Teaching Deprescribing and Combating Polypharmacy in the Pharmacy Curriculum : Educational Recommendations from Thematic Analysis of Focus Groups

In the last two decades in the United States (US), the previous research has focused on medication optimization, including polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is associated with several negative outcomes, which may be resolved by deprescribing medications that are no longer necessary. Although deprescribing is a critical aspect of a pharmacist's role, some studies have demonstrated that student pharmacists are less familiar with their future role in deprescribing. Thus, this study aimed to explore student pharmacists' perceptions of deprescribing in the pharmacy curriculum. This qualitative study was conducted with student pharmacists enrolled in three Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) programs in the US. The participants, all student pharmacists at the time of the study, were identified via an email requesting their voluntary participation in a focus group study. The focus groups were conducted via an online platform over three months in 2022, and recruitment continued until thematic saturation was obtained. Using thematic analysis, the corpus of the transcribed data was imported into Dedoose®, a qualitative software that facilitated the analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) the importance of deprescribing; (2) barriers to deprescribing; (3) education recommendations. The data highlight that the student pharmacists believe integrating deprescribing content into the clinical, didactic, and simulation education would help them overcome the identified obstacles. Colleges of pharmacy should consider emphasizing the importance of deprescribing in their curriculum, creating programs to assist future pharmacists in addressing the barriers to deprescribing, and adopting the suggested educational strategies to improve the deprescribing education that is offered.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:13

Enthalten in:

Clinics and practice - 13(2023), 2 vom: 14. März, Seite 442-453

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Scott, Devin [VerfasserIn]
Cernasev, Alina [VerfasserIn]
Barenie, Rachel E [VerfasserIn]
Springer, Sydney P [VerfasserIn]
Axon, David R [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Deprescribing
Journal Article
Student pharmacist
US clinical pharmacist

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 28.03.2023

published: Electronic

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.3390/clinpract13020040

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM354662120