indexed papers, a reflection of the growing interest in blockchain among the medical and healthcare research and practice communities. Blockchain's foundations of decentralisation, cryptographic security and immutability make it a strong contender in reshaping the healthcare landscape worldwide. Blockchain solutions are currently being explored for: (1) securing patient and provider identities; (2) managing pharmaceutical and medical device supply chains; (3) clinical research and data monetisation; (4) medical fraud detection; (5) public health surveillance; (6) enabling truly public and open geo-tagged data; (7) powering many Internet of Things-connected autonomous devices, wearables, drones and vehicles, via the distributed peer-to-peer apps they run, to deliver the full vision of smart healthy cities and regions; and (8) blockchain-enabled augmented reality in crisis mapping and recovery scenarios, including mechanisms for validating, crediting and rewarding crowdsourced geo-tagged data, among other emerging use cases.

Patient Perceptions of Text Messaging to Improve Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence: A Qualitative Study of Patients in a Ryan White Clinic.

Evidence on the use of short message service (SMS) to improve medication adherence in people living with HIV (PLHIV) is mounting, yet qualitative research on patient perceptions regarding SMS content and utility for HIV/AIDS remains nascent. To explore the experience of receiving medication reminders via SMS among PLHIV, 45 uninsured and underinsured PLHIV nested within the intervention arm of a larger study received daily, 1-way SMS adherence reminders. Qualitative data were collected by face-to-face, structured interview and were analyzed using conventional content analysis methods.

An Approach for Some in Advanced Pharmacy Informatics Education.

Computerization is transforming health care while the quantity and complexity of biomedical knowledge rapidly grows. Today, all clinicians use health information technology (HIT), but only some pharmacists need to be cross-trained in "all" that advanced informatics entails so they can devise new and better information systems to support the pharmacy practice of the future. We propose a dual approach to informatics education in pharmacy: incorporate fundamental informatics education into pharmacy curricula for all students; and train some students interested in becoming informatics experts to design, develop, implement, and evaluate novel HIT for pharmacy.

Patient Participation at Health Care Conferences: Engaged Patients Increase Information Flow, Expand Propagation, and Deepen Engagement in the Conversation of Tweets Compared to Physicians or Researchers.

Background: Health care conferences present a unique opportunity to network, spark innovation, and disseminate novel information to a large audience, but the dissemination of information typically stays within very specific networks. Social network analysis can be adopted to understand the flow of information between virtual social communities and the role of patients within the network.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact engaged patients bring to health care conference social media information flow and how they expand dissemination and distribution of tweets compared to other health care conference stakeholders such as physicians and researchers.

An Approach for All in Pharmacy Informatics Education.

Computerization is transforming health care. All clinicians are users of health information technology (HIT). Understanding fundamental principles of informatics, the field focused on information needs and uses, is essential if HIT is going to support improved patient outcomes.

Non-modifiable determinants of pharmacy residency match rates.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine non-modifiable pharmacy program characteristics on residency match rates.

Methods: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists match and non-match lists were de-identified and evaluated for students graduating in 2015. Variables analysed included length of program, type of institution and didactic grading scheme.

Development and implementation of a multitiered health informatics curriculum in a college of pharmacy.

Standards requiring education in informatics in pharmacy curricula were introduced in the last 10 years by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. Mirroring difficulties faced by other health professions educators, implementation of these requirements remains fragmented and somewhat limited across colleges of pharmacy in the US. Clinical practice and workforce metrics underline a pronounced need for clinicians with varying competencies in health informatics.

Role of Residency Interview Preparatory Activities as a Determinant on Pharmacy Residency Match Rates.

Purpose: Different strategies have been implemented to assist students in securing residency positions. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of student participation in residency preparation activities on match rates.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted to explore the effect of participation in residency preparation activities and grade point average (GPA) on residency match rate.

Cognitive and Performance Enhancing Medication Use to Improve Performance in Poker.

Use of neuroenhancers has been studied in groups ranging from students to surgeons; however, use of cognitive and performance enhancing medications (CPEMs) to improve performance in poker has remained largely overlooked. To assess the use of CPEMs to improve poker performance, a survey of poker players was conducted. Participants were recruited via Internet poker forums; 198 completed the online survey.

Associations of gender and age groups on the knowledge and use of drug information resources by American pharmacists.

Objective: To explore knowledge and use of drug information resources by pharmacists and identify patterns influenced by gender and age-group classification.

Methods: A survey questionnaire was mailed nationwide to 1,000 practitioners working in community (n = 500) and hospital (n = 500) settings who answer drug information questions as part of their expected job responsibilities. Responses pertaining to drug information resource use and knowledge of different types of drug-related queries, resource media preferences, and perceived adequacy of resources maintained in the pharmacy were analyzed by gender and age group.

Patient attitudes toward community pharmacist attire.

The white coat has symbolized professionalism, while representing provider-patient fiduciary relationship. Although well described in the literature for physicians, few studies examine the impact of pharmacist attire on patients' opinions regarding professionalism and trust. Therefore, understanding patient perceptions regarding pharmacist's attire and its influence on comfort, confidence, trust, and professionalism may provide guidance on ways to enhance the quality of the provider-patient relationship.

Availability and perceived value of masters of business administration degree programs in pharmaceutical marketing and management.

Objectives: To examine pharmacist-targeted master of business administration (MBA) degree programs and investigate pharmacists' perceptions regarding them.

Methods: Specialized MBA programs in pharmaceutical marketing and management offered at US colleges and schools of pharmacy were identified in the literature and compared. Pharmacists' perceptions of MBA programs were evaluated through a survey of clinical preceptors affiliated with a school of pharmacy.