12/12/2024


One of the features of the ICER stakeholder involvement in the development of ICER evidence reports is the ability for public comment. Unfortunately, and this may just a miscommunication, the replies from ICER to public comments frequently miss the point or fail to provide backup for their claims. The purpose of this commentary is to review ICER's responses to public comments by the author on the just released final evidence report on cystic fibrosis. The message is quite simple the ICER value assessment framework lacks credibility. It fails to meet the standards of normal science. This is seen in ICERs apparent ignorance or rejection of the axioms of fundamental measurement which point quite clearly to the mathematical impossibility of creating QALYs from generic multiattribute utility scores. The ICER report also fails standards by creating a model from prior assumptions; there is no logical basis for constructing a value assessment claim. Either ICER should withdraw its value claims or admit the dubious basis on which the model is built, as a duty to its readership.Elevating the technical role of pharmacy technicians to perform Technician Product Verification (TPV) is one strategy that has shown promise to optimize pharmacy practice models. This is done by better positioning pharmacists to provide clinical care, in line with their education and expertise. TPV permits a Validated Pharmacy Technician, as defined by the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board, to verify the accuracy of a product filled by another technician. The pharmacist maintains responsibility for assessing the clinical appropriateness of the prescription, including drug utilization review, data entry, and patient counseling. During the study period, 12,891 pharmacist-verified prescriptions (baseline) and 27,447 Validated Pharmacy Technician-verified prescriptions were audited for accuracy. The aggregate verification error rate for pharmacist-verified prescriptions was 0.16% and 0.01% for Validated Pharmacy Technician-verified prescriptions. The mean error rate was significantly less for Validated Pharmacy Technician-verified prescriptions than for pharmacist-verified prescriptions (0.19 ± 0.174 % vs 0.03 ± 0.089 %, p=0.020) (Figure 3). This suggests TPV in the community pharmacy setting maintained patient safety. In this study, Validated Pharmacy Technicians were shown to be more accurate than pharmacists at performing product verification. The ability to delegate the product verification task holds the potential to free up pharmacist time for increased direct patient care. Increasing direct patient care by pharmacists in community pharmacies may have significant implications for improving patient outcomes and pharmacy quality.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). In Wuhan, China, the disease was first identified in December 2019 and has since spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. Several countries across the world are facing a shortage in frontline providers, while pharmacists are asked to cut working hours during this pandemic fight. Pharmacists as healthcare professionals could contribute in many aspects as responders to this pandemic worldwide if they had expanded education, training, and scope of practice.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) plan template used in Fall of 2017 on quality of SMART goal development and student quiz scores.

The gap in time from when pharmacology is taught and when it is applied has contributed to poor student retention and performance in the diabetes pharmacotherapy course. To address this gap, the diabetes pharmacotherapy learning sequence was redesigned and included a self-assessment (pre-test), and the completion of a "CPD plan template", which involved writing 1-3 SMART goals for each question missed on the pre-test. Following sequence completion, students took an identical post-quiz. Pre- and post-quiz scores were compared. Quality of CPD plan SMART goals was evaluated.

The CPD plan template was completed by 98% of students. The majority, 62.5% of students, wrote SMART goals at the intermediate or good level, while 37.5% were evaluated as needs improvement. The average pre-quiz score was 7.4 points and average post-quiz score was 17.1 points with an average improvement of 9.8 points (p<0.0001). There was a statistically significant improvement for top 25% post-quiz scoring students who wrote "good" SMART goals compared to those who wrote goals needing improvement (p= 0.002). For students scoring in the lowest 25%, students with goals needing improvement scored higher than those with intermediate quality goals (p< 0.04).

It may be beneficial to introduce CPD to students sooner, as well as teach students more intentionally how to create and use SMART goals to improve learning. Finally, instructor follow up with students regarding use of their plan during a learning sequence may have additional benefit.
It may be beneficial to introduce CPD to students sooner, as well as teach students more intentionally how to create and use SMART goals to improve learning. Finally, instructor follow up with students regarding use of their plan during a learning sequence may have additional benefit.Role clarity of emergency department doctors and pharmacists is essential to provide collaborative care. Evidence is available that interprofessional care of doctor-pharmacist collaboration improves patient care in emergency settings. Pharmacists need to improve their knowledge and skill in emergency practice to be more productive and sought after. Team dynamics, training, and administrative support are critical. Interprofessional collaboration should not be programmed to fail for the short-term convenience of any profession. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/fezolinetant.html With more considerable effort from different stakeholders, once a collaborative system is established that will sustain improved patient care and the public trust of healthcare. Crossing a collaboration chasm takes time and effort. Interprofessional education should be built-in essential competencies to be collaborative with role clarity, teamwork, better communication, and ultimately patient-centeredness.