Development and Assessment of an Interprofessional Education Simulation to Promote Collaborative Learning and Practice.

Background: We designed an interprofessional education (IPE) clinical simulation that paired nurse practitioner and pharmacy students. The objective was to evaluate the effect on attitudes of interprofessional collaborative learning and practice.

Method: Perceptions were assessed using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised instrument and reflection questions that assessed the simulation's effectiveness in requiring team knowledge and experience from each profession whether the experience improved individual student clinical performance, and how this team approach influenced patient outcomes.

Repeated testing to improve skills in a pharmacy practice laboratory course.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of repeated simulations and testing on the pharmacy practice skills development of third-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students.

Design: A pharmacy practice skills laboratory was redesigned to reinforce skills development and enhance retention. Timed, repeated learning experiences that increased in complexity throughout the semester were used to test student knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Development of a Composite Lifestyle Index and Its Relationship to Quality of Life Improvement: The CLI Pilot Study.

An important component to optimal health is quality of life (QOL). Several healthy lifestyle behaviors have independently shown to improve QOL. The simultaneous implementation of multiple lifestyle behaviors is thought to be difficult, and the current literature lacks the assessment of multiple lifestyle behaviors simultaneously with respect to the effect on QOL.

Educational technology use among US colleges and schools of pharmacy.

Objective: To develop a searchable database of educational technologies used at schools and colleges of pharmacy.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used to determine what educational technologies were being used and to identify an individual at each institution who could serve as an information resource for peer-to-peer questions.

Results: Eighty-nine survey instruments were returned for a response rate of 75.

Pay-for-performance model of medication therapy management in pharmacy practice.

Objective: To use an existing pharmacist-run medication therapy management (MTM)/lifestyle medicine program to propose a new model of reimbursement for pharmacists that is based on pay for performance (P4P) rather than product-based dispensing or fee for service.

Data Sources: Specific patient outcomes were collected during a 1-year period from an existing pharmacist-run MTM/lifestyle medicine program as the basis to propose this new model of reimbursement.

Data Synthesis: The proposed model outlines a P4P model of reimbursement for pharmacists that includes both traditional MTM services and patient-centered lifestyle medicine programming.

Faculty and student expectations and perceptions of e-mail communication in a campus and distance doctor of pharmacy program.

Objective: To examine faculty members' and students' expectations and perceptions of e-mail communication in a dual pathway pharmacy program.

Methods: Three parallel survey instruments were administered to campus students, distance students, and faculty members, respectively. Focus groups with students and faculty were conducted.

Implementing lifestyle medicine with medication therapy management services to improve patient-centered health care.

Objective: To describe a patient-centered medication therapy management (MTM) program that focuses on lifestyle medicine.

Setting: Community pharmacy in Omaha, NE, from August 2008 to September 2010.

Practice Description: Traditional MTM services are combined with lifestyle medicine interventions for employees of a self-insured organization who have dyslipidemia, hypertension, and/or diabetes.

Impact of statin use on heart failure mortality.

Background: There is conflicting data regarding the mortality benefit of statins in patients with heart failure. The objectives of our study were to determine whether statin therapy is associated with decreased all-cause mortality and to assess the effect of incremental duration of therapy.

Methods: We studied 10,510 consecutive patients from the Veterans Affairs health system with a diagnosis of heart failure from January 2002 through December 2006.

An evidence-based review of fat modifying supplemental weight loss products.

Objective. To review the literature on fat modifying dietary supplements commonly used for weight loss. Methods.

Effectiveness of human anatomy education for pharmacy students via the Internet.

Objective: To evaluate the overall effectiveness of a human anatomy course taught to distance-based and campus-based pharmacy students.

Design: A retrospective analysis of students' grades and course evaluations from 2003 through 2006 was conducted.

Assessment: No significant differences in student performance by pathway were found for the 2003-2005 academic years (p > 0.

Lifestyle modifications for patients with hypertension.

Objectives: To review the lifestyle modification components listed in the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and discuss how the guidelines can be used by pharmacists in the treatment of patients with hypertension.

Data Sources: Published guidelines and abstracts identified through PubMed (May 1987 to April 2007) and Medline (January 1966 to April 2007) using the search terms hypertension, prehypertension, lifestyle modification, nutrition, physical activity, weight loss, weight control, behavior modification, smoking cessation, guidelines, and prevention, as well as the JNC 7 guidelines, NHLBI Obesity Guidelines, and Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005.

Data Synthesis: Lifestyle modification strategies are recommended in the JNC 7 guidelines for the treatment and prevention of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Use of a multidisciplinary tool to achieve target outcomes in Native American patients with diabetes: Treat-to-target.

Purpose: Our purpose was to test a communication tool used in a multidisciplinary setting to more effectively achieve the recommended goals for glucose, blood pressure, lipids, and prophylactic aspirin use in a Native American population with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: One hundred randomly selected patients were included in this observational, pre-intervention, post-intervention study design. The team began with a chart audit documenting hemoglobin A(1c) (Hgb A(1c)), blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and aspirin use.

Therapeutic lifestyle strategies taught in U.S. Pharmacy Schools.

Introduction: Several organizations representing pharmacy and other health professions stress the importance of teaching public health topics as part of training future practitioners. The objective of our study was to assess the number of U.S.

Using performance-based assessments to evaluate parity between a campus and distance education pathway.

Objectives: To compare the performance of campus-based students with that of distance students during the first 2 years of a doctor of pharmacy program to evaluate parity between the pathways.

Methods: Twelve cases were created for each year of the program along with performance criteria. The cases were converted into computer-based simulations for programmatic assessment at the end of the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years.

Cost of a pharmacist-directed intervention to increase treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

Study Objective: To evaluate the cost of a pharmacist-directed intervention that prompts physicians to treat hypercholesterolemia more aggressively in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods: Health care resource use and CHD outcomes were evaluated for 612 patients with CHD followed for 2 years after an index hospitalization for an ischemic event. After discharge, the physicians of 309 patients who had been admitted from January 1--March 31, 1999, were contacted by telephone and mail concerning lipid profiles and statin therapy.

Rhabdomyolysis associated with simvastatin-nefazodone therapy.

Simvastatin is a hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor commonly used to treat patients with hyperlipidemia. It is a safe and effective medication in most patients when used appropriately. A serious side effect known as rhabdomyolysis may rarely occur in patients who take simvastatin, especially at higher doses and with agents that interact and increase the level of simvastatin in the blood.

Student understanding of the relationship between the health professions and the pharmaceutical industry.

Background: Pharmaceutical sales representatives and direct-to-consumer advertising may influence physician practices, particularly prescribing. Identifying the relevant knowledge and attitudes students possess about the pharmaceutical industry may help professional curricula address these influences.

Purposes: To assess knowledge and attitudes toward pharmaceutical industry marketing, ethical principles guiding drug company interactions, pharmaceutical sales representatives as a source of drug information, and confidence level in addressing consumers seeking a prescription from a direct-to-consumer advertisement among senior-level medical, PharmD, and nurse practitioner students.