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Community Pharmacists' Knowledge Regarding Donepezil Averse Effects and Self-Care Recommendations for Insomnia for Persons with AD.

ABSTRACT: Alzheimer's disease (AD) impacts millions of individuals worldwide. Since no cure is currently available, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are symptomatic therapy. This study assessed community pharmacists' knowledge regarding donepezil adverse effects (AEs) and self-care recommendations for insomnia management for persons with AD treated with rivastigmine. This is a cross-sectional, standardized telephone survey of community pharmacists (n = 862) in three study areas: West Virginia, North Dakota/South Dakota, and Southern Oregon/Northern California. Pharmacists' degree, sex, and pharmacists' AD-related knowledge were assessed. In-stock availability of donepezil and rivastigmine formulations was assessed. Analyses were performed using Stata 10.1. Only 31.4% pharmacists were able to name ?2 donepezil AEs. Only four donepezil AEs were named by at least 13% of pharmacists: nausea (36.1%), dizziness (25.1%), diarrhea (15.0%), and vomiting (13.9%). All other AEs were named by fewer than 7% of respondents. Only 62.9% of pharmacists (n = 542) provided appropriate recommendations: melatonin (40.3%), referral to physician (22.0%), or sleep hygiene (0.6%). Over 12% of pharmacists (n = 107) provided inappropriate recommendations (anticholinergic agent or valerian root) and 21.5% of pharmacists were unable to provide any recommendation. We identified significant gaps in community pharmacists' knowledge regarding donepezil AEs and non-prescription insomnia recommendation needing significant improvement to ensure high-quality AD-related care.

SUBMITTER: Marvanova M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5622354 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Community Pharmacists' Knowledge Regarding Donepezil Averse Effects and Self-Care Recommendations for Insomnia for Persons with AD.

Marvanova Marketa M Henkel Paul Jacob PJ

Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) 20170728 3

Alzheimer's disease (AD) impacts millions of individuals worldwide. Since no cure is currently available, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are symptomatic therapy. This study assessed community pharmacists' knowledge regarding donepezil adverse effects (AEs) and self-care recommendations for insomnia management for persons with AD treated with rivastigmine. This is a cross-sectional, standardized telephone survey of community pharmacists (<i>n</i> = 862) in three study areas: West Virginia, North ...[more]

PMID: 28970454

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Project description:Background and Objective: Several over-the-counter drugs have been documented as an essential issue in the community pharmacy setting owing to their liability to abuse. Pharmacists act as a critical monitor for these concerns and evaluate the seriousness of the patients' condition. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding drug abuse and misuse among pharmacists at a community pharmacy in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study using a validated self-administered questionnaire was carried out among community pharmacists over three months April to June 2019. The survey had 25 items on the experience, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, strategies, and opinions of participants toward drug abuse and misuse. Results: A total of 239 community pharmacists responded to the survey. About 84% of them had received training on drug misuse or abuse. The majority of community pharmacists (85.8%) would like to be provided educational programs on drug abuse in the future. Nearly all the pharmacists (94.9%) reported providing suitable advice to suspected drug misusers either in written or oral form at their pharmacies. Approximately 31% agreed or strongly agreed to dispense controlled drugs through a pharmacy. Regarding the ethical matter of selling misusers controlled drugs, 93.7% of the respondents believed that it is deceptive to offer misusers controlled medications. A comparison of knowledge and beliefs (univariate analysis) showed that the results were significant only for respondents who had graduated from Yemen (p = 0.007) and respondents who had an experience of four to six years or more (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The findings revealed that the majority of community pharmacists had been trained in recognizing drug abuse or dependence during their pharmacy college education. In addition, majority of them reported that they warned or counseled patients about the occurrence of adverse drug reactions to specific medications. However, majority of them agreed that selling controlled drugs is unethical in a community pharmacy. Thus, effective implementation of pharmaceutical rules and laws is a fundamental need in the Saudi Arabian health care system and we suggest stringent execution of the regulations by the Saudi health care authorities.

Project description:ObjectiveTo survey the knowledge, attitude, and practices of Vietnamese pharmacists regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodThis cross-sectional, paper-based study was conducted from June to August 2020. A validated questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84) was used to interview 1,023 pharmacists in nine provinces of Vietnam. Analysis of covariance was employed to identify factors associated with the knowledge of pharmacists. The best model was chosen by using the Bayesian Model Averaging method in R software version 4.0.4.ResultsThe mean knowledge score was 12.02 ± 1.64 (range: 6-15), which indicated that 93.4% of pharmacists had good knowledge of COVID-19. There was no difference in the average score between males and females (p > 0.05). The multivariate linear regression model revealed that the knowledge was significantly associated with pharmacists' age, education level, and residence (p < 0.001). About attitude and practices, pharmacists daily sought and updated information on the COVID-19 pandemic through mass media and the internet (social network and online newspapers). Nearly 48% of them conceded that they communicated with customers when at least one person did not wear a face mask at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak. At medicine outlets, many measures were applied to protect pharmacists and customers, such as equipping pharmacists with face masks and hand sanitizers (95.0%), using glass shields (83.0%), and maintaining at least one-meter distance between two people (85.2%).ConclusionThe pharmacists' knowledge of COVID-19 transmission, symptoms, and prevention was good. Many useful measures against the spread of this perilous virus were applied in medicine outlets. However, pharmacists should restrict forgetting to wear face masks in communication with medicine purchasers. The government and health agencies should have practical remedies to reduce the significant differences in the COVID-19 knowledge of pharmacists among provinces and education-level groups.

Project description:IntroductionPharmacists are uniquely positioned to provide patients with evidence-based information in order to ensure effective and safe use of Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) products.ObjectiveAssess beliefs, practices and knowledge related to CAM products among community pharmacists in Lebanon.Design, methods and settingUsing stratified random sampling, a nationally representative survey was conducted among community pharmacists in Lebanon. Through face-to-face interviews, pharmacists completed a multicomponent questionnaire consisting of four sections: (1) sociodemographic characteristics; (2) beliefs related to regulation of CAM products, role of media in promoting their safe use, availability of resources and continuing education; (3) practices including selling CAM products, providing advice for patients and reporting adverse effects and (4) knowledge about specific CAM products, their uses, side effects and interactions.ResultsA total of 341 pharmacists agreed to participate (response rate: 86%). Only pharmacists with complete data were included in this study (n=310). Pharmacists agreed that CAM products are effective (63.8%) and that they should be exclusively sold in pharmacies (80.3%), but disagreed that commercially marketed CAM products are well regulated (63.5%) and that media plays a positive role in educating users about these products (55.8%). As for practices, 64.5% of pharmacists were always or often advising patients on safe use; however, 74.2% of participants rarely or never reported adverse effects. Regarding knowledge, although the majority of pharmacists were aware of the uses of CAM products, fewer knew about their side effects and their interactions with drugs. After adjustment for covariates, receiving education/training on CAM products during university was the sole predictor of higher knowledge score (ß=0.68, 95% CI 0.29 to 1.07).ConclusionsThis study revealed positive beliefs of pharmacists in Lebanon towards CAM products and indicated important gaps in their practice and knowledge. Deliberate efforts to enhance the education of pharmacists are warranted to ensure the safe integration and use of CAM products in Lebanon.

Project description:BackgroundCommunity pharmacists play an important role in reducing COVID-19-related secondary health problems. However, the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19 among pharmacists in Japan have not yet been elucidated.MethodsWe conducted a web-based questionnaire survey among 1,137 pharmacists working in health support pharmacies (HSPs) in Japan. These pharmacists are responsible for providing health consultations to community residents. We assessed COVID-19-related KAP among pharmacists and compared the results for two age groups: ≤49 years and ≥50 years. We used multiple regression analysis to examine which factors influence KAP scores regarding COVID-19.ResultsFrom among the 2,141 HSPs in Japan, a total of 1,137 pharmacists, each representing a different HSP, responded to the survey. The results indicated that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists have been providing consultations about COVID-19 to local residents, covering topics such as "Effective infection prevention methods" (60.6%) and "What the COVID-19 pandemic would be" (48.8%). Importantly, 73.5% of the pharmacists felt they "did not have enough information about COVID-19." The main information resources about COVID-19 were Internet (91.2%) and television (78.9%). Across all respondents, the mean knowledge score (4.17/10) was lower than the mean scores for attitudes (7.26/10) and practices (5.79/10). Multiple regression analysis showed that having enough information about COVID-19 was a factor strongly associated with total KAP scores (p<0.001; 95% confidence interval, -1.344 to -0.540).ConclusionsPharmacists working in community pharmacies provide residents with information related to COVID-19. In this role as a health partner, these pharmacists need a way to strengthen and expand their knowledge, and moreover, their ability to support community residents. Learning more about the available academic and scientific information, as well as having access to accurate epidemiological information, can offer a means of reaching these goals.

Project description:OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the epidemiology of insomnia, including demographic and clinical correlates, in older adults. DESIGN:Cross-sectional. SETTING:Community. PARTICIPANTS:Yale Precipitating Events Project participants (N=379; mean age 84.3; 67.8% female; 11.9% African American). MEASUREMENTS:Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), with scores of 8 and higher indicating insomnia, which was further stratified according to ISI score as mild (8-14), moderate (15-21), or severe (22-28). Baseline characteristics included age, sex, race, education, smoking, obesity, medical conditions, depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression score ?16), cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination score <24), restless legs syndrome (RLS), self-reported sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), medications, and daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), range 0-24). RESULTS:Insomnia was established in 163 (43.0%) participants (average ISI score 12.3 (mild)). For the entire sample, average baseline characteristics were as follows: 30.1% did not complete high school, 5% were current smokers, 19.2% were obese, 28.2% had cardiovascular disease, 19.3% had chronic lung disease, 27.2% had depressive symptoms, 16.1% had cognitive impairment, 36.8% had RLS, and 3.4% had self-reported SDB; mean number of medications was 9.2, and mean ESS was 6.4. In multivariable regression models, only depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=8.34, 95% confidence interval (CI)=4.49, 15.47) and RLS (aOR=2.49, 95% CI=1.48, 4.21) were significantly associated with insomnia. CONCLUSION:In a sample of older adults with high medical burden and polypharmacy, insomnia was highly prevalent but unexpectedly mild and associated only with depressive symptoms and RLS. The discordance of high prevalence but mild severity of insomnia in the oldest adults highlights the need for diagnostic confirmation with objective measures of sleep disturbances, whereas the strong associations with depressive symptoms and RLS inform priorities in managing insomnia.

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Dataset Information

Community Pharmacists' Knowledge Regarding Donepezil Averse Effects and Self-Care Recommendations for Insomnia for Persons with AD.

Publications

Community Pharmacists' Knowledge Regarding Donepezil Averse Effects and Self-Care Recommendations for Insomnia for Persons with AD.

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