Assoc Prof Ian Heslop

Background: Pharmacists, as health professionals, are ideally positioned to support the health and wellbeing of populations, in addition to their role of providing individualised health care. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore current opinion on the contribution of pharmacists to public health and how this may be enhanced to positively impact public health indicators. Methods: A total of 24 pharmacists from Australia, United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America, and Australian public health professionals and consumers participated in semi-structured interviews between January and October 2021. Interpretive thematic analysis was applied with coding of transcripts using the constant comparison method. Themes were developed and named in accordance with Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory of development. Results: Pharmacists contribute to public health and have important roles in health education and illness prevention services. Strong enablers in community pharmacy include trust by consumers and ease of accessibility to pharmacists. Pharmacists are viewed as leaders in communities and contribute to the health system broadly in areas such as medication policy and public health organisations. Participants suggested that pharmacist contributions to public health are often unrecognized by the pharmacy profession, health professionals and consumers, and could be developed to allow effective contributions. Strategies to improve pharmacist contributions included clarifying public health-related terminology, increased development of pharmacy roles and reform for community pharmacies to participate in health prevention and promotion services. Integration of public health in pharmacy education, professional development, and recognition of pharmacy roles across all system levels were also identified as important. Conclusions: The study indicated that pharmacists currently contribute to the improvement of public health. However, development strategies are required for this to be more effective in integrating public health approaches into their professional practice to be recognized for their public health-related roles.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate CAMs used, and reasons for and disclosure of this use by cancer patients in a regional hospital in North Queensland, Australia. Methods: Patients attending the Day Oncology Unit of the Townsville University Hospital were invited to participate in a self-completed questionnaire or telephone interview regarding perspectives of their CAM use. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-squared and independent t-tests were performed to allow comparison between the responses by CAM users and non-users. Results: 102 completed questionnaires were used in the analysis, where 40.2 % of respondents were found to be using some form of CAM. Cannabis, magnesium, and massage were the most prominent therapies used, with cannabis use in cancer, not commonly reported in prior literature. The main reasons given for using CAM were to treat symptoms of cancer, side-effects of treatment or to improve general health. Two-thirds of these respondents disclosed their CAM use to health professionals mostly to obtain a professional opinion or due to concerns of interactions with cancer treatment. CAM users were statistically more likely to have used CAM prior to their cancer diagnosis and have lower emotional wellbeing than non-users. Non-CAM users indicated that a lack of knowledge of CAM or concerns regarding interactions with cancer treatment were the most popular reasons for not adopting these therapies. Conclusion: While lower than the averages of previously published CAM use, our study highlights that there is still a significant group of cancer patients in the North Queensland region using CAMs.

Background: Pharmacists are increasingly called to integrate population health approaches into their role. Public health knowledge and skills are recommended to be incorporated into the pharmacy curricula and professional development to enable competence of pharmacists in this area. Aim: To describe the competencies required by pharmacists to contribute to the public health of populations. Methods: A scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature discussing competencies in both pharmacy and public health was conducted. Competencies were extracted into a matrix of pharmacy and public health competencies and inductive coding of themes was undertaken. Results: Analysis of 58 papers showed important themes of professionalism, communication and collaboration with communities and other health professionals. Pharmacist services providing health promotion, screening and disease prevention should be directed at community needs. Evolution of pharmacy competencies in global health, health informatics and disaster management are current topics. Conclusion: A public health perspective in all pharmacy competency domains may assist pharmacists to understand their responsibility in improving the health and wellbeing of communities and ensure the profession has a positive impact on local, national and global health indicators.

Background: Cancer patients' disclosure rate of their complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use to health professionals is low, mainly attributed to health professionals' attitude toward CAM. Thus, we aimed to identify and compare the knowledge, attitudes and practices of doctors, nurses and pharmacists regarding CAM use in cancer patients. Method: The databases AMED, CINAHL, Embase, Emcare, Medline, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched for surveys of health professionals published between 2008 and 2020. Results: The knowledge of CAM in cancer care was generally poor for all three professions in the included studies, although how knowledge was assessed showed large variability. Doctors were found to dismiss or discourage CAM use out of concerns for side-effects and interactions. Nurses were generally positive and supportive toward CAM use by cancer patients. Pharmacists were neutral toward CAM, but believed they should be a reliable source of information for patients. All professions felt a major barrier to discussions with patients about CAMs was a lack of evidence of their safety and efficacy. Studies of all three professions also showed a general desire for more education regarding CAM. Conclusions: The review suggests that doctors, nurses and pharmacists may lack appropriate knowledge to inform CAM use in a cancer care setting, which determines their attitude, influences practice and potentially impacts patient outcomes. Our findings indicate that increased access to research-based education on CAM would strengthen health practitioners' confidence in discussing CAM with cancer patients, which would lead to more disclosure and safer therapeutic decision making.

Introduction: Outcomes-based education requires active student learning with assessment strategies that foster deep approaches to learning, which are often influenced by students' perceptions of assessment. We aimed to investigate the perceptions of pharmacy students at an Australian university about their experiences of assessment and its impact on their learning. Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted involving a self-administered questionnaire and semi-structured focus groups. Descriptive statistics were used to rate the perceived value of different assessment tools and confirmed by themes arising from the focus groups. Examination results over a five-year period were also collated to assess congruence between perceptions and academic performance. Results: From the 123 questionnaire and nine focus group participants, short-answer questions were the most positively-received form of assessment due to students being able to demonstrate and receive marks for partial knowledge. Multiple-choice questions received mixed response as they were cited as being useful in assessing student knowledge but potentially difficult to interpret/answer correctly. Reflective pieces received the lowest ratings and were considered the least beneficial. Key identified themes were ensuring quality assurance of assessment processes, use of authentic assessment, timely feedback, and appropriate match between workload and assessment weightings. Overall, there was congruence between students' exam scores and their perceptions of the different assessment types. Conclusions: Strategic planning and delivery of correctly-weighted authentic assessments with the provision of constructive feedback are key elements for active engagement of students and achievement of life-long learning outcomes.

Background and purpose: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in cancer is increasing. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature to determine demographic profiles and prevalence and reasons for use in cancer patients. Methods: In this systematic review, the databases OVID, PubMed, and Scopus were searched for studies on CAM use in cancer between 2009 and June 2018. Results: The results showed that an average of 51% of cancer patients used CAM. Common independent demographic characteristics associated with CAM use were younger, female cancer patients, having higher education, earning a higher income and having previously used CAM. Frequent reasons for use, grouped into themes were shown to be to influence their cancer and general health and to treat complications of the cancer or therapy. Conclusion: The review provides an insight and will serve to better inform health professionals on how this population is using CAM.

Background: Sessional staff are increasingly involved in health education at universities, although the lack of training and support experienced has been highlighted in recent years. Formal guidelines now exist in Australia for the management, support and training of sessional academic staff, with training programmes gradually becoming established in the majority of Australian universities. There is considerable variation in design, as well as limited data on the evaluation of such programmes in Australia. However, it is recognised that for optimal benefit, the programme should not only be institutionally supported, but also relevant to the needs of the particular discipline. Aims: To design and evaluate a tailored training and support programme for pharmacist tutors who are involved in pharmacy student education at a regional Australian university. Method: A pharmacist tutor needs-analysis study conducted at James Cook University (JCU) informed the design of the training programme. The programme was evaluated using two post-training participant self-evaluation surveys. Simple descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis were used to analyse the survey data. Results: More than 80% of participants were satisfied with the design of the programme in terms of structure, content and duration. The second evaluation survey revealed that significant increases in self-rated tutor confidence and competence had occurred over the first semester of employment, particularly in the perceived problem area of assessment and marking. Conclusion: This study has confirmed the benefits of discipline-specific tutor training, particularly to improve both tutor confidence and competence.

Background: Practising pharmacists as sessional tutors have been identified as providing value to a Pharmacy programme, particularly in maintaining the currency and relevance of the curriculum. However, the lack of training and support provided to this sessional academic workforce has been considered as a risk to the quality of their contribution to the education of pharmacy students at universities. Aim: This study thus aimed to determine the requirements of pharmacist tutors in order to inform the design of a pharmacy tutor training programme. Method: A cross-sectional survey was administered to pharmacist tutors, with simple descriptive statistics used to calculate frequency counts and percentages. Focus groups with tutors, pharmacy academic staff and students were conducted in order to interpret and develop the survey data. Results: Ninety-six percent of the 27 respondents supported the development of a pharmacy-specific tutor training programme, indicating that they saw their primary role as providing the link between theory and current practice. This was strongly supported by the participants in both the staff and student focus groups. Assessing student performance and giving effective student feedback were identified as two key areas for inclusion in a pharmacist tutor training programme, with 93% and 89% of respondents respectively rating these areas as very important and important. Conclusion: This study highlighted the need for a pharmacy-specific tutor training programme, addressing key areas, which have been identified by not only the tutors themselves but also the pharmacy academic staff and students.