Infrastructure and resourcing of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives across US pharmacy schools.

Objectives: This study assesses the infrastructure and resources surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts in pharmacy education. The objectives were to investigate leadership roles and qualifications, resource commitment, challenges faced, and proudest accomplishments related to DEIA initiatives in colleges and schools of pharmacy.

Methods: A 27-question survey was distributed to CEO deans of US colleges and schools of pharmacy.

Rethinking the Pace of Productivity in Pharmacy Academia.

In response to rising levels of burnout and stress among pharmacy faculty, there is a growing call to reassess traditional approaches to productivity and well-being within the Academy. We introduce a "slower" approach to faculty work, one that advocates for a deliberate focus on quality over quantity and promoting sustainable practices that prioritize meaningful contributions and personal well-being. The aim of this commentary is to encourage pharmacy faculty to embrace a slow mindset while maintaining the ability to contribute meaningfully to the lives of their students, patients, colleagues, and the profession of pharmacy.

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.

Validation of a sensitive bioanalytical method for metronidazole extraction from human plasma.

Metronidazole (MTZ) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic with numerous routes of administration, including topical. Topical application of MTZ gel or cream results in very low systemic absorption, resulting in the need for a sensitive extraction method to quantify plasma concentrations. Currently published methods are not suitable for analysis of plasma concentrations after topical application, as undetectable MTZ concentrations commonly occur.

Successful oral phytonadione (vitamin K) challenge following an infusion-related reaction to intravenous phytonadione.

A woman in her early 60s presented to the emergency room with worsening pain 10 days after an injury to her right abdomen. CT revealed a large subcutaneous haematoma and contained small bowel perforation. She was tachycardic and anaemic and her international normalized ratio (INR) was 2.

The Palliative Arts: Envisioning a New Paradigm in Palliative Care.

A growing body of evidence supports the effectiveness of arts-based interventions in nurturing human connection, healing, and reflection-for patients living with illness, their families, and their health care communities. Thus, we propose that these interventions, what we call the Palliative Arts-just as much as science-should be systematically integrated in clinical education, practice, research, wellness, leadership, and advocacy to impact person-centered outcomes. Our interprofessional team describes a variety of arts-based programming that its authors are leading to highlight the breadth of existing Palliative Arts work and point to future horizons for its integration in health care education and clinical settings.

Reconsidering and Rebalancing our Investment in Student Leader Development.

Objectives: Since leadership development was first included in the 2013 Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education Educational Outcomes as a desired outcome of pharmacy curricula, pharmacy educators have embraced leadership development as a desired outcome of pharmacy professional programs. As we gain experience and as circumstances change, educators must consider whether our current strategies for preparing leaders will meet the needs of an ever-evolving and deeply complex practice environment. The aim of this review is to encourage educators to reconsider our investments in leadership development and leader development.

Leveraging public health cancer surveillance capacity to develop and support a rural cancer network.

Introduction: As the rural-urban cancer mortality gap widens, centering care around the needs of rural patients presents an opportunity to advance equity. One barrier to delivering patient-centered care at rural hospitals stems from limited analytic capacity to leverage data and monitor patient outcomes. This case study describes the experience of a public health cancer surveillance system aiming to fill this gap within the context of a rural cancer network.

Act for the Future of Community Pharmacy.

Community pharmacies serve as a vital gateway to primary care and public health, offering face-to-face pharmacist expert care to assure safe and effective medication use. However, they are disappearing at an alarming rate, with 20-30% of all community pharmacy locations projected to close within the next year. The objective of this commentary is to highlight the critical need for systemic reforms and collective action within our profession to address the unique challenges faced by community pharmacies, ensuring their sustainability and continued role in providing essential healthcare services for patients.

Is it time to stop counting on saturation in pharmacy research? Ideas for a new way forward.

The concept of saturation is commonly mentioned in pharmacy research, but there has been recent debate among the applied qualitative research community that challenges the appropriateness of this construct for many qualitative research efforts. This begins by describing the origins of saturation as a grounded theory construct and discusses how saturation is currently being used. Three challenges are discussed related to the use of saturation in pharmacy related to the epistemological, methodological, and practical use of saturation by pharmacy researchers and how they relate to the goals and reporting quality of pharmacy practice research The commentary describes how the concept of information power and established guidance on analysis quality can better justify sample size inform decisions about when to cease further data collection, hopefully increasing the transparency of reporting and supporting rigorous and coherent analyses.

Preceptor Feedback on Utilization and Pre-APPE Performance Expectations of Pharmacy Practice Skills.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the frequency with which preceptors perform skills in their practice setting and the degree of competency that preceptors expect from students to perform those skills upon starting their advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).

Methods: A survey assessing skill utilization and expected pre-APPE student competency level upon entry to APPEs was developed by pharmacy practice faculty and distributed to preceptors. Preceptors were asked to rank their utilization of skills and expected pre-APPE student competency of each skill.

Nanosuspension-Based Repaglinide Fast-Dissolving Buccal Film for Dissolution Enhancement.

Drug solubility and dissolution remain a significant challenge in pharmaceutical formulations. This study aimed to formulate and evaluate repanglinide (RPG) nanosuspension-based buccal fast-dissolving films (BDFs) for dissolution enhancement. RPG nanosuspension was prepared by the antisolvent-precipitation method using multiple hydrophilic polymers, including soluplus®, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidine, poloxamers, and hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose.

Exploring the Utility and Fairness of a Multi-institutional Situational Judgment Test.

Objective: To pilot a situational judgment test (SJT) developed to assess empathy, integrity, and teamwork and explore differences in performance between first-year (P1) and fourth-year (P4) student pharmacists based on gender, race or ethnicity, and geographical region.

Methods: An SJT was developed to assess empathy, integrity, and teamwork, using best practices. The SJT was piloted tested with P1 and P4 student pharmacists at 5 institutions.

Kidney transplantation in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a disorder of the mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway associated with the development of multisystem tumors, including renal angiomyolipoma (AML). These renal tumors are benign by nature but locally invasive and carry a risk for the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) to end stage kidney disease (ESKD). The frequency of subsequent renal transplantation in this population is largely uncharacterized, although single-center data suggests that 5%-15% of adult TSC patients are kidney transplant recipients.

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.

Sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and amyloid β among cognitively healthy later-life adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Abnormal amyloid β (Aβ) deposits in the brain are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Insufficient sleep duration and poor sleep quality are risk factors for developing AD. Sleep may play a role in Aβ regulation, but the magnitude of the relationship between sleep and Aβ deposition remains unclear.

Subsequent kidney transplant after pediatric heart transplant: Prevalence and risk factors.

Pediatric heart failure and transplantation carry associated risks for kidney failure and potential need for kidney transplant following pediatric heart transplantation (KT/pHT). This retrospective, United Network of Organ Sharing study of 10,030 pediatric heart transplants (pHTs) from 1987 to 2020 aimed to determine the incidence of waitlisting for and completion of KT/pHT, risk factors for KT/pHT, and risk factors for nonreceipt of a KT/pHT. Among pHT recipients, 3.

Initial Employment Plans of PharmD Graduates from Ten Public Colleges/Schools of Pharmacy, 2018-2022.

Objective: Since 2009, the Big Ten Pharmacy Assessment Collaborative has surveyed their Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) graduates regarding their first employment plans. The current study updates the results from 2013-2017, since which the nationwide demand for pharmacists decreased, then increased again due to COVID-19.

Methods: Quantitative first-position employment data from 2018-2022 were tracked among 6687 Big Ten PharmD graduates.

Engaging Student Pharmacists in Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity Through Photovoice.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an interactive photovoice activity on the perceptions of social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity among first professional year student pharmacists.

Methods: This study used a mixed-methods exploratory approach at 4 institutions. All students completed a standardized intervention using a prerecorded lecture, active learning using photovoice, and an in-depth debriefing session.

Endocarditis.

Infectious endocarditis (IE) is a universally fatal condition if left unmanaged, requiring urgent evaluation and treatment. Fever, new heart murmur, vegetations found by echocardiogram, and bacteremia are the most common symptoms and findings. Blood cultures and echocardiography are obligatory diagnostic modalities and should be used with the modified Duke criteria, the accepted diagnostic aid, when establishing a diagnosis of IE.

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.

Adopting video assignments as a tool to improve first-year pharmacy students class engagement.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of video assignments as a tool to improve students' engagement and maximize their benefit from the assigned homework in a pharmaceutical calculations course.

Methods: This was an intervention study, including the use of a new electronic educational tool. The study was conducted during the academic year 2021-2022.