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TOPICS:
Telepharmacy
Through a grant from the McKesson Foundation, the Center has initiated a pharmacist-run diabetes therapy management program between the Saint Anthony Free Medical Clinic of San Francisco and the Center’s Drug Information Analysis Service. The telepharmacy program is a teaching-service utilizing distance counseling of indigent patients with diabetes by UCSF pharmacists, students and residents. A value added benefit of the program is the specially-designed medication therapy management software that is being use to track and evaluate the program’s medication therapy management services. This software will be made available to other faculty for similar clinical pharmacy programs in the future.
The Target Pharmacy ClearRx Study
Target Pharmacy’s ClearRx system has been called the first major advance in retail drug packaging and labeling. Seeking to define the consumer response to this innovative wedge-shaped bottle with a special behind the label patient information card for better organized warnings, Target chose the Center among other competitive proposals to design and run a large consumer attitude and behavior study. The “ClearRx study” showed overwhelming consumer preference for ClearRx over conventional cylindrical bottle and label, in terms of being better designed for safety, more likely to help in avoiding medication mix-ups, having more readable and better organized labels, among other key parameters. Nine Center Pharmacy interns were used as research assistants to help run the study. The results have been submitted for publication and were presented at a special hearing of a subcommittee of the California State Senate dealing with medication safety.
California Health Communication Partnership - Fall 2006 Cancer Awareness Campaign
The Oliver and Jennie Donaldson Charitable Trust renewed is support with greater funding this year for an expansion of last year’s award-winning national awareness programs on breast and prostate cancer screening. Entitled “It’s Your Life” with a theme of partners helping partners get regular cancer screenings, the 2006 program will be seen and heard nationally through special radio and newspaper releases. A special emphasis in the 2006 campaign beyond the national reach will be selected Hispanic and African radio and print audiences in California. The CHCP is a collaboration of state boards of pharmacy, medicine and nursing, the Food and Drug Administration, and other state associations and organizations involved in consumer health issues.
Drug Safety Research Program
Building on a platform of expertise in drug safety evaluations, the Center is expanding its teaching-research program in pharmacoepidemiology with new research on how health communications in labeling and other factors affect adverse experience reporting to the Food and Drug Administration. The initial effort in the current program was completed in cooperation with The Degge Group (Arlington, VA) and included not only a detailed evaluation of labeling issues affecting AER-associated with Rx and OTC acetaminophen use, but an externship for the pharmacy student involved in this effort. Plans for expansion of this program include offering training and collaboration in AER evaluation to interested students, residents, and faculty, as well as several specific projects planned for 2006.
New UCSF-PDL BioPharma Residency
Breaking new ground in the pharmacy residency programs, the Center will host a special residency that offers training in academic-based drug information and pharmacoepidemiology research as well as corporate-training in drug safety, medical information, and regulatory affairs. PDL BioPharma is headquartered in Fremont, California, and will host Dr. Jane Kreager during the company-portion of the joint residency. Dr. Kraeger recently completed a drug information residency within the Center.
Drug/Device Information Comprehension Studies
Extending the drug information research platform, selected pharmacy students have participated as research assistants or as co-investigators on studies looking at consumer preferences and behavior relating to drug and device information comprehension studies. As consumers become ever more interested in taking a central role in their own health care, ensuring the availability of high quality evidence-based drug and device information is vital. As an expression of the Center’s advocacy for clear health communications, current research is underway on the retail prescription drug monograph (i.e., the drug information stapled to the retail prescription bag) and glucose meter manuals, in collaboration with Bay area community centers.
A special thanks to our partners in these endeavors, who are:
The Oliver and Jennie Donaldson Charitable Trust, the McKesson Foundation, The Degge Group, PDL BioPharma, and Target Pharmacy
For more information, contact:
R. William Soller, PhD
Executive Direct, Center for Consumer Self Care
Health Sciences Clinical Professor, UCSF School of Pharmacy
sollerrw@pharmacy.ucsf.edu