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Objective: To describe the nature of the collaborations between academia and practitioners in two community pharmacy practice-based research networks (PBRNs).Setting: Community pharmacy practice sites owned by two pharmacy chain corporations that have cooperated with two pharmacy schools for up to 10 years in research efforts.Practice Description: A PBRN is a group of community pharmacy practice sites that are affiliated with an academic institution(s) that investigate questions related to community practice.Practice Innovation: A model of collaboration between academia and community pharmacy practice to enhance PBRNs. Collaborators in academia include practice and science faculty. Collaborators in community pharmacy practice include practitioners and practice-site decision makers.Main Outcome Measures: The role of each collaborator in the PBRN, suggestions for developing and maintaining collaborations among PBRN members, strategies to identify collaborators and to expand a PBRN, and the value to each collaborator of participating in a PBRN.Results: Academically based pharmacy faculty members connect with practice sites and listen to the needs of practitioners in an effort to design research that will solve practice problems. Practitioners and practice-site decision makers need to understand the role of research in solving projects, propose problems to be addressed and methods to address them, and become committed to completing the research. Building partnerships among collaborators is an important step in developing and maintaining the pharmacy-based PBRN. For faculty members, the value is connecting with community practice, helping to solve problems, and sharing results with the pharmacy community. For practitioners, the value of collaboration centers on improving practice and expanding their professional role.Conclusion: The involvement of community pharmacy sites with PBRNs has the potential to be a driving force in practice innovation, improving patient care and professional satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To characterize beneficiaries who used a pharmacy or pharmacist as a Medicare Part D information source.Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study involved 4,724 Medicare Part D beneficiaries who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. The main outcome measure was beneficiary self-reported use of a pharmacy or pharmacist as a Medicare Part D information source.Results: Only 13% of the total sample and 15% of those with three or more medications used a pharmacy or pharmacist for Medicare Part D information. Adjusted logistic regression revealed that beneficiaries living in rural communities, compared with metropolitan areas, and with higher out-of-pocket prescription costs were more likely to use a pharmacy or pharmacist for Medicare Part D information. Beneficiaries with lower educational attainment were less likely to use a pharmacy or pharmacist for Medicare Part D information.Conclusion: Pharmacists have the knowledge and are in the position in the community to effectively educate beneficiaries about the Medicare Part D program. However, this study suggests that few beneficiaries are using pharmacists or pharmacies for Medicare Part D information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To measure the association of three categories of community pharmacists' subjective workload with perceived performance in pharmacists' tasks.Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting: Wisconsin, September 2009.Participants: 224 Wisconsin community pharmacists.Intervention: Web-based or mailed survey.Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported workload in task-, job-, and organization-related categories and their association with perceived performance on completing a profile review, checking the accuracy of a prescription, and providing a patient consultation for a new medication.Results: Multivariate regression analysis showed that performing a profile review was positively associated with monitoring demands (reacting quickly to prevent problems) and significantly negatively associated with external task demands (interruptions, rushing). The task of verifying prescription accuracy was positively associated with monitoring demands and negatively associated with volume demands (having enough time to get work done). Patient consultation performance was positively associated with cognitive (using skills and knowledge) and monitoring demands and negatively associated with external demands.Conclusion: These findings revealed the importance of measuring workload demands after separating the demands into categories and that different work demands are associated with performance of different tasks. As a result, no one solution will improve performance, and specific work environments must be considered when crafting solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess student exposure to types of pharmacy practice, evaluate awareness and perceptions of community pharmacy residencies, and identify areas of postgraduate training of interest to student pharmacists.Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive, online survey study.Setting: United States, January to April 2008.Participants: Student pharmacists in the final 2 years of the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program.Intervention: An online survey was administered to students in the final 2 years of the PharmD program at randomly selected schools of pharmacy by region throughout the United States.Main Outcome Measures: Awareness of student pharmacists regarding community pharmacy residencies and interest in postgraduate training.Results: 254 surveys were completed during the study period. Of the respondents, 95% had previous experience working in a community pharmacy setting. Nearly 90% were aware of community pharmacy residencies. Students who indicated opportunities to publish (odds ratio 2.4 [95% CI 1.34-4.1]), teaching students (2.1 [1.36-3.14]), enjoying the job atmosphere (4.9 [1.54-15.60]), and clinically challenging (4.3 [2.15-8.67]) as desirable career attributes were more likely to be interested in postgraduate training. No significant differences existed in the information sources sought by students interested in community pharmacy residency programs (CPRPs) compared with those interested in other types of postgraduate training.Conclusion: The significant predicators of student pharmacists interested in pursuing postgraduate training are in alignment with CPRP training. Further research is needed to market the value of CPRPs through the identified information sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]