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Objective: Considering the curriculum reform process taking place in pharmacy undergraduate programs in Brazil and the importance of practical experience to students throughout their learning process in university, this study aims to provide an overview of pharmacy undergraduate programs in Brazil and their respective internships. Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. A documentary analysis of pharmacy undergraduate programs in the face-to-face modality was carried out, with data obtained from the Political Pedagogical Projects of the programs, the curricula, and course descriptions containing information on internships, all provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Education. The data collected concerned higher education institutions (HEIs), pharmacy programs and internships. Results: Pharmacy undergraduate programs in Brazil have a median duration of 10 semesters, requiring from students a median of 6 internships, from the 6thsemester on, totalizing 826 hours. The programs lack uniformity among their internships, mainly regarding total hours and the semester in which internships start. The pharmacy internships cover, in greater number, the areas of outpatient and community pharmacy, clinical analysis, and pharmaceutical technology, respectively, being clinical analysis the area with more hours. Public and private HEIs have different internship proceedings in their curricula, hence no homogeneity among them in the different regions of Brazil. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the diversity of pharmacy programs in Brazil in the context of internships, reflecting on the training and the activity of pharmacists in recent decades. Further studies are needed to deepen the understanding of this theme.

Objective: The present study aimed to explore faculty (i.e., professors of various ranks) opinions and views regarding the pediatric content in courses taught to pharmacy students in Jordan. Methods: Purposeful sampling was used to identify faculty from ten pharmacy schools. Participants were identified through their institutions’ websites. After obtaining required approvals, twelve in-depth interviews were conducted, recorded, transcribed and analyzed using NVivo 11 Software. Interviews followed a previously prepared and validated interview guide. The interview guide covered various aspects of pediatric undergraduate education and training. Results: Twelve professors (eight assistants and four associate professors) agreed to take part in the study. Qualitative analysis revealed four themes each with regard to respondents’ knowledge of the pediatric content and their students’ competency in dealing with pediatric patients. The emerging themes were: the lack of pediatric content in their current curriculum, the need for exposing students to more courses teaching pediatrics, and future aspirations to deal with this, and implications on practice. Conclusions: This study highlights the deficiency of pediatric courses in pharmacy curriculum in Jordan. Respondent believed that this will have negative implications on pediatric pharmaceutical care and treatment efficacy and safety. It was thought that adding more pediatrics topics to undergraduate curricula, offering pediatric specialized postgraduate education, and implementing pre-registration training could alleviate the current situation.

Objective: To characterize the inclusion of the teaching of communication skills in the curriculum of Pharmacy Schools of Federal Institutions of Higher Education. Methods: An exploratory study of documental analysis of curriculum of Pharmacy Schools was carried out. A convenience sample was selected from undergraduate pharmacy courses of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES). The variables collected were related to the identification of the course, its nature (elective or mandatory), workload, semester, and program content. Results: Among the 49 undergraduate pharmacy courses of IFES, 35 (71.4%) had their curriculum available online. The teaching of communication in health was identified in 26 (74.3%) curriculum. In this study, three courses (7.2%) specifically aimed at teaching communication skills, while 39 (92.9%) had content related to this subject. Most courses (22; 52.4%) belonged to the field of Social, Behavioral, and Administrative Sciences. As for the course period, there was a concentration in the third (19%) and fourth (28.6%) years. The main content present in the curriculum was related to the principles and techniques of health communication (42.8%). Conclusions: Data obtained enabled the identification of gaps in the curricula of undergraduate courses in pharmacy concerning the inclusion of the teaching of communication skills. These results can be used to reflect the current models adopted in Brazil for the teaching of this skills, especially after the recent publication of the new curricular guidelines for undergraduate pharmacy courses.

A growing body of research demonstrates the effectiveness of evidence-based pharmacy practice, but too many practice innovations fail to survive past the initial implementation and study phase. This paper presents the resource-based theory of competitive advantage as a framework for describing, understanding, and predicting the adoption and dissemination pharmacy service innovations into routine practice. The theory argues that the sustainability of any business innovation (e.g., pharmacy service) is based upon (1) the internal resources of the firm offering it, (2) the firm’s capabilities in using those resources, (3) the competitive advantage to the firm of its resources and capabilities, (4) the attractiveness of the market in which it competes, and (5) the innovation’s contribution to financial performance of the firm. This paper argues that the resource-based theory of competitive advantage provides a foundation for comparing findings from different research frameworks and studies relating to innovations in services, service processes, and service business models. The paper also poses a number of research questions related to the theory that can be used to further the literature about pharmacy practice innovations. Finally, it makes a case that competition is a fundamental aspect of pharmacy practice and the resource-based theory of competitive advantage can serve as a general theory for studying innovations in pharmacy practice and in the social and administrative sciences.

Background: Whether the available Continuing Education (CE) programs meet pharmacists' continuously increasing needs and preferences is open to question. Objectives: to investigate pharmacists' perceptions and attitudes concerning available CE programs, evaluate the pharmacists' choices with regard to selecting among different CE programs, and investigate the factors that are associated with preference to utilize online CE programs. Method: A 17-question survey was developed and mailed to a random sample of 600 Texan pharmacists. In addition to collecting basic demographic information, the survey investigated pharmacists' choices with regard to delivery and content of CE programs, motivations to participation in CE programs, and pharmacists' preferences for future CE programs. Results: A total of 161 pharmacists completed the survey and mailed back their responses. Excluding the 75 undeliverable surveys, the response rate was 31%. Approximately 83% of respondents found that currently available CE programs met their educational needs. The most important factors influencing pharmacists' choices with regard to CE programs were the scope programs, the location where programs are held, and the cost associated with enrolling in such programs. Online CE was the most preferred mode of CE among participants. The factors that were associated with pharmacists' preferences to complete 50% or more of required CE through online programs were previous use of online CE programs, preference to limit the duration of CE programs to 1 or 2 hour-long, and perceived ability to find adequate CE programs among currently available CE programs. Conclusion: The findings suggest modalities for CE programs providers on how to improve CE programs in the future in order to meet the preferences of local pharmacists.

*Background: Medication reconciliation in the outpatient setting is an important part of preventing medication errors, and is mandated by the Joint Commission. Objective: To describe and quantify medication reconciliation efforts by student pharmacists in an outpatient family medicine center. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of medication reconciliation documentation forms completed by student pharmacists during an outpatient clinical rotation between May 2012 and April 2013. Discrepancies were defined as any lack of agreement between the medication list in the electronic medical record and the patient reported regimen. Descriptive statistics were used to report results. Results: A total of 557 medication reconciliation documentation forms from 12 student pharmacists were reviewed. The average number of medications per patient interviewed was 9 (range 0-25). A total of 1,783 medication discrepancies were found with an average of 3.2 discrepancies per patient. An additional 272 medication allergy discrepancies were identified. The most common discrepancy was medications the patient was no longer taking (37.3%, n=766). The second most common discrepancy was over-the-counter and herbal medications that had not been added to the medication list (16.2%, n=335). Patient counseling was documented 159 times during the medication reconciliation process. Conclusions: Medication reconciliation by student pharmacists in an outpatient family medicine center resulted in the identification of many discrepancies in medication lists in an electronic health record. Student pharmacists also documented and clarified medication allergies and performed patient counseling.