Objective. To implement and assess the effectiveness of using Twitter to encourage interaction between faculty members, guests, and students in a pharmacy management course taught simultaneously on 2 campuses.Design. Students were required to tweet a minimum of 10 times over several class sessions. The course instructor and guest professionals also participated.Assessment. More than eighteen hundred tweets were made by students, guests, and the instructor. Students tweeted most frequently with each other and found value in reading each others’ tweets. One hundred thirty-one students completed an optional evaluation survey. Seventy-one percent indicated that Twitter was distracting, 69% believed it prevented note taking, and more than 80% indicated that it facilitated class participation and allowed an opportunity to voice opinions.Conclusion. Educators who wish to use Twitter in pharmacy courses must balance the potentially positive aspects of the technology, such as increased interaction among students, ...

OBJECTIVE To assess adolescents' preferred mobile app features and to propose a framework for evaluating health-related mobile apps for adolescents. METHODS PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, HealthIT.gov, and ClinicalTrials.gov were systematically searched in August 2017. Studies pertaining to app development, feasibility, or usability that reported preferred app features and rating criteria on mHealth (mobile health) apps intended for adolescents were included. Quality assessment was performed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Qualitative synthesis was performed to develop themes reflecting best practices for evaluating the quality of mHealth apps for adolescents. Using a grounded theory approach, we constructed a theoretical framework of rating criteria that can be used to inform development of an evaluation tool for mHealth apps targeted to adolescents. RESULTS Thirteen articles were included. Most commonly preferred features include ability to track test results or self-management progress, connect to social media, and gain points or prizes through app gamification. Common rating criteria include degree of app customizability, ease of use, visual appeal, and interactivity. Five emerging dimensions were used in the theoretical framework: Technical Quality; Engagement; Support System; Autonomy; and Safety, Privacy, and Trust. CONCLUSIONS We found that adolescents prefer mHealth apps that are customizable, offer peer support through social media, sustain engagement via gamification, and support the ability to visualize health trends via simplified graphs. Findings may help in the development of mHealth apps that are preferred by adolescents, as well as the development of a quality evaluation tool for mHealth apps targeted to this population.

Pharmacy has an established history of technology use to support business processes. Pharmacy informatics education within doctor of pharmacy programs, however, is inconsistent, despite its inclusion as a requirement in the 2007 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standards and Guidelines. This manuscript describes pharmacy informatics knowledge and skills that all graduating pharmacy students should possess, conceptualized within the framework of the medication use process. Additionally, we suggest core source materials and specific learning activities to support pharmacy informatics education. We conclude with a brief discussion of emerging changes in the practice model. These changes are facilitated by pharmacy informatics and will inevitably become commonplace in our graduates’ practice environment.

Purpose. The literature describing pharmacists’ use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) as intervention documentation tools in health systems is reviewed.

Results of the 2013 ASHP national survey on informatics are presented. Pharmacy directors from all types and sizes of U.S. hospitals were included in the sample of 4893 individuals invited to participate in an online survey. The survey contained over 600 data elements that addressed the adoption and use of a variety of pharmacy informatics and technology. Data were analyzed by hospital type and size, accounting for sampling procedures and differences in response rate. Of the 4893 surveys distributed, 465 usable surveys were returned, yielding a response rate of 9.5%. Nearly 33% of hospitals reported having a complete electronic health record (EHR) (i.e., no paper charts). Adoption rates for computerized prescriber order entry, clinical decision support, electronic prescribing, and bar-code-assisted medication administration indicated that these technologies are clear priorities. Nearly half of respondents indicated using solely paper-based medication reconciliation processes, while almost as many reported using processes that combined electronic and paper methods. Overall, automated dispensing cabinets were more common in U.S. hospitals than were carousels and dispensing robots. The adoption of patient portals and personal health records is becoming common. Technologies identified as enablers of the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI) were found in at least 25% of hospitals. The average total number of pharmacy information technology full-time equivalents was 3.12. This survey found widespread use of pharmacy informatics and technology across the entire medication-use process. Considerable progress was demonstrated in meeting meaningful-use measures for EHRs and meeting the recommendations of the ASHP PPMI.