Despite advances in regulations and initiatives to increase pediatric medicine development, there is still an unmet need for age-appropriate medicines for children. The availability of pediatric formulations is particularly lacking in resource poor areas, due to, for example, area-specific disease burden and financial constraints, as well as disconnected supply chains and fragmented healthcare systems. The paucity of authorized pediatric medicines often results in the manipulation and administration of products intended for adults, with an increased risk of mis-dosing and adverse reactions. This article provides an overview of the some of the key difficulties associated with the development of pediatric medicines in both high and low resource areas, and highlights shared and location specific challenges and opportunities. The utilization of dispersible oral dosage forms and suppositories for low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are described in addition to other platform technologies that may in the future offer opportunities for future pediatric medicine development for low resource settings.

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/11/10/518/pdf

Innovations in Pediatric Drug Formulations and Administration Technologies for Low Resource Settings.

In Jordan, drive‐thru pharmacy service has recently been introduced representing a new trend in community pharmacy services. This study aimed to evaluate pharmacy customers' awareness and perceptions towards the drive‐thru service to unveil important information regarding such service.

Pharmacy drive‐thru service in Jordan: assessing customers' awareness, perceptions and factors affecting the use of this service

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of patients or caregivers on drive-thru pharmacy in Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital (HRPZ II), Kelantan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to September 2014 on 387 patients or caregivers recruited from outpatient pharmacy, HRPZ II using a constructed survey form. The questionnaire was validated through a pilot study which yielded a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.897. It comprised common socio-demographic characteristics as well as 3 domains which described subject’s experience in outpatient pharmacy, subject’s perception of drive-thru pharmacy and subject’s willingness to participate in the service. Results: More than half of respondents (n=231, 59.7 %) were aware of the existence of drive-thru pharmacy service. Almost all patients and caregivers (n=349, 90.2 %) perceived the service as useful to the public. Only a handful of them were reluctant to sign up, mainly due to the perception that it would cause lack of interaction between patients and pharmacists (n=16, 4.1%). Nearly three-quarters of participants (n=288; 74.4%) informed that they had never been asked to register as drive-thru pharmacy clients. They claimed that they were willing to use the service should it was offered to them (n=301; 77.8 %). Conclusion: This survey managed to garner positive feedbacks on drive-thru pharmacy. Most of the subjects perceived it as beneficial and were willing to use the service.

DRIVE-THRU PHARMACY SERVICE: ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTION AMONG PATIENTS OR CAREGIVERS IN HOSPITAL RAJA PEREMPUAN ZAINAB II Original Article

Translation and Validation of Patient Satisfaction with Pharmacist Services Questionnaire (PSPSQ 2.0)

Drive-thru Pharmacy Service: Assessment of Perception among Patients or Caregivers in Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II

A customer’s perceived value of service has been identified as one of the most important drivers of satisfaction. Using a cross-sectional survey among out-patients with a chronic disease in Ghana, this study assessed their perception on the role of the hospital pharmacist, their expectation of services provided by the hospital pharmacist and the factors encouraging them to speak to the hospital pharmacist. This was a cross-sectional survey of out-patients during visits to pharmacies at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Six pharmacies with a high patronage of patients with chronic diseases were purposively selected. A structured questionnaire was completed using a face-to-face approach and the results were presented in the form of descriptive and analytical (logistic regression) statistics. In all, 331 respondents made up of 56.8% women and 43.2% men were interviewed. The mean age of respondents was 42 years. Of those who responded, 87.3% (289/331) have had at least basic education and 63.7% of respondents were in some form of employment. In all, 77.2% at least agreed that the pharmacist is a health professional just like doctors and nurses, and only 3.8% of respondents strongly disagreed that their awareness of the role of the pharmacist has improved over the last five years. It was found that those who reported little difficulty identifying the pharmacy staff were about three times as likely (OR 3.19, 95% CI 1.78 to 5.80, p < 0.001) to request to speak with the pharmacist compared to those who found this difficult. Counseling services at the various pharmacies in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital need improvement. More work should be done by pharmacists to educate patients on the role of the pharmacist in providing pharmaceutical care.

	 

	Key words: Patient’s perception, out-patient pharmacist, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

https://academicjournals.org/article/article1418829038_Ankrah et al.pdf

Patients' perception and expectations of services provided by pharmacists in Ghanaian hospitals

Among the most vulnerable people in society are children and this is especially so in their access to health care Off-label prescription of paediatric medicines is known to be associated with safety outcomes some of which may be serious. This study identifies frequently prescribed children’s medicines that are not readily available in Ghana and are prepared extemporaneously. All prescriptions for extemporaneous oral preparations for children presented to the local production unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital from November, 2013 were eligible for the study. Information from such prescriptions was recorded in a systematic format. Presence of the prescribed medicine on the World Health Organization Children’s Medicine List was ascertained in addition to the anatomical and therapeutic classification code. The registration of the prescribed medicine for paediatric use by the Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana was also checked. Descriptive statistics of the data was presented. In all 622 prescriptions for 35 different paediatric formulations were served. Prescriptions from several health facilities including government hospitals (6.6 %, N = 622), private hospitals (2.4 %, N = 622) and the University of Ghana hospital (1.1 %, N = 622) were all honoured. Some of the prescribed medicines (Baclofen, Clonazepam, Hydroxyurea and Lamotrigine) were neither on the World Health Organization Children’s Medicine list nor registered with the Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana. Most prescribed medicines (88.6 %, N = 35) were for non-communicable diseases. Paediatric prescriptions including off-label medicines are prescribed and formulated extemporaneously in this setting. Steps should be taken to improve access and monitor benefit-risk profiles of paediatric medicines in order to improve treatment outcomes among children.

/pdf/insufficient-access-to-oral-paediatric-medicines-in-ghana-a-32vd2tai0w.pdf

Elizabeth Bruce

Papers

Patients' perception and expectations of services provided by pharmacists in Ghanaian hospitals

Insufficient access to oral paediatric medicines in Ghana: A descriptive study.