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Pharmacy Services
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Pharmacy Services

A topical collection in Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787).

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Editors

Prof. Dr. Jon Schommer

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Interests: Information processing and decision making related to the provision, use, and evaluation of drug products and pharmacist services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Anthony W. Olson

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
Essentia Institute of Rural Health, Duluth, MN 55812, USA
Interests: person-centeredness; community pharmacy; medication experience; pharmacy services; implementation science; community-integrated care
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

The MDPI journal Pharmacy has hosted two (2) Special Issues on Pharmacist Services. At the time of writing this invitation (November 12, 2021), 47 papers have been published in these issues (35 in Pharmacist Services I and 12 in Pharmacist Services II). These Special Issues can be found here:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmacy/special_issues/Pharmacist_Services

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmacy/special_issues/Pharmacist_Services_two

As a next step, we would like to transition into a Topical Collection on 'Pharmacy Services.' Topical Collections are new to the journal and would not have a closing date for receiving papers. That way, scholars can submit at any time. It also affords us the opportunity to build upon one another's work over time through letters to the editor, commentaries, new research, replication studies, and more.

If the topical collection publishes more than 10 papers, the publisher may print a book edition. This book would be made available, in a digital format (for free) and as paperback copies (ordered via Amazon), on the MDPI platform (http://books.mdpi.com). For reference, a free download of the first book on Pharmacist Services is available at https://www.mdpi.com/books/pdfview/book/1767

Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787) is an international scientific open access journal on pharmacy education and practice that is published quarterly online by MDPI. The journal has already been indexed by PubMed, ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index), and Web of Science. Furthermore, Pharmacy is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and, accordingly, submissions are peer reviewed rigorously to ensure that they conform to the highest standards in their field.

Background for the Topical Collection on 'Pharmacy Services.'

In their 2017 article, Adams and Blouin stated, "Over the past four decades, the role of the pharmacist has evolved from an individual who was primarily responsible for safely and accurately distributing a medication product to a patient, to an individual who works side-by-side with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals in sophisticated, highly specialized practice settings to assure appropriate medication therapy management". (Adams ML and Blouin RA, "The Role of the Pharmacist in Health Care: Expanding and Evolving," N C Med J. 2017; 78(3):165-167).

This transformation has opened up new places for pharmacists to work that might not be licensed pharmacies (clinics, managed care, health systems, home health care, drug information, consulting, informatics, and research organizations to name a few). In light of this, what does this mean for licensed pharmacies? Should these other locations be considered "pharmacy locations" in some way? What is their role now?

Based on our research, it looks like licensed community pharmacies have been transforming from being convenient locations for obtaining products to "healthcare access points that provide and are reimbursed for patient care and public health services like medication therapy management, immunizations, and more". (Olson AW, Schommer JC, Hadsall RS. A 15 Year Ecological Comparison for the Market Dynamics of Minnesota Community Pharmacies from 2002 to 2017. Pharmacy 2018, 6, 50).

Furthermore, COVID-19 testing and vaccination services have accelerated the transformation of pharmacies into "health and personal care centers". The Scope of Practice laws in the United States (and other countries) have expanded what pharmacists and pharmacy staff can do in pharmacies. Pharmacy executives are working to transform pharmacies from "solution centers for the sick" into "hubs for the healthy". Finally, the initial findings from our 2021 National Consumer Survey (USA) show that the public is beginning to see a pharmacy as an access point not only for medication optimization, but also for wellness and prevention, patient education and support, acute and chronic care management, monitoring/lab testing, and public health.

With this in mind, we invite you to submit manuscripts in the broad area of 'Pharmacy Services'. What is changing throughout the world? What examples of innovative pharmacy practices are there? How are pharmacies adapting? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities and challenges are there? How are pharmacies meeting patients' needs? What does the future hold? What are your ideas for what is next?

Thank you for considering this invitation. When submitting your manuscript, please feel free to check with MDPI staff about the publication charges and possible discounts that would apply to you.

Prof. Dr. Jon Schommer
Dr. Anthony Olson
Collection Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmacy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pharmacy services
  • service development and implementation
  • service quality
  • service marketing and management
  • service evaluation

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

2023

9 pages, 415 KiB  
Brief Report
An EMR-Based Approach to Determine Frequency, Prescribing Pattern, and Characteristics of Patients Receiving Drugs with Pharmacogenomic Guidelines
by George E. MacKinnon III, Megan Mills, Alexander Stoddard, Raul A. Urrutia and Ulrich Broeckel
Pharmacy 2023, 11(6), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy11060178 - 17 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1730
Abstract
(1) Background: This retrospective analysis utilizing electronic medical record (EMR) data from a tertiary integrated health system sought to identify patients and prescribers who would benefit from pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing based on Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) guidelines. (2) Methods: EMR data from [...] Read more.
(1) Background: This retrospective analysis utilizing electronic medical record (EMR) data from a tertiary integrated health system sought to identify patients and prescribers who would benefit from pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing based on Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) guidelines. (2) Methods: EMR data from a clinical research data warehouse were analyzed from 845,518 patients that had an encounter between 2015 and 2019 at an academic medical center. Data were collected for 42 commercially available drugs with 52 evidence-based PGx guidelines from CPIC. Provider data were obtained through the EMR linked by specialty via national provider identification (NPI) number. (3) Results: A total of 845,518 patients had an encounter in the extraction period with 590,526 medication orders processed. A total of 335,849 (56.9%) patients had medication orders represented by CPIC drugs prescribed by 2803 providers, representing 239 distinct medications. (4) Conclusions: The results from this study show that over half of patients were prescribed a CPIC actionable medication from a variety of prescriber specialties. Understanding the magnitude of patients that may benefit from PGx testing, will enable the development of preemptive testing processes, physician support strategies, and pharmacist workflows to optimize outcomes should a PGx service be implemented. Full article
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13 pages, 937 KiB  
Article
Are Community Pharmacists Ready to Deliver Pharmacogenomics Testing Services?
by Heba Ghazal, Ayaz Tahar and Thuy Mason
Pharmacy 2023, 11(6), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy11060170 - 26 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1506
Abstract
This study assesses the readiness and willingness of community pharmacists in England to deliver the pharmacogenomic (PG) testing service. A survey covering demographics and four key themes including awareness and training, general views and experience, barriers, willingness, and confidence was distributed to community [...] Read more.
This study assesses the readiness and willingness of community pharmacists in England to deliver the pharmacogenomic (PG) testing service. A survey covering demographics and four key themes including awareness and training, general views and experience, barriers, willingness, and confidence was distributed to community pharmacies in the boroughs of Croydon and Sutton in South London. A total of 51 pharmacists responded to the survey. The study revealed that most respondents had a limited familiarity or understanding of pharmacogenomics (n = 32, 63%). Moreover, on average, around 60% of participants were unable to accurately identify drugs that currently have or could have potentials for PG testing. They indicated that their pharmacogenomic education and training is inadequate, with only 2/51 pharmacists reported receiving relevant training. Time constraints, shortage of staff and lack of knowledge were identified as barriers that could hinder the implementation of PG. Over 60% of respondents expressed willingness to provide PG testing service after receiving adequate training. The study found that currently not all community pharmacists are prepared to provide PG testing services, with newly qualified pharmacists appearing to have an upper hand when it comes to understanding the subject. Therefore, consistent, and uniform training is required to allow community pharmacists with all years of experience to equally contribute to the implementation of PG testing. Full article
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Figure 1

14 pages, 275 KiB  
Review
Methadone Treatment Gap in Tennessee and How Medication Units Could Bridge the Gap: A Review
by Joanna Risby, Erica Schlesinger, Wesley Geminn and Alina Cernasev
Pharmacy 2023, 11(5), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy11050131 - 22 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1330
Abstract
The opioid epidemic has been an ongoing public health concern in the United States (US) for the last few decades. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids, hereafter referred to as overdose deaths, has increased yearly since the mid-1990s. One treatment modality for [...] Read more.
The opioid epidemic has been an ongoing public health concern in the United States (US) for the last few decades. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids, hereafter referred to as overdose deaths, has increased yearly since the mid-1990s. One treatment modality for opioid use disorder (OUD) is medication-assisted treatment (MAT). As of 2022, only three pharmacotherapy options have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating OUD: buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. Unlike buprenorphine and naltrexone, methadone dispensing and administrating are restricted to opioid treatment programs (OTPs). To date, Tennessee has no medication units, and administration and dispensing of methadone is limited to licensed OTPs. This review details the research process used to develop a policy draft for medication units in Tennessee. This review is comprised of three parts: (1) a rapid review aimed at identifying obstacles and facilitators to OTP access in the US, (2) a descriptive analysis of Tennessee’s geographic availability of OTPs, pharmacies, and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), and (3) policy mapping of 21 US states’ OTP regulations. In the rapid review, a total of 486 articles were imported into EndNote from PubMed and Embase. After removing 152 duplicates, 357 articles were screened based on their title and abstract. Thus, 34 articles underwent a full-text review to identify articles that addressed the accessibility of methadone treatment for OUD. A total of 18 articles were identified and analyzed. A descriptive analysis of Tennessee’s availability of OTP showed that the state has 22 OTPs. All 22 OTPs were matched to a county and a region based on their address resulting in 15 counties (16%) and all three regions having at least one OTP. A total of 260 FQHCs and 2294 pharmacies are in Tennessee. Each facility was matched to a county based on its address resulting in 70 counties (74%) having at least one FQHC and 94 counties (99%) having at least one pharmacy. As of 31 December 2022, 17 states mentioned medication units in their state-level OTP regulations. Utilizing the regulations for the eleven states with medication units and federal guidelines, a policy draft was created for Tennessee’s medication units. Full article
9 pages, 229 KiB  
Article
Marketing Two Immunization Services at a Regional Supermarket Chain Pharmacy
by Megan A. Hedden, Yifei Liu, Peggy G. Kuehl and Sarah M. Oprinovich
Pharmacy 2023, 11(3), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy11030103 - 15 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1212
Abstract
Background: Personal selling of immunization services includes starting a dialogue with patients, utilizing effective questioning and listening skills to identify their vaccination needs, and recommending appropriate vaccines accordingly. The study objectives were (1) to integrate personal selling into the dispensing workflow to [...] Read more.
Background: Personal selling of immunization services includes starting a dialogue with patients, utilizing effective questioning and listening skills to identify their vaccination needs, and recommending appropriate vaccines accordingly. The study objectives were (1) to integrate personal selling into the dispensing workflow to promote pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), and (2) to evaluate the impact of personal selling and automated telephone calls to promote herpes zoster vaccine (ZVL). Methods: For the first study objective, a pilot project was conducted at one out of 19 affiliated supermarket pharmacies. Dispensing records were used to target patients with diabetes mellitus for PPSV23, and personal selling was implemented over a 3-month period. For the second study objective, a full study was conducted among the nineteen pharmacies, with five in the study group and 14 in the control group. Personal selling was implemented over a 9-month period, and automated telephone calls were placed and tracked over a 6-week period. Mann–Whitney U tests were used to compare vaccine delivery rates between the study and control groups. Results: In the pilot project, 47 patients needed PPSV23, but none received it from the pharmacy. In the full study, 900 ZVL vaccines were given, with 459 given for 15.5% of the eligible patients in the study group. During the time when 2087 automated telephone calls were placed and tracked, 85 vaccines were given across all pharmacies, with 48 given for 1.6% of the eligible patients in the study group. During both the 9-month and 6-week periods, the mean ranks of vaccine delivery rates in the study group were higher than the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The pilot project incorporated personal selling into the dispensing workflow and, although no vaccines were given, provided valuable lessons. The full study demonstrated that personal selling alone and personal selling combined with automated telephone calls were associated with higher vaccine delivery rates. Full article
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