BACKGROUND Current evidence supports the benefit of medicine-use review (MUR) for the safe and effective use of medicines. However, little is known about opinions of consumers regarding their preference for undertaking MUR, especially in the developing world, eg, in some Asian countries. We aimed to explore patients' opinions about potential MUR and other enhanced services provided by community...

BACKGROUND In the last 20 years, pharmaceutical care has evolved as a modus operandi for community pharmacy. This article tracks the development of pharmaceutical care for drug misusers since 1995 and considers the implications for pharmacy engagement with the wider care team. OBJECTIVE To survey current community pharmacy service provision for drug misusers, past training and future training...

BACKGROUND The current financial crisis is pressing health systems to reduce costs while looking to improve service standards. In this context, the necessity to optimize health care systems management has become an imperative. However, little research has been conducted on health care and pharmaceutical services cost management. AIM Pharmaceutical services optimization requires a comprehensiv...

OBJECTIVES Vietnam started its health reform process two decades ago, initiated by economic reform in 1986. Economic reform has rapidly changed the socio-economic environment with the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy. Health reform in Vietnam has been associated with the introduction of user fees, the legalization of private medical practices, and the com...

Understanding the public's view of professional competency is extremely important; however little has been reported on the public’s perception of community pharmacists in Palestine Objectives: To determine the perception of Palestinian consumers of the community pharmacist and the services they offer Method: This project used the survey methodology administered by structured interviews to consu...

OBJECTIVES To assess short-term clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes of pharmaceutical care services (PCS) for patients with diabetes in community pharmacies. DESIGN Intention-to-treat, pre-post cohort-with-comparison group study. SETTING Twelve community pharmacies in Asheville, N.C. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS Eighty-five patients with diabetes who were employees, dependents, or re...

The meetings of experts, such as task forces or standing committees for special issues often make important decisions, but decision-making systems can be costly and timeconsuming [1-3], and such systems cannot respond quickly. The rapid advancement of information technology (IT) services can help to overcome this difficulty. In this paper, we propose a new system, called the Rapid Opinion Colle...

BACKGROUND Community water fluoridation (CWF) is currently experiencing social resistance in Canada. Petitions have been publicly registered, municipal plebiscites have occurred, and media attention is growing. There is now concern among policy leaders whether the practice is acceptable to Canadians. As a result, this study asks: What are public opinions on CWF? METHODS Data were collected in...

Executive Summary This report presents the results of a research project comparing defendant perceptions of fairness in the Red Hook Community Justice Center (Red Hook) and a traditional centralized criminal court. Nearly 400 defendants, who were seen at either Red Hook or the traditional court in summer 2005, took part in a survey comparing their perceptions of the treatment they received. The...

INTRODUCTION Physician services databases (PSDs) are a valuable resource for research and surveillance in Canada. However, because the provinces and territories collect and maintain separate databases, data elements are not standardized. This study compared major features of PSDs. METHODS The primary source was a survey of key informants that collected information about years of data, patient...