The contemporary role and potential of pharmacist contribution for community health using social media

Factors influencing pharmacists' participation in continuing education activities in the United Arab Emirates: insights and implications from a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for pharmacists to maintain and enhance their knowledge and skills. The purpose of this research was to collect data about the perception of pharmacists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) towards CPD and identify factors that motivate or hinder their participation in different types of CPD activities.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 322 pharmacists who completed a self-administered questionnaire that assessed their demographic characteristics, CPD preferences, motivators and obstacles to attending CPD programs, and perceived learning outcomes.

RESULTS

Participants' average age was 33 years (mean = 30.6, SD = 5.97), and the range of years, since they graduated from a pharmacy degree program was 18 years (mean = 10.9, SD = 4.8). More than half of the participants were female; 198 (61.5%) and 193 (59.9%) of them were married. The study found that married pharmacists (AOR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.266-0.939, P value = 0.031), older participants (AOR = 0.232, 95% CI 0.266-0.939, P value = 0.04), and those who graduated longer than 16 years ago were less likely to attend live CPD events (AOR = 0.454, 95% CI 0.22-0.924). However, participants who worked up to 15 h had higher odds of attending live CPD events (AOR = 3.511, 95% CI 1.117-11.039, P value: 0.026). In addition, female pharmacists were less likely to participate in computer/internet-based continuing education than male pharmacists (AOR = 0.038, 95% CI 0.293-0.965, P value = 0.038). It also revealed that pharmacists who were not motivated by the topic of the CPD activity had a higher chance of attending computer/internet-based format (AOR = 2.289, 95% CI 1.198-4.371, P value = 0.012). In contrast, those who did not report the long distance to the CPD site as a hindrance had a lower likelihood of attending online internet-based CPD (AOR = 0.548, 95% CI 0.319-0.941, P value = 0.029).

CONCLUSIONS

This study is the first to explore pharmacists' predictors of attending different CPD activities. These predictors are gender, age, marital status, experience since graduation, working hours, family barriers, work responsibilities, interest in the presentation topic, and the long travel distance to the site. These findings suggest that pharmacists have unique challenges and motivations regarding continuing education and that tailored approaches may be necessary to encourage participation.

Antidepressants: A content analysis of healthcare providers' tweets

Background

Antidepressants are the primary treatment for depression, and social support from social media may offer another support route. Whilst Twitter has become an interactive platform for healthcare providers and their patients, previous studies found low engagement of healthcare providers when discussing antidepressants on Twitter. This study aims to analyse the Twitter posts of healthcare providers related to antidepressants and to explore the healthcare providers' engagement and their areas of interest.

Method

Tweets within a 10-day period were collected through multiple searches with a list of keywords within Twitter. The results were filtered against several inclusion criteria, including a manual screening to identify healthcare providers. A content analysis was conducted on eligible tweets where correlative themes and subthemes were identified.

Key findings

Healthcare providers contributed 5.9% of the antidepressant-related tweets (n = 770/13,005). The major clinical topics referred to in the tweets were side effects, antidepressants for the treatment of COVID-19, and antidepressant studies of psychedelics. Nurses posted more tweets sharing personal experiences with commonly negative attitudes, in contrast to physicians. Links to external webpages were commonly used among healthcare providers, especially users representing healthcare organisations.

Conclusions

A relatively low proportion of healthcare providers' engagement on Twitter regarding antidepressants (5.9%) was identified, with a minimal increase throughout the COVID-19 pandemic when compared to previous studies. The major clinical topics referred to in the tweets were side effects, antidepressants for the treatment of COVID-19 and antidepressant studies of psychedelics, which have been made publicly available. In general, the findings confirmed that social media platforms are a mechanism by which healthcare providers, organisations and students support patients, share information about adverse drug effects, communicate personal experiences, and share research. It is plausible that this could impact the belief and behaviours of people with lived experience of depression who may see these tweets.

Social media health interventions to improve diabetes mellitus patient outcome: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

The use of modern technology and social media has revolutionized the way health information is distributed to diabetes mellitus patients. Social media can be used as a medium of providing health interventions to improve patient health outcomes. Social media is able to provide a more intensive communication facility between healthcare professionals and patients. We aim to systematically review and describe the effect of social media interventions on health outcomes of patients with diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

A systematic review was carried out from three electronic databases (Pubmed, Scopus, and Medline). Eligible publications are studies that describe the application of social media interventions on the health outcomes of patients with diabetes mellitus.

RESULTS

Fourteen studies were selected for this systematic review, 10 studies with a randomized controlled trial design, and 4 studies with a nonrandomized controlled trial design. Six studies only used interventions using social media, A blend of face-to-face social media intervention was used in 6 studies, 2 studies used a combination of telephone and social media intervention. One study had treatment behavior outcomes with improvement in treatment behavior, 6 studies had clinical outcomes (an improvement in HbA1c values in the four studies), 6 studies had treatment behavior outcomes and clinical outcomes (1 study had improved treatment behavior and clinical outcomes, 3 studies had improved treatment behavior outcome only), and 1 study had medication adherence outcome (no improvement in medication adherence).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that the intervention using social media can improve the health outcomes of diabetes mellitus patients.

Pharmacist Rethink through a Planetary Health Lens

Planetary Health is a rapidly developing field that is gaining momentum and significance as the world grapples with the devastating effects of infectious diseases, climate change, biodiversity loss, complex food insecurities, and international competition for resources. These challenges are often attributable to the financial activity made by nation states and increasing disposable individual wealth. The outcomes have created a perfect storm of events that, if not managed properly, threatens the health of current and future generations. Given the front-line role pharmacists play within health system in the community and institutional levels, the profession is uniquely positioned to make a meaningful impact to planetary health. This article aims to explore contributions pharmacists can make to secure planetary health.

Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review

Background

Social media has been widely used for health-related purposes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous reviews have summarized social media uses for a specific health purpose such as health interventions, health campaigns, medical education, and disease outbreak surveillance. The most recent comprehensive review of social media uses for health purposes, however, was conducted in 2013. A systematic review that covers various health purposes is needed to reveal the new usages and research gaps that emerge in recent years.

Objective

This study aimed to provide a systematic review of social media uses for health purposes that have been identified in previous studies.

Methods

The researchers searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2006 and 2020 in 12 databases covering medicine, public health, and social science. After coding the articles in terms of publication year, journal area, country, method, social media platform, and social media use for health purposes, the researchers provided a review of social media use for health purposes identified in these articles.

Results

This study summarized 10 social media uses for various health purposes by health institutions, health researchers and practitioners, and the public.

Conclusions

Social media can be used for various health purposes. Several new usages have emerged since 2013 including advancing health research and practice, social mobilization, and facilitating offline health-related services and events. Research gaps exist regarding advancing strategic use of social media based on audience segmentation, evaluating the impact of social media in health interventions, understanding the impact of health identity development, and addressing privacy concerns.