Revolutionizing Pharmacy Education: The Vital Role of Chatbots like ChatGPT

As technology continues to develop and transform industries, pharmacy education is no exception to this trend. Chatbots are a technology that has gained considerable popularity in recent years. Chatbots are computer programs that simulate human interactions and have many applications, including education.

In pharmacy education, chatbots such as ChatGPT can play a crucial role in facilitating student comprehension of difficult concepts. One of the primary advantages of chatbots is their capacity to facilitate individualized learning experiences. Chatbots may be programmed to recognize each student’s individual needs and learning styles, and they can alter their teaching strategies to ensure that each student receives the necessary support.

Another benefit of chatbots is that they are accessible 24/7, allowing students to utilize them anytime. This is especially beneficial for students struggling with a particular issue and requiring extra guidance outside of class hours. Chatbots allow students to receive the assistance they require whenever they need it, without waiting until the next class or during office hours.

Additionally, chatbots can be used to build fun and engaging learning environments. For example, chatbots can make learning more exciting and enjoyable by introducing gamification components, such as quizzes and challenges. This is particularly crucial in pharmacy education, where the content can be relatively dense and challenging.

Chatbots can be utilized to aid instructors and streamline administrative work, in addition to assisting students with their education. For instance, chatbots can be programmed to respond to frequently requested questions, decreasing instructors’ time responding to emails and other inquiries.

Overall, chatbots such as ChatGPT can contribute significantly to pharmacy education. Chatbots can assist students to succeed in their studies and prepare for successful jobs in the pharmacy field by delivering tailored learning experiences, extending 24/7 support, and creating engaging learning experiences.

Understanding Research Design in Hospital Pharmacy Intervention Research: Quasi Experimental Design

Quasi-experimental designs has consistently featured in epidemiology and health system research involving educational interventions, healthcare practice, quality improvement initiatives, and health policy research. The study design encompass a broad range of non- randomized intervention studies and are frequently used when it is not logistically feasible or ethical to conduct a randomized controlled trial. In the literature, quasi experimental studies may be categorized into the following; quasi-experimental design without control groups, quasi-experimental design that use control groups with no pre-test’ quasi-experimental design that use control groups and pre-tests, interrupted time series and stepped wedge designs. In the process of evidence synthesis of practice lead research, the most commonly used are one group pre-post-test design and the non-equivalent control group design i.e., (untreated control group with dependent pre-tests and post-tests). Both have been used to test the impact of pharmacist interventions in general medications management as well as in specific disease states. While quasi-experiments are unlikely to replace experiments in generating the efficacy and safety evidence required for clinical guidelines and regulatory approval of medical technologies, quasi-experiments studies have a role to play as proof of concept, in the pilot phases of interventions when testing different intervention components, especially in complex interventions. It can be widely used in medicine, social science, and pharmacist intervention research and represent an important class of methods for scientific discovery with the potential to provide evidence with high internal and high external validity.

 

 

Update on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy for Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Several prior guidelines on different patient groups with varied and earlier-generation stents had inconsistent recommendations on the duration of DAPT. There is recent focused update attempts to harmonize recommendations for newer-generation devices across patient groups. Recent updates by GN et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2016 Sep 6, update accounts for 12 new studies on the optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after coronary stenting, particularly later-generation drug-eluting stents (DES). The update affects parts of prior guidelines on percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass grafting, stable ischemic heart disease (IHD), ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-segment acute coronary syndromes (NSTEACS), and perioperative evaluation for noncardiac surgery. The class (strength) of recommendations is noted below in pertinent places; for levels of evidence, see the complete published update.

Key Points

1. For most patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), decisions about the duration of DAPT require trade-offs between reduction in ischemic risk and increased bleeding risk. Clinicians should comprehensively assess both the ischemic- and bleeding-risk profiles of each patient, including newly available risk scoring.

2. In patients with stable IHD, DAPT is recommended for 6 to 12 months after DES implantation and ≥1 month after bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation (class I); longer therapy (>12 months) “may be reasonable” (class IIb). In patients with high risk for bleeding or overt bleeding, a shorter DAPT duration (3 months) after DES implantation may be reasonable (class IIb).

3. In ACS (both STEMI and NSTEACS), ≥12 months of DAPT is recommended (class I). Longer therapy may be reasonable (class IIb), particularly if the patient does not have overt bleeding or a high risk for it while on DAPT.

4. Lower-dose aspirin (75–100 mg) should be used in all DAPT regimens.

5. For ACS patients treated with DAPT after stenting, ticagrelor and prasugrel are reasonable P2Y₁₂-inhibitor alternatives to clopidogrel (prasugrel only if the patient does not have a history of stroke or high bleeding risk). For medically treated patients, ticagrelor may be preferred to clopidogrel (class IIa).

6. In patients with stable CAD undergoing CABG, it may reasonable to start DAPT soon after surgery and continue it for 12 months to improve vein-graft patency (class IIb).

7. Elective noncardiac surgery should be delayed for 30 days after BMS implantation and, optimally, for 6 months after DES implantation (class I). If the surgery requires discontinuation of the P2Y₁₂ inhibitor, aspirin should be continued (class I).

 

 Prepared by : Howard C. Herrmann, based on Levine GN et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2016 Sep 6.  

American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, in collaboration with other professional societies

Professionalism for Pharmacy Students

1/1 DRUG OD Campaign

Pharmacists are recognised as the expert of drug treatment. In order to gain this recognition from the other healthcare professionals and public, we should first equip ourselves with adequate knowledge and latest information regarding medicines. Only through in-depth understanding of medicines, pharmacist will be able to be part of the multidisciplinary team to provide optimum patient care.

As an academic pharmacist who is responsible to produce competent future pharmacists, I have been conducting a campaign for the last three years. It is known as ‘Revise1DrugDaily’ campaign. This campaign is focused on final year pharmacy students. The objective is to help undergraduate students to learn, understand and increase their awareness on the commonly prescribed medicines in the real clinical practice before they are graduated from the university. I have applied the four basic concept of pharmacokinetic (ADME) to achieve this objective.  Students are expected to ‘absorb’ information regarding the medicine through active reading and revision. Then, they have to ‘metabolise’ the information by adding or transform it in order to ‘distribute’ the knowledge by sharing it to their friend. This information will then be ‘excreted’ when needed.They are encouraged to focus on the indication, contraindications, dosing, pharmacokinetics aspects and other relevant information about a particular drug. I hope this approach will be useful to pharmacy student to enhance their knowledge on drugs.

“Let’s spend at least 10 minutes of our daily time chatting about drugs”

Techniques of Handling Devices

Slides on the techniques of handling several devices – Inhalers, BP measurement, peak flow meter, syringe and vial preparation, insulin mixing procedures, glucose test devices and eye drop use method. It will be useful for undergraduate students who need to be competent enough to educate patients once become a pharmacist.

Dementia care model

Part of the result from an interesting project on the development of a dementia care model using concept mapping method was presented by my PhD student Rodchares Hanrinth in two international conferences recently.

1. ISPOR 6th Asia-Pacific Conference,6-9 Sept 2014, Beijing International Convention Center, China.
2. The pharmacist’s role in dementia care: A perspective from Thailand. 2014 FIP Congress in Bangkok, 2nd Sept 2014, Thailand.

Well done with your good work Rochdares. Hopefully the outcome of this research will give us a new insight on the dementia care pathway among older person.

AbstractPAM FIP

ISPOR 6th Asia-Pacific Conference.

Age-related biological changes

Summarises the common physiologic changes associated with aging

Critical Appraisal: Evaluating evidences and websites

Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College London

I feel very honoured to be appointed as the Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College London. 

Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences is considered as one of the most prestigious institution in the area of Pharmacy. Recently, the ‘Pharmacy and Pharmacology’ at King’s College London has been ranked third in the world in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

I feel very proud to bring Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)’s name into international level although this is just a small contribution from me. The active and positive collaboration with Professor Graham Davies hopefully will bring more successful outcomes for both our institutions. Hopefully this will move us a step closer to be a pioneering and transdisciplinary research intensive university recognised globally.  

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divisions/ips/about/people.aspx