Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons^™

Pour Une Diffusion Éthique Des Connaissances De La Médecine Traditionnelle: L’Intersection De La Culture Yoruba Et Des Besoins Médicaux, Isabel Sala

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

The U.S. Travel Health Pharmacists’ Role In A Post-Covid-19 Pandemic Era, Keri Hurley-Kim, Karina Babish, Eva Chen, Alexis Diaz, Nathan Hahn, Derek Evans, Sheila M. Seed, Karl Hess

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Many countries have enforced strict regulations on travel since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in December 2019. However, with the development of several vaccines and tests to help identify it, international travel has mostly resumed in the United States (US). Community pharmacists have long been highly accessible to the public and are capable of providing travel health services and are in an optimal position to provide COVID-19 patient care services to those who are now starting to travel again. Objectives: (1) To discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the practice of travel health and …

Promoting Adult Pneumococcal Vaccinations Through Pharmacy And Provider Educational Campaigns, Krysia Lesniak

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Variants Associated With Bedaquiline (Bdq) Resistance Identified In Rv0678 And Efflux Pump Genes In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Isolates From Bdq Naïve Tb Patients In Pakistan, Dania Khalid Saeed, Sadia Shakoor, Safina Abdul Razzak, Zahra Hasan, Saba Faraz Sabzwari, Zahida Azizullah, Akber Kanji, Asghar Nasir, Samreen Shafiq, Najia Karim Ghanchi, Rumina Hasan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: Mutations in the Rv0678, pepQ and atpE genes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been reported to be associated with reduced antimycobacterial susceptibility to bedaquiline (BDQ). Resistance conferring mutations in treatment naïve MTB strains is likely to have implications for BDQ based new drug regimen that aim to shorten treatment duration. We therefore investigated the genetic basis of resistance to BDQ in MTB clinical isolates from BDQ naïve TB patients from Pakistan. In addition, mutations in genes associated with efflux pumps were investigated as an alternate mechanism of resistance.
Methods: Based on convenience sampling, we studied 48 MTB clinical isolates …

At War With A Silent Killer: An Ipa Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Community Pharmacists In Ireland During Covid-19, Regina Brady, Niamh Imbusch

Articles

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to give voice to the unique lived experiences of community pharmacists who continued to work in patient-facing roles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Research objectives sought to understand how they felt about working during this time including any risks felt, why they choose to continue working, and what the post-COVID future might hold for them and their profession. Method: The study was guided by the principles of traditional interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Primary research was collated using semi-structured interviews of a small, purposively selected homogenous group of pharmacists. The research context was a …

Sars-Cov-2 Early Infection Signature Identified Potential Key Infection Mechanisms And Drug Targets, Yue Li, Ashley Duche, Michael R. Sayer, Don Roosan, Farid G. Khalafalla, Rennolds S. Ostrom, Jennifer Totonchy, Moom Roosan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has caused devastating mortality and posed a significant threat to public health worldwide. Despite the severity of this illness and 2.3 million worldwide deaths, the disease mechanism is mostly unknown. Previous studies that characterized differential gene expression due to SARS-CoV-2 infection lacked robust validation. Although vaccines are now available, effective treatment options are still out of reach.

Results

To characterize the transcriptional activity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, a gene signature consisting of 25 genes was generated using a publicly available RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) dataset of cultured cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. The signature estimated infection level accurately in …

Seroprevalence Of Novel Coronavirus Sars-Cov-2 At A Community Hospital Emergency Department And Outpatient Laboratory In Northern Orange County, California, Jason Yamaki, Harry Peled, Sajen Mathews, David Park, Mina Firoozi, Kim Smith, Lee Nguyen

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction

The severe acute respiratory syndrome related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 20 million people worldwide, and the spread is most prevalent in the USA, where California had accounted over 240,000 cases in the initial 5 months of the pandemic. To estimate the number of infected persons in our community, we conducted a cross-sectional study to estimate seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods

This cross-sectional study evaluated the presence of immunoglobulin G, antibody for SARS-CoV-2 during the time period of July 15, 2020, to July 27, 2020. Testing was done on serum samples from patients who had visited affiliated …

Artificial Intelligence–Powered Smartphone App To Facilitate Medication Adherence: Protocol For A Human Factors Design Study, Don Roosan, Jay Chok, Mazharul Karim, Anandi V. Law, Andrius Baskys, Angela Hwang, Moom Roosan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Medication Guides consisting of crucial interactions and side effects are extensive and complex. Due to the exhaustive information, patients do not retain the necessary medication information, which can result in hospitalizations and medication nonadherence. A gap exists in understanding patients’ cognition of managing complex medication information. However, advancements in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) allow us to understand patient cognitive processes to design an app to better provide important medication information to patients.

Objective: Our objective is to improve the design of an innovative AI- and human factor–based interface that supports patients’ medication information comprehension that could potentially …

The Use Of Urine Drug Testing For Risk Stratification And Efficacious Drug Monitoring In Pain Management Settings, Ahmad I. Hasan, Kareem Elhage, Brendan Farley, Khaled J. Saleh

Medical Student Research Symposium

Objective: To understand the current landscape of urine drug testing (UDT) guidelines as part of risk assessment for opioid abuse, and to offer recommendations towards adopting universal screening guidelines.

Background: There has been an opioid epidemic within the United States, and the role of prescription opioids has been well established. Despite proposed recommendations, there has yet to be a published universal screening guideline on the use of UDT in the setting of opioid abuse risk stratification as well as postoperative drug monitoring.

Methods: We explored current guidelines for UDT on two levels. First, we explore general indications for UDT within …

Using Community Pharmacy Immunization Screening Forms To Identify Potential Immunization Opportunities, Albert T. Bach, Jeffery A. Goad

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Immunization screening forms are completed for each patient that is to be vaccinated in the pharmacy. Screening forms contain demographic and health questions, which are used to determine if a patient is contraindicated to receive a vaccine. The objective is to determine if patient responses to questions on these forms can be used to identify potential vaccine indications. De-identified data was retrospectively collected from 11 community pharmacies in California and Michigan that included basic demographics, answers to immunization screening questions, and vaccine(s) administered during that visit. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations were used to forecast vaccine needs …

2018-2019 Acip Immunization Updates: Highlights For Pharmacists, Laressa Bethishou, Luma Munjy, Jeff Goad

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"Vaccinations have significantly reduced the burden of infectious diseases, preventing almost 6 million deaths worldwide.^1,2 In the United States, vaccines have led to a decrease in incidence of vaccine-preventable illness, mortality, and disease sequelae.³ Despite the proven benefit of vaccines, misinformation and failure to vaccinate has led to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. As of December 29, 2018, 372 cases of measles (from 17 outbreaks) and 2251 cases of mumps were reported in the United States in 2018.^4,5 These outbreaks support the need for continued education of patients and active immunization by pharmacists."

Pharmacy-Based Travel Health Services In The United States, Keri Hurley-Kim, Jeffery Goad, Sheila Seed, Karl M. Hess

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The aim of this paper is to review pharmacy laws and regulations, pharmacist training, clinic considerations, and patient care outcomes regarding pharmacy-based travel health services in the United States. Pharmacists and pharmacies in the United States are highly visible and accessible to the public, and have long been regarded as a source for immunization services. As international travel continues to increase and grow in popularity in this country, there is a pressing need for expanded access to preventative health services, including routine and travel vaccinations, as well as medications for prophylaxis or self-treatment of conditions that may be acquired overseas. …

Increase Referrals To Medaccess At The Smhc Pharmacy, Sarah Jones, Kim Beaudoin

Southern Maine Health Care

Problem/Impact Statement: The MedAccess Program is losing referrals at point of sale in the SMHC Pharmacy.

Scope: Patients who are currently serviced by the SMHC Pharmacy that are uninsured or under insured and meet the % Federal Poverty Level for prescription assistance.

Pharmacists' Role In Harm Reduction: A Survey Assessment Of Kentucky Community Pharmacists' Willingness To Participate In Syringe/Needle Exchange, Amie Goodin, Amanda Fallin-Bennett, Traci Green, Patricia R. Freeman

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Pharmacists' role in harm reduction is expanding in many states, yet there are limited data on pharmacists' willingness to participate in harm reduction activities. This study assessed community pharmacists' willingness to participate in one harm reduction initiative: syringe/needle exchange.

Methods: In 2015, all Kentucky pharmacists with active licenses were emailed a survey that examined attitudes towards participation in syringe/needle exchange. Response frequencies were calculated for community pharmacist respondents. Ordinal logistic regression estimated the impact of community pharmacist characteristics and attitudes on willingness to provide clean needles/syringes to people who inject drugs and to dispose of used syringes/needles, where both …

Managing The Cost Of Diabetes, Laressa Bethishou

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"This is of concern to health care providers because inadequate management of diabetes results in short- and long-term complications. Patients with diabetes and no health insurance have fewer physician visits and are prescribed fewer medications for management of their diabetes. Patients with diabetes make up 11.9% of all emergency department visits in the United States.Hispanic and non-Hispanic blacks are at greater risk for developing diabetes and serious associated health complications, including chronic kidney disease. This may be attributed to a combination of genetics, diet, and exercise. However, access to health care resources may also play an important role."

Student Pharmacists Provide Tobacco Use Prevention Education To Elementary School Children: A Pilot Experience, Jared L. Ostroff, Marissa L. Wolff, Christina Andros, Eric C. Nemec

Physician Assistant Studies Faculty Publications

Background and purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe a service learning experience involving tobacco prevention education and to measure the education's effect on the learners' knowledge of tobacco products.

Educational activity and setting: Student pharmacists planned and presented a 40-min tobacco prevention education program using the Tar Wars curriculum to fourth and fifth grade students at three suburban elementary schools in Western Massachusetts. Mean scores on a five-question assessment given to school age children before and after the presentation were compared. A total of 206 elementary school students in ten classrooms participated.

Findings: The average survey score …

Strategies To Improve Control Of Blood A1c In Diabetics, Jennifer Aronson, Leanne Bellino, Elizabeth Eisenhardt, Diane Bryant, Haley Pelletier, Internal Medicine Team, Adult Outpatient Clinic

Maine Medical Center

A1c monitoring is an important aspect of controlling the health of a diabetic patient. An adult internal medicine clinic noted that the percentage of their diabetic patients who had an A1c higher than 9 or no reading within the past year exceeded the national average. As a result, operational excellence methods were implemented with the overall goal to reduce their percentage to 18% or less.

A root cause analysis identified several deficiencies to includelack of essential equipment, variations in

staff education and the absence of daily reminders.

Post KPI implementations, an overall decrease in the percentage of patients with poorly …

Aligning Opioid Prescribing Pathways, Andrea Lai, Outpatient Pharmacy, Haley Pelletier, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman

Maine Medical Center

There is a drug epidemic sweeping the State of Maine and it continues to worsen each passing year. In 2017, the Maine legislature passed Public Law Chapter 488 to strengthen the controlled substance prescription monitoring program. An outpatient pharmacy, located in a large acute care hospital, created a performance improvement project to clarify opioid prescription and resolve any non-compliance with Chapter 488.

After a root cause analysis, several KPIs were established to include tracking the number of phone calls made by pharmacists to non-compliant providers to clarify scripts, provide one on one education and ultimately resolve non-compliance. Repeat offenders were …

Utilizing Three Years Of Epidemiological Data From Medical Missions In Cambodia To Shape The Mobile Medical Clinic Formulary, Jeany Kim Jun, Junia S. Koo, Amy Y. Kang, Deborah B. Chien, Albert Shim, Dale Knutson, Eda M. Kim

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: The purpose of this project was to gather epidemiological data on common diseases and medications dispensed during medical mission teams to Cambodia to shape the mobile medical clinic formulary.

Methods: Data for patients seen during week-long, mobile, medical clinics was collected in Cambodia during Septembers 2012 to 2014. Patient’s gender, age, weight, blood pressure, glucose, pertinent laboratory values, diagnoses, and medications dispensed were collected. Blood pressure and glucose were measured in patients 18 years and above. Data collected onto paper intake forms were transferred onto spreadsheets without patient identifying information and analyzed for aggregate means, common diseases, and most …

Implementing Pharmacy-Based Travel Health Services: Insight And Guidance From Frontline Practitioners, Tania Gregorian, Albert Bach, Karl Hess, Keri Hurley, Edith Mirzaian, Jeff Goad

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE In California, the passage of SB493 in July of 2013 was a milestone in advancing pharmacy practice. Among other things, the new legislation allows pharmacists to provide routine immunizations without a protocol and furnish medications for international travelers for conditions not requiring a diagnosis. When developing a pharmacist-run travel health service, consideration must be given to multiple important factors, including pharmacist training, physician partnership, logistics, from scheduling to documentation, and the resources necessary to provide a travel health service.5 This article sets out to provide guidance and insight to pharmacists seeking to implement a travel health service.

SUMMARY Travel …

Calcium Phosphate As A Key Material For Socially Responsible Tissue Engineering, Vuk Uskoković, Victoria M. Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Socially responsible technologies are designed while taking into consideration the socioeconomic, geopolitical and environmental limitations of regions in which they will be implemented. In the medical context, this involves making therapeutic platforms more accessible and affordable to patients in poor regions of the world wherein a given disease is endemic. This often necessitates going against the reigning trend of making therapeutic nanoparticles ever more structurally complex and expensive. However, studies aimed at simplifying materials and formulations while maintaining the functionality and therapeutic response of their more complex counterparts seldom provoke a significant interest in the scientific community. In this review …

Hiv Vaccines: Progress, Limitations And A Crispr/Cas9 Vaccine, Omar A. Garcia Martinez

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

ABSTRACT: The HIV-1 pandemic continues to thrive due to ineffective HIV-1 vaccines. Historically, the world’s most infectious diseases, such as polio and smallpox, have been eradicated or have come close to eradication due to the advent of effective vaccines. Highly active antiretroviral therapy is able to delay the onset of AIDS but can neither rid the body of HIV-1 proviral DNA nor prevent further transmission. A prophylactic vaccine that prevents the various mechanisms HIV-1 has to evade and attack our immune system is needed to end the HIV-1 pandemic. Recent advances in engineered nuclease systems, like the CRISPR/Cas9 system, have …

Development Of The Adherence Predictive Index (Api) For Medication Taking, Jon C. Schommer, Paul D. Tieger, Anthony W. Olson, Lawrence M. Brown, Daniel M. Tomaszewski

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The objective for this study was to explore if characteristics of personality type using the Preferred Communication Style Questionnaire, in concert with the demographic characteristics of age, education, and race/ethnicity, are associated with, and help predict, individuals’ medication adherence behavior.

Data were collected via an on-line survey, sent to a sample of adults residing in the United States, between April 28 and June 22, 2015. Out of 26,173 responses to the survey, 16,736 reported taking one or more medications and were eligible for inclusion in this study.

The development of the Adherence Predictive Index (API) used mean Morisky Medication Adherence …

The Role Of Community Pharmacy-Based Vaccination In The Usa: Current Practice And Future Directions, Albert Bach, Jeffery A. Goad

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Community pharmacy-based provision of immunizations in the USA has become commonplace in the last few decades, with success in increasing rates of immunizations. Community pharmacy-based vaccination services are provided by pharmacists educated in the practice of immunization delivery and provide a convenient and accessible option for receiving immunizations. The pharmacist's role in immunization practice has been described as serving in the roles of educator, facilitator, and immunizer. With a majority of pharmacist-provided vaccinations occurring in the community pharmacy setting, there are many examples of community pharmacists serving in these immunization roles with successful outcomes. Different community pharmacies employ a number …

Systematic Review Of Potential Health Risks Posed By Pharmaceutical, Occupational And Consumer Exposures To Metallic And Nanoscale Aluminum, Aluminum Oxides, Aluminum Hydroxide And Its Soluble Salts, Calvin C. Willhite, Nataliya A. Karyakina, Robert A. Yokel, Nagarajkumar Yenugadhati, Thomas M. Wisniewski, Ian M. F. Arnold, Franco Momoli, Daniel Krewski

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Aluminum (Al) is a ubiquitous substance encountered both naturally (as the third most abundant element) and intentionally (used in water, foods, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines); it is also present in ambient and occupational airborne particulates. Existing data underscore the importance of Al physical and chemical forms in relation to its uptake, accumulation, and systemic bioavailability. The present review represents a systematic examination of the peer-reviewed literature on the adverse health effects of Al materials published since a previous critical evaluation compiled by Krewski et al. (2007).

Challenges encountered in carrying out the present review reflected the experimental use of different physical …

Childhood Obesity And Familial Hypercholesterolemia: Genetic Diseases That Contribute To Cardiovascular Disease, Alyssa Caudle

Senior Honors Theses

Childhood obesity occurs as the result of an imbalance between caloric intake and energy expenditure. Genetic risk factors for obesity have become an area of research due to its permanency. Mutated genes such as Fat Mass and Obesity Associated (FTO), Leptin (LEP), Leptin Receptor (LEPR), Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R), Adiponectin C1Q and Collagen Domain Containing (ADIPOQ), Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 1 (PCSK1), and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARG) all contribute to the development of childhood obesity. In the presence of high cholesterol caused by obesity, the genetic condition known as familial hypercholesterolemia is exacerbated. Familial hypercholesterolemia is caused by a …

Promoting Interprofessional Education Through A Student Led Community Health Screening Event, Carrie Maffeo, Eileen Carroll, Alexandra Foster, Kelly Daneri, Isabel Hagedorn, Mary Graham, Jane Gervasio

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Published abstract from the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Grapevine, TX, July 26-30.

Local Tobacco Control: Application Of The Essential Public Health Services Model In A County Health Department’S Efforts To Put It Out Rockland, Lisa D. Lieberman, Una Diffley, Sandy King, Shelley Chanler, Maryanne Ferrera, Oscar Alleyne, Joan Facelle

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

In 2000, Rockland County, a small suburban county north of New York City, dedicated $1 million of its Master Settlement Agreement funds to a comprehensive tobacco control program, Put It Out Rockland. Developed and implemented by the county health department, this program used an essential public health services model and an ongoing financial investment, within the context of strong statewide tobacco control efforts, to lower adult smoking rates to 9.7% and to reduce both smoking among youths and exposure to secondhand smoke over the ensuing decade. By combining state funds and local dollars for a total of $6.75 cost per …

Shots For Tots?, Eric A. Feldman

All Faculty Scholarship

By endorsing the use of a vaccine that makes the experience of puffing on a cigarette deeply distasteful, Lieber and Millum have taken the first few tentative steps into a future filled with medical interventions that manipulate individual preferences. It is tempting to embrace the careful arguments of “Preventing Sin” and celebrate the possibility that the profound individual and social costs of smoking will finally be tamed. Yet there is something unsettling about the possibility that parental discretion may be on the cusp of a radical expansion, one that involves a new and unexplored approach to behavior modification.

Debating The Cause Of Health Disparities: Implications For Bioethics And Racial Equality, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.