Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of a standardized training model for technician-supported point-of-care testing (POCT) on the number of health screenings performed across two states in a large community chain pharmacy. Secondary objectives included the assessment of pharmacist and technician perceptions of advanced roles of the pharmacy technician in POCT service delivery.
Practice Description: Certified pharmacy technicians (CPhTs) across six regional divisions of a large community chain pharmacy in Tennessee and Ohio participated in a standardized training program prior to implementation of technician-supported POCT.
Practice Innovation: Standardized training consisted of pre-training assessments, online training modules, post-training assessments, followed by in-person skills-based assessments. CPhT participation was limited to technical tasks of POCT (e.g. sample collections, quality assurance).
Evaluation Methods: The study addressed its primary objective by comparing total number of health screenings for included pharmacies in 2019 as compared to 2020. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Perceptions were assessed using an electronic, Likert-type scale questionnaire.
Results: Pharmacies with technician-supported POCT showed a 46% increase in the total number of health screenings performed vs. 2019. The survey found that 74% (106/144) of pharmacists and 83% (34/41) of CPhTs agreed or strongly agreed that technician-supported POCT is acceptable for their practice site. Most pharmacy personnel agreed or strongly agreed that the service was appropriate and feasible for their respective practice sites.
Conclusion: This study provided supporting evidence that technician-supported POCT may positively impact the number of health screenings conducted in a community pharmacy setting. Standardization of training may allow for expansion of this service across additional states. Furthermore, pharmacy personnel perceptions were overall positive.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rcsop.2021.100034 | DOI Listing |
Biomed Phys Eng Express
January 2025
Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Carretera Ofra S/N, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 38320, SPAIN.
This paper systematically evaluates saliency methods as explainability tools for convolutional neural networks trained to diagnose glaucoma using simplified eye fundus images that contain only disc and cup outlines. These simplified images, a methodological novelty, were used to relate features highlighted in the saliency maps to the geometrical clues that experts consider in glaucoma diagnosis. Despite their simplicity, these images retained sufficient information for accurate classification, with balanced accuracies ranging from 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Internet Res
January 2025
Institute of Medical Teaching and Medical Education Research, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Background: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are a widely recognized and accepted method to assess clinical competencies but are often resource-intensive.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR)-based station (VRS) compared with a traditional physical station (PHS) in an already established curricular OSCE.
Methods: Fifth-year medical students participated in an OSCE consisting of 10 stations.
JMIR Hum Factors
January 2025
New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL, United States.
Background: Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, are 2 densely populated South Asian neighboring regions with many socioeconomic and cultural similarities. In dealing with breast cancer (BC)-related issues, statistics show that people from these regions are having similar problems and fates. According to the Global Cancer Statistics 2020 and 2012 reports, for BC (particularly female BC), the age-standardized incidence rate is approximately 22 to 25 per 100,000 people, and the age-standardized mortality rate is approximately 11 to 13 per 100,000 for these areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
The ARCR_Pred study was initiated to document and predict the safety and effectiveness of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR) in a representative Swiss patient cohort. In the present manuscript, we aimed to describe the overall and baseline characteristics of the study, report on functional outcome data and explore case-mix adjustment and differences between public and private hospitals. Between June 2020 and November 2021, primary ARCR patients were prospectively enrolled in a multicenter cohort across 18 Swiss and one German orthopedic center.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptom Vis Sci
January 2025
Johnson & Johnson MedTech (Vision), Irvine, California.
Significance: Optimal meibography utilization and interpretation are hindered due to poor lid presentation, blurry images, or image artifacts and the challenges of applying clinical grading scales. These results, using the largest image dataset analyzed to date, demonstrate development of algorithms that provide standardized, real-time inference that addresses all of these limitations.
Purpose: This study aimed to develop and validate an algorithmic pipeline to automate and standardize meibomian gland absence assessment and interpretation.
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