Exploring deprescribing opportunities for community pharmacists using the Behaviour Change Wheel.

Background: Deprescribing, the planned and supervised process of stopping or reducing doses of medications, can reduce the use of harmful or unnecessary medications. However, deprescribing is challenging for patients and prescribers to implement. Community pharmacists have the potential to contribute to deprescribing, but whether they are well positioned to do so effectively remains unclear.

Cardiologists' and nephrologists' management of atrial fibrillation in hemodialysis patients .

Background: Antithrombotic therapy for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF) is considered a standard of care, but for hemodialysis (HD) patients the benefits are unclear, and bleeding risks are high. Our study objective was to compare cardiologists' and nephrologists' stroke prevention practices in different patient risk scenarios.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional, online survey was distributed to members of three Canadian physician societies (Nephrology, Cardiovascular, Heart Rhythm), and to cardiologists affiliated with three Canadian Universities.

Audit of community pharmacists' prescribing interventions: Quality assessment of a newly reimbursed service.

Objectives: To evaluate community pharmacists' reimbursed prescribing interventions (called pharmaceutical opinions/POs in Canada) by determining the types of drug-related problems (DRPs) identified; the type, quality, and clinical impact of recommendations made; and variation in recommendation quality across regions, pharmacy ownership type, and pharmacy size.

Design: Retrospective audit of randomly sampled service documentation records.

Setting: Community pharmacies in Ontario, Canada, 3 years after implementation of a government program that reimburses pharmacies for providing DRP-based POs to physicians.

Exploring pharmacy service users' support for and willingness to use community pharmacist prescribing services.

Background: In 2012, community pharmacists in Ontario, Canada gained regulatory authority to independently prescribe, including renew and adapt prescriptions. Studies have explored views of pharmacists, physicians and policymakers about pharmacist prescribing but less is known about the views of community pharmacy services users.

Objective: To describe Ontario community pharmacy service users' support for and stated willingness to use pharmacist prescribing services.

Home Care Pharmacy Practice in Canada: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Services Provided, Remuneration, Barriers, and Facilitators.

Background: As the population ages, and individuals desire to remain in their homes as long as possible, the need for in-home care is expected to increase. However, pharmacists have rarely been included in studies of in-home care, and little is known about the prevalence or effectiveness of pharmacists' home-based services in Canada.

Objective: To identify pharmacy practices in Canada that regularly provide in-home patient care and to identify specific services provided, remuneration obtained, and barriers and facilitators influencing the provision of home-based care.

Implementation of a reimbursed medication review program: Corporate and pharmacy level strategies.

Background: In 2006, the Ontario drug plan greatly reduced community pharmacy reimbursement for generic drugs. In exchange, a fee-for-service medication review program was introduced to help patients better understand their medication therapy and ensure that medications were taken as prescribed. A qualitative study of community pharmacy implementation strategies was undertaken to inform a mixed methods evaluation of the program.

Uptake of Community Pharmacist-Delivered MedsCheck Diabetes Medication Review Service in Ontario between 2010 and 2014.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of MedsCheck Diabetes (MCD) recipients in Ontario between program launch on September 1, 2010, and March 31, 2014.

Methods: This cohort study leveraged linked administrative claims data. Trends in MCD claims and recipient characteristics were examined.

Multiple mini-interview predictive validity for performance on a pharmacy licensing examination.

Context: Predictive validity studies on the use of the multiple mini-interview (MMI) have been primarily in medicine.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the predictive validity of the MMI for performance within a pharmacy programme and on the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Qualifying Examination for licensure, and to compare the predictive validity of the MMI with that of pre-pharmacy grade point average (GPA) and Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) score.

Methods: Admissions data for 223 graduates of the pharmacy programme at the University of Toronto were matched to programme and licensure outcome measures.

Factors affecting the delivery of community pharmacist-led medication reviews: evidence from the MedsCheck annual service in Ontario.

Background: Medication reviews have become part of pharmacy practice across developed countries. This study aimed to identify factors affecting the likelihood of eligible Ontario seniors receiving a pharmacy-led medication review called MedsCheck annual (MCA).

Methods: We designed a cohort study using a random sample of pharmacy claims for MCA-eligible Ontario seniors using linked administrative data from April 2012 to March 2013.

Uptake of the MedsCheck annual medication review service in Ontario community pharmacies between 2007 and 2013.

Background: MedsCheck Annual (MCA) is an Ontario government-funded medication review service for individuals taking 3 or more prescription medications for chronic conditions.

Methods: This cohort study analyzed linked administrative claims data from April 1, 2007, to March 31, 2013. Trends in MCA claims and recipient characteristics were examined.

Initial perceptions of key stakeholders in Ontario regarding independent prescriptive authority for pharmacists.

Background: A number of jurisdictions, both in Canada and internationally, have recently expanded pharmacists' scope of practice to allow prescriptive authority.

Objective: To ascertain the initial perceptions of the Ontario government and health professional stakeholder groups regarding the prospect of prescriptive authority for pharmacists.

Methods: Qualitative research methods were used; data sources were policy documents and semi-structured interviews with key informants from the Ontario government and pharmacy and medical professional organizations.

Development and pilot testing of a multiple mini-interview for admission to a pharmacy degree program.

Objectives: To develop and pilot test a multiple mini-interview (MMI) to select students for admission to a pharmacy degree program.

Methods: A nominal group process was used to identify 8 important nonacademic attributes of pharmacists, with relative importance determined by means of a paired-comparison survey of pharmacy stakeholders (ie, university-affiliated individuals with a vested interest in the quality of student admitted to the pharmacy program, such as faculty members, students, admissions staff members, and practitioners). A 10-station MMI based on the weighted-attribute blueprint was pilot tested with 30 incoming pharmacy students.

Ontario family physician readiness to collaborate with community pharmacists on drug therapy management.

Background: Empirical evidence suggests that pharmacist-physician collaboration can improve patients' clinical outcomes; however, such collaboration occurs relatively infrequently in the community setting. There has been little research on physicians' perspectives of such collaboration.

Objective: To ascertain Ontario family physician readiness to collaborate with community pharmacists on drug therapy management.

TEACH: Trial of Education And Compliance in Heart dysfunction chronic disease and heart failure (HF) as an increasing problem.

Unlabelled: In this manuscript we outline the development of a randomized control trial.

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes of hospitalization in North America. While great advances have been made in the treatment of this disease, many factors limit the effectiveness of treatment.

Development and validation of the pediatric nausea assessment tool for use in children receiving antineoplastic agents.

Study Objective: To develop and validate an instrument to assess nausea intensity in children aged 4-18 years.

Design: Prospective, descriptive study.

Setting: Tertiary-quaternary, university-affiliated pediatric hospital.

Willingness to pay for inhaled insulin: a contingent valuation approach.

Purpose: To determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of patients with diabetes mellitus for inhaled insulin.

Methods: A contingent valuation survey was administered to 96 diabetic outpatients at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada.

Instruments for measuring patient satisfaction with pharmacy services in the spanish language.

Aim Of The Review: The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate instruments used to assess patient satisfaction with pharmacy services available in the Spanish language, and specifically those designed to assess pharmaceutical care provided in community pharmacies.

Method: A literature search was conducted in seven databases, using keywords: "patient satisfaction" and "Spanish" with and without the term "pharmacy". Publications that described the development or translation and/or adaptation of a questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction with pharmacy services in the Spanish language were retained.

When does pharmaceutical care impact health outcomes? A comparison of community pharmacy-based studies of pharmaceutical care for patients with asthma.

Background: Pharmaceutical care (PC) as a philosophy of care and practice model is now >14 years old. It is important to determine whether PC influences health outcomes. Such outcomes are best studied in specific disease states where variables are minimized and specific outcomes have been established.

Double discounting of QALYs.

Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) calculated from time tradeoff (TTO) based preferences have a time preference component. To impose a conventional discount rate on these implicitly discounted QALYs introduces some degree of double discounting. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of the double discounting effect and the effectiveness of a suggested method for avoiding double discounting in a TTO-based QALY model.

Clinical pharmacy services in the home: Canadian case studies.

Objectives: To describe clinical home care services provided by Canadian pharmacists and to identify facilitators of and barriers to the provision of these services.

Design: Home care practices in Canada were identified using key informant and snowball sampling methods. Case descriptions of each pharmacy were composed using data obtained via a faxed questionnaire and a follow-up telephone interview.

Relationship between daily dose frequency and adherence to antihypertensive pharmacotherapy: evidence from a meta-analysis.

Background: Rates of patient adherence (compliance) to pharmacotherapy range from <5% to >90%. Negative determinants include multiple daily dosing (MDD), chronic duration, and asymptomatic disease. Reports suggest that once-daily (QD) dosing may improve adherence, but their findings are inconclusive.

Patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care: update of a validated instrument.

Objective: To develop a questionnaire for measuring patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care and to establish its factorial composition.

Design: Single intervention, noncomparative, 20-item self-administered questionnaire.

Setting: Iowa.