Ability of Pharmacy Students, Pharmacists and Pharmacy Support Staff to Manage Childhood Fever via Simulation

The information seeking behaviors of caregivers in the management of childhood fever - A systematic literature review

INTRODUCTION

Parents' and caregivers' non-evidence-based childhood fever management 'fever phobic' practices have remained relatively stable over more than 34 years despite successful educational interventions. This systematic review aimed to assess the information seeking behavior of caregivers managing fever in their children, as well as to compile the fever management practices undertaken by caregivers by investigating underlying factors influencing them.

METHODS

The electronic databases Pubmed, CINAHL, Medline, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts were searched using key terms including, fever, child, caregiver, and management. Studies were included if they were written in English, published between January 1980 and January 2021, explored generalized childhood fever management practices of caregivers, and factors which influence fever management. Data extracted included study year and design, location, dimensions of fever management explored (i.e., knowledge, beliefs, detection, and/or treatment of fever), factors influencing management, and information sources used by caregivers.

RESULTS

In total, 36 studies were eligible for inclusion in the study. Twenty-nine of the studies were designed as a cross-sectional survey, six studies were interviews and the remainder were pre-post studies. The review of studies found that parents and caregivers sourced childhood fever management information most commonly from friends and family or their own personal experiences, however, participants most commonly sourced doctors/general practitioners as their first line of information when required. Over the years, trends showed that doctors as well as the internet were more frequently being used as a first line source of information by caregivers.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite decades of research, education and development of evidence-based guidelines caregivers continue to exhibit 'fever phobia' when caring for febrile children. This is demonstrated by their continued use of non-evidence-based methods and increasing reliance on, and incorrect use of antipyretics, alternating antipyretics if fever is not sufficiently reduced or returns. There is an increasing need for the development of easy to access digital resources for caregiver as internet use is rising which mirrors best practice taught to professionals.

Guidance for Qualitative Research Manuscripts in Pharmacy Education

The goal of this Best Practice Review is to support researchers in successfully preparing and publishing qualitative research in pharmacy education. Standard practice from the literature and journals' guidance from related fields were reviewed, and recommendations and resources applicable to qualitative research in pharmacy education were compiled for researchers planning to conduct and publish qualitative research. This review provides recommendations, not requirements, for publication in the Journal and is intended to be a guide, especially for authors and reviewers relatively new to the field of qualitative research. Additionally, researchers planning to publish their qualitative research are advised to review available best practices and standards, such as the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist and the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research. Given the diverse methodology of qualitative research, it is important for authors to provide sufficient details and justifications of selected methods for transparency and to report collected results in a manner that allows reviewers and readers to adequately assess the validity of their study and the applicability of the findings.

The competency of Indonesian pharmacy students in handling a self-medication request for a cough: a simulated patient study

Background

Cough is a common symptom for which people frequently present to community pharmacies. Previous articles from developing countries have shown that the provision of self-medication consultation for cough in community pharmacies were suboptimal, with knowledge deficiency being a contributing factor. However, little is known regarding the ability of pharmacy students in handling self-medication consultations in developing countries.

Objectives

To measure the competency of Indonesian pharmacy students in providing self-medication consultations for patients with chronic cough and to identify factors associated with the provision of appropriate advice.

Method

This study is a cross-sectional study. A simulated patient method using a product and a symptom-based request of chronic cough was used in students from a pharmacy school in Indonesia. The nature and amount of information gathered and advice provided by pharmacy students were noted and audio-recorded. A logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with the provision of appropriate advice.

Results

The information gathered by participating students was not comprehensive. The most common types of information gathered were related to the nature and duration of the cough. Information relating to accompanying symptoms, medications, and allergies was gathered in less than 60% of the participating students for both product and symptom based scenarios. The appropriate advice of direct medical referral was provided in 54% and 56% of the 183 participating students for the product and symptom-based request scenarios respectively. Asking about symptom duration and prior medical conditions were positively associated with the provision of appropriate advice in the symptom and product based requests respectively.

Conclusion

Student competency in self-medication consultation for chronic cough needs to be improved. Appropriate information-gathering is a predictor of appropriate advice. Further qualitative research identifying factors affecting students' competence in providing self-medication consultation is required, so that suitable interventions are developed and implemented.

Feedback for Learning in Pharmacy Education: A Scoping Review

Feedback is an effective pedagogy aimed to create cognitive dissonance and reinforce learning as a key component of clinical training programs. Pharmacy learners receive constant feedback. However, there is limited understanding of how feedback is utilized in pharmacy education. This scoping review sought to summarize the breadth and depth of the use of feedback within pharmacy education and identify areas for future research. PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for English articles since January 2000 to identify studies related to feedback in pharmacy education. Sixty-four articles were included for analysis, stratified by moderate and major theory talk, where moderate theory talk explicitly included feedback into study design and major theory talk included feedback into both study design and analysis. Feedback was provided in Bachelor (14%), Master (15.6%), Doctor of Pharmacy (67.2%) and post-graduate programs (4.7%) on a variety of curricular objectives including communication and patient work up in didactic, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), and experiential settings, and career/interview preparation in the co-curriculum. Feedback comments were mostly written in didactic courses, and both written and verbal in OSCE, experiential, and co-curricular settings. The pharmacy education feedback literature lacks depth beyond student perceptions, especially with respect to assessing the effectiveness and quality of feedback for learning. While feedback has been utilized throughout pharmacy education across myriad outcomes, several areas for inquiry exist which can inform the design of faculty and preceptor development programs, ensuring provision of effective, quality feedback to pharmacy learners.