Objective. To increase student pharmacist empathy through the use of an auditory hallucination simulation. Design. Third-year professional pharmacy students independently completed seven stations requiring skills such as communication, following directions, reading comprehension, and cognition while listening to an audio recording simulating what one experiencing auditory hallucinations may hear. Following the simulation, students participated in a faculty-led debriefing and completed a written reflection. Assessment. The Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale was completed by each student before and after the simulation to measure changes in empathy. The written reflections were read and qualitatively analyzed. Empathy scores increased significantly after the simulation. Qualitative analysis showed students most frequently reported feeling distracted and frustrated. All student participants recommended the simulation be offered to other student pharmacists, and 99% felt the simulation would impact their future careers. Conclusions. With approximately 10 million adult Americans suffering from serious mental illness, it is important for pharmacy educators to prepare students to provide adequate patient care to this population. This auditory hallucination simulation increased student pharmacist empathy for patients with mental illness.

Background: Health professionals may stigmatize and prefer social distance from patients with opioid misuse, leading to poorer quality of care provided. The degree to which pharmacists prefer social distance from patients with opioid misuse and opioid use disorder (OUD) is not known. Methods: Pharmacists ( n = 187) completed a survey comprised of demographics, attitudinal, and Social Distance Scale (SDS) questions based on a vignette patient who displayed opioid misuse. SDS question responses and total scores (maximum of 30; higher scores representing great preference for social distance) were tallied and associations with attitudes and demographics were examined. Results: Mean SDS total score was 16.32 (range 9–23). More than 59% of respondents had an SDS score >15, indicating overall lack of willingness to interact with the vignette patient. Females had a higher mean SDS score vs male pharmacists (16.58 vs. 15.36, respectively; p = 0.023). Pharmacists were more likely to prefer social distance from the vignette patient in personal situations (i.e. renting a room) than work-related interactions (i.e. providing patient education). Pharmacists with >10 years of experience, those without personal experience with a substance use disorder, those who strongly agreed that patients with OUD require excessive time and effort, and those who agreed that some people lack self-discipline to use prescription pain medication without becoming addicted had significantly higher SDS scores than pharmacists without these characteristics. Conclusions: Pharmacists expressed significant preference for social distance indicating stigmatization of patients with opioid misuse. Pharmacists were comfortable performing pharmacy tasks with patients with opioid misuse, but were less comfortable forming therapeutic relationships, an important tenet of patient-centered care. Efforts are needed to examine contributions to social distance preferences and implement measures to reduce them. Targeting of pharmacists with >10 years’ experience and without personal experience with OUD may also be most beneficial.

Photovoice is a participatory-action research method in which participants capture and collectively reflect upon photos of their lived experience. Photovoice participation may be beneficial for individuals living with mental illness, but its effects have not been quantitatively measured. In this pilot study, 20 college students living with a mental illness and prescribed at least 1 medication were randomized to a Photovoice group intervention or usual group counseling, which was an active control. Participants completed the BURNS Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and Medication Adherence Rating Scale at baseline and 8 weeks. Between-groups comparisons were conducted. Photovoice participants experienced a significantly greater reduction in the BURNS Anxiety Inventory (–8.5 vs –2.6; P = .049) compared to control participants. No difference was seen in change in the Beck Depression Inventory (6.7 in the Photovoice group vs 0.2 among controls; P = .26). Mean medication adherence scores worsened in both groups from baseline with no difference between the groups (1 vs 0.86; P = .16). Photovoice may be a resource-efficient and effective intervention to reduce anxiety among college students with mental illness; however, it may be associated with poorer medication adherence. Further study is needed to evaluate these findings.

Background: Pharmacy education standards highlight the importance of effective communication skills and the use of technology to provide patient care. As technology evolves, pharmacists have opportunities to communicate in different and broader ways. Objective: The objectives of this study were 3-fold: to evaluate student ability to counsel via telepharmacy, to determine if there is a difference in students’ abilities to counsel face-to-face or via telepharmacy, and to determine students’ perceptions regarding patient consultation via telepharmacy. Methods: Professional pharmacy students completed a pharmaceutical care laboratory activity focused on communication via telepharmacy. Comparisons were made between students’ ability to provide patient consultation via telepharmacy and face-to-face utilizing a faculty-developed rubric. Students also completed a questionnaire on their perception of utilizing telepharmacy technology to provide patient consultation. Results: Eighty-two second-year professional pharmacy students participated in the study. Results showed students are able to successfully provide patient consultation via telepharmacy without prior practice; however, there was a statistically significant difference between students’ ability to counsel face-to-face and via telepharmacy (P < .001). Overall, students were more successful at providing face-to-face consultation than via telepharmacy, and students who were first assessed on their ability to counsel face-to-face perceived a greater difference between telepharmacy and face-to-face consultation (P < .05). Conclusion: Student-perceived differences between the 2 means of consultation and demonstrated a difference in their ability to counsel via telepharmacy and face-to-face. It appears that, when evaluating the need to teach professional pharmacy students how to provide patient consultation via telepharmacy, additional exposure to telepharmacy technology could be beneficial by enhancing student comfort and proficiency.

Background: Community pharmacists are in a unique position to prevent opioid-related deaths through the provision of naloxone. However, for those identified as candidates for take-home naloxone, the acceptance rate remains low. Value would be gained from knowing what patient demographics and pharmacist actions are associated with increased patient acceptance of naloxone. Methods: Through a state-wide program, community pharmacists screened all patients receiving an opioid prescription for risk of opioid misuse and/or accidental overdose. Pharmacists prescribed and/or dispensed take-home naloxone to patients at elevated risk. Naloxone acceptance rates were stratified based on risk factors for misuse and overdose to determine which patients are most likely to accept naloxone. Patient acceptance of naloxone and risks were captured electronically. Results: Pharmacist-initiated naloxone recommendations based on risk screening resulted in a 5.81% take-home naloxone acceptance rate. Individuals that were taking multiple opioid medications were most likely to accept the naloxone (20.45%). Concurrent disease states or medications (COPD, concurrent anxiety/depression medication, concurrent sleep aid) were associated with a statistically significant increase in the rate of naloxone acceptance. Acceptance of take-home naloxone increased as a patient risk for opioid misuse and/or accidental overdose increased. Conclusion: Patient acceptance of naloxone at the community pharmacy level was notably higher compared to national naloxone dispensing rates when pharmacists implemented a patient screening and systematic risk-based approach to identify candidates in need of take-home naloxone.