Medication history and previous experience with side effects had a significant influence
on the higher behaviour score obtained. Conclusion The survey has shown moderate results with regard to the knowledge of public regarding safety of medications, and there was evidence of under-estimating the risk of medications, especially CAMs. The misconceptions among the public, and inappropriate behaviour on drug safety-related aspects, is a concern which needs to be addressed in the interventions designed. “
“Introduction The rapid emergence and Cyclopamine research buy exploding usage of social media (also called Web 2.0) present pharmacists with new professional, ethical and time management challenges. Objectives To describe social media use among pharmacists in West Virginia, USA. Methods A survey was administered during the West Virginia Pharmacist Association 102nd Annual Convention held in October 2009. The meeting participants were pharmacists practising in the different regions of
West Virginia. All conference attendees 17-AAG in vivo were eligible to participate. Results The survey was completed by all 50 pharmacists in attendance, yielding a response rate of 100%. Social media use was found to be common among West Virginia pharmacists, with the most frequently used applications including: YouTube (74%), Wikipedia (72%), Facebook (50%), and blogs (26%). However, there were some tools that pharmacists barely used such as Bebo, Hi5, Flickr and Friendster. Given the widespread use of Facebook by respondent pharmacists, it is noteworthy that they indicated the main purposes for using it were for chatting, uploading pictures and keeping touch with friends rather than for professional and educational purposes. Discussion Presently, pharmacists utilize social media primarily for personal purposes. As social media becomes more sophisticated and widely adopted in the healthcare arena, it is probable that pharmacists will also increasingly utilize it for professional and educational purposes. “
“To evaluate
the perceptions, expectations Niclosamide and experiences of physicians with regard to hospital-based pharmacists in the West Bank, Palestine. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 250 physicians practising in four general hospitals in the West Bank, Palestine. The main sections of the questionnaire comprised a series of statements pertaining to physicians’ perceptions, expectations and experiences with pharmacists. One hundred and fifty seven questionnaires were completed and returned (response rate, 62.8%). The majority of respondents were most comfortable with pharmacists detecting and preventing prescription errors (76.4%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 69.5–81.2%) and patient education (57.9%; CI 51.2–63.4%) but they were not comfortable with pharmacists suggesting the use of prescription medications to patients (56.7%; CI 49.8–62.4%). Most physicians (62.4%; CI 56.8–69.