β-Blocker Use and Delayed Onset and Progression of Huntington Disease.

Importance: Huntington disease (HD) is characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric decline. β-Blockers may play a therapeutic role by decreasing enhanced sympathetic tone in HD.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of β-blockers on the timing of motor diagnosis onset and progression of HD symptoms.

Pharmacist, nurse, and physician perspectives on the implementation of the pharmacist discharge care (pharm-dc) intervention: A qualitative study.

Background: The PHARMacist Discharge Care (PHARM-DC) intervention is a pharmacist-led Transitions of Care (TOC) program intended to reduce 30-day hospital readmissions and emergency department visits which has been implemented at two hospitals in the United States. The objectives of this study were to: 1) explore perspectives surrounding the PHARM-DC program from healthcare providers, leaders, and administrators at both institutions, and 2) identify factors which may contribute to intervention success and sustainability.

Methods: Focus groups and interviews were conducted with pharmacists, physicians, nurses, hospital leaders, and pharmacy administrators at two institutions in the Northeastern and Western United States.

An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Student Pharmacist Perspectives on Leadership.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to (1) explore student pharmacists' knowledge and perceptions of leadership characteristics and behaviors, and (2) identify where students have opportunities to observe and exhibit leadership.

Methods: Data were collected from 32 students participating in a pharmacy leadership elective. Students submitted reflections about leadership definitions, characteristics, observations of leadership, and times when they felt like a leader.

Barriers to person-centered service design in pharmacy practice: examples, lessons, and potential solutions.

Despite increased attention to, and frameworks conceptualizing person-centered care, systematic, organizational, and provider-level barriers continue to discourage the development and delivery of person-centered care (PCC) in pharmacy practice and beyond. This commentary describes existing pharmacy-specific literature related to PCC, barriers to PCC within the context of pharmacy practice, and potential solutions to increase person-centeredness in pharmacy services. Literature to substantiate and describe barriers and potential solutions was identified from 2008 to 2023, a period where the emphasis on PCC in pharmacy practice dramatically increased.

Academic Entitlement Among Pharmacy Students in the Arab World: A Multi-National Exploratory Study.

Objective: The study's aim was to explore academic entitlement among pharmacy students in different pharmacy colleges in the Arab World and assess associated factors.

Methods: This study design was a cross-sectional survey. Data were collected using a self-administered electronic questionnaire posted across pharmacy college networks in 10 Arab countries (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates).

Beyond satisfaction in person-centered pharmacy services.

Patient self-reported satisfaction is commonly used as an assessment of service experience and quality for community pharmacy services. This commentary discusses alternative foundational approaches to evaluating service experience and quality in patient-centered care. It describes historical and recent literature pertaining to the development and use of satisfaction measures for service design and patient experience assessment.

Perspectives of Professionalism, Self-Awareness, Leadership, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship From Experiential Education Preceptors.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to (1) quantify the perceived importance of and comfort with the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standard 4 (ACPE-S4) key elements, (2) describe how preceptors promote and assess key elements, and (3) describe preceptor perceptions of student key element skill demonstration.

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional electronic survey to assess experiential education preceptors' perceptions of ACPE-S4 key elements. The survey consisted of 2 item categories, with 5 and 15 items included to collect information on preceptor demographics and ACPE-S4 key elements, respectively.

Evaluation of a Telehealth-Based Pharmacist Led Chronic Care Management Program.

Clinical pharmacy services improve several patient chronic disease outcomes. This review evaluates a pharmacist-led chronic care management (CCM) program partnered with a health system for patient outcomes and sustainability. A mixed methods evaluation based on the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework was completed.

Offering an Alternative to Persons with Chronic Pain: How Access to Cannabis May Provide an Off-Ramp from Undesired Prescription Opioid Use.

Background: Chronic pain (CP) is experienced by as many as 50 million Americans and can negatively impact physical and mental health. Prescribing opioids is the most common approach to address moderate to severe CP though these potent analgesics are associated with a significant number of side effects. One alternative some Americans are turning to for CP management is cannabis.

Thermosensitive biomaterial gels with chemical permeation enhancers for enhanced microneedle delivery of naltrexone for managing opioid and alcohol dependency.

Naltrexone (NTX) can be transdermally delivered using microneedles (MN) to treat opioid and alcohol misuse disorders, but delivery is blunted by rapid micropore closure. Poloxamer (P407), a thermosensitive biocompatible hydrogel, sustains NTX delivery through MN-treated skin by generating a drug depot within the micropores. Optimizing P407 formulations could maintain sustained delivery after micropore closure while reducing required patch sizes, which would be more discreet and preferred by most patients.

Cell-derived nanovesicles from mesenchymal stem cells as extracellular vesicle-mimetics in wound healing.

Wound healing is a dynamic process that involves a series of molecular and cellular events aimed at replacing devitalized and missing cellular components and/or tissue layers. Recently, extracellular vesicles (EVs), naturally cell-secreted lipid membrane-bound vesicles laden with biological cargos including proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, have drawn wide attention due to their ability to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration. However, current exploitation of EVs as therapeutic agents is limited by their low isolation yields and tedious isolation processes.

Item development for patient-centered care preferences using a three-archetype heuristic: An exploratory study.

Background: Patient-centered care is at the center of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process; however, little is known about patient-centered care preferences and expectations for pharmacist care.

Objective: To develop and test items exploring the applicability of a proposed three-archetype heuristic for patient-centered care preferences and expectations in pharmacist care in a population of older adults using community pharmacies that provided enhanced and integrated services.

Methods: This was an exploratory analysis of a cross-sectional survey developed and distributed by postal mail to 17 Medicare-eligible patients at five Community Pharmacy Enhanced Service Network (CPESN) pharmacies in Iowa between November 2021 and January 2022.

Journey Mapping Healthcare Worker Experience With Heart Rhythm Meditation.

Background: Levels of stress and burnout continue to rise amongst healthcare workers. In addition to systemic and institution-level changes to healthcare practice environments, well-being interventions, resources, and support to assist healthcare providers are necessary. Meditation practices like Heart Rhythm Meditation (HRM) may provide benefits to healthcare workers, but healthcare worker experiences with HRM are not well understood.

Empathy levels among health professional students at a large midwestern public university - a cross-sectional study.

Background: Empathic care is considered extremely important by patients and providers alike but there is still an ample need for assessing empathy among healthcare students and professionals and identifying appropriate educational interventions to improve it. This study aims to assess empathy levels and associated factors among students at different healthcare colleges at the University of Iowa.

Methods: An online survey was delivered to healthcare students, including nursing, pharmacy, dental, and medical colleges (IRB ID #202,003,636).

Patient preferences and willingness-to-pay for community pharmacy-led Medicare Part D consultation services: A discrete choice experiment.

Introduction: Community pharmacies currently offer Medicare Part D consultation services, often at no-cost. Despite facilitating plan-switching behavior, identifying potential cost-savings, and increasing medication adherence, patient uptake of these services remains low.

Objectives: To investigate patient preferences for specific service-offering attributes and marginal willingness-to-pay (mWTP) for an enhanced community pharmacy Medicare Part D consultation service.

Medicare Part D plan-selection experience: qualitative findings from a national cross-sectional survey.

Background: A variety of services exit to assist eligible beneficiaries select Medicare Part D insurance plans; however, selecting an optimal plan remains a challenge. While patients would benefit from evaluating and switching their Medicare Part D plan on a yearly basis, few choose to do so.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the Medicare Part D plan selection experience across all US states.

Protein-protein interaction-based high throughput screening for adenylyl cyclase 1 inhibitors: Design, implementation, and discovery of a novel chemotype.

Genetic and preclinical studies have implicated adenylyl cyclase 1 (AC1) as a potential target for the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain. AC1 activity is increased following inflammatory pain stimuli and AC1 knockout mice show a marked reduction in responses to inflammatory pain. Previous drug discovery efforts have centered around the inhibition of AC1 activity in cell-based assays.

Effect of Salt Form on Gelation and Drug Delivery Properties of Diclofenac-Loaded Poloxamer Gels for Delivery to Impaired Skin.

Purpose: Treating chronic wounds is a significant clinical challenge, and a topical product would be ideal for pain management. Poloxamer 407, a thermosensitive polymer, would allow an analgesic drug to be topically applied to a wound as a liquid that transitions to a gel at physiologic temperature. Using diclofenac as a model analgesic drug, our goal was to determine effects of salt form on poloxamer gelation and drug delivery from poloxamer gels applied to excised skin with impaired barrier function.

An assessment of asthma exacerbations in pediatric patients using a long-acting B2-agonist plus inhaled corticosteroid versus an inhaled corticosteroid alone.

Background: An asthma exacerbation is an anticipated sudden worsening of the disease severity, which usually does not respond to conservative therapy. The management of asthma depends on the severity of the disease symptoms, which includes an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and a bronchodilator. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of combining a long-acting B2-agonist (LABA) with ICS, compared to ICS alone, to reduce the incidence of asthma exacerbations in pediatric patients, diagnosed with severe persistent asthma.

Using journey mapping to understand the patient experience with selecting a Medicare part D plan using a pharmacy consultation service.

Background: Patient experience with community pharmacy services can be informed by human-centered design principles and approaches. Pharmacy services may benefit from detailed evaluations of consumer experience and patient-centered service design.

Objectives: To use an online journey mapping platform to understand the patient experience with selecting a Medicare Part D plan for individuals that did, and did not, use a free, pharmacy-led, Medicare Part D consultation service.

A qualitative dual-site analysis of the pharmacist discharge care (PHARM-DC) intervention using the CFIR framework.

Introduction: Older adults face several challenges when transitioning from acute hospitals to community-based care. The PHARMacist Discharge Care (PHARM-DC) intervention is a pharmacist-led Transitions of Care (TOC) program intended to reduce 30-day hospital readmissions and emergency department visits at two large hospitals. This study used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) framework to evaluate pharmacist perceptions of the PHARM-DC intervention.

The Power of Peer Mentoring to Support Women Pharmacy Faculty Personally and Professionally.

Regardless of a faculty member's career stage, effective mentoring is critical for successful professional development and a thriving academic career. Traditional mentor-mentee relationships can be effective but may present challenges for some faculty depending on their individual needs and institutional resources. The use of peer mentoring circles, where group members serve as both mentor and mentee, may provide additional resources and benefits to faculty at all career stages and appear especially beneficial for women faculty because of their focus on interconnectedness and collaboration.

Changes to summative skills-based assessments within the Big Ten Academic Alliance Performance-Based Assessment Collaborative (BTAA-PBAC) due to COVID-19.

Background: In Spring 2020 many academic institutions transitioned to remote learning in response to the developing COVID-19 pandemic. These changes affected skills-based training, as schools of pharmacy were forced to transition traditionally in-person assessments to a remote setting. The purpose of this article is to describe the experience of pharmacy skills lab coordinators when transitioning summative skills-based assessments (SSBA).