Pharmacist-led interventions can significantly impact abstinence rates in smokers. Health policymakers should direct incentives for community pharmacists to provide such services.

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Pharmacists could potentially reinforce their involvement in mental health promotion activities.

Whilst pharmacists' counselling about smoking cessation aids seems satisfactory, further education is required to improve practice standards in terms of matching a patient's history and smoking status to an appropriate product.

Objective. To develop, implement, and evaluate a targeted educational intervention focusing on smoking cessation with final-year undergraduate pharmacy students. Design. A smoking-cessation educational workshop entitled Smoking Cessation in Pharmacy (SCIP) was designed on the principles of adult learning and implemented with a full cohort of final-year undergraduate pharmacy students at the University of Sydney. A previously validated questionnaire testing the knowledge and attitudes of respondents was administered both before and after implementation of the designed workshop to evaluate changes resulting from the intervention. Informal feedback was obtained from students. Assessment. Pre-course mean total knowledge and attitude scores calculated were 65.869.1 and 86.4612.1, respectively. The post-course mean total knowledge score was 74.968.1, and the attitude score was 88.869.1 Improvement in knowledge and attitudes was significant (p,0.05). Conclusion. Educational interventions for pharmacy students designed with careful attention to pedagogic principles can improve knowledge about evidence-based smoking-cessation strategies and enhance positive attitudes to pharmacist roles in smoking cessation.

BackgroundWith the emerging role of pharmacists in implementing smoking cessation services and the recent evidence about smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, a needs analysis to assess baseline knowledge about current smoking cessation practice is needed; hence, training and development in this area can target possible ‘gaps’.ObjectiveThis study aimed at exploring pharmacy students’ knowledge about and attitudes toward smoking cessation, as compared to practicing community pharmacists and smoking cessation educators. The overall objective was to uncover underlying ‘gaps’ in pharmacy-based smoking cessation practice, particularly clinical gaps.SettingFinal-year pharmacy students at the University of Sydney, practicing community pharmacists and smoking cessation educators in Australia.MethodAs no previous standard pharmacist-focused smoking cessation knowledge questionnaires exist, a review of the literature informed the development of such a questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to a cohort of fourth-year pharmacy students at the University of Sydney, practicing pharmacists and smoking cessation educators. Data analysis was performed using Predictive Analytics SoftWare (PASW® Statistics 18). Mean total scores, independent t-tests, analysis of variances and exploratory factor analysis were performed.Main outcome measureTo determine areas of major clinical deficits about current evidence related to smoking cessation interventions at the pharmacy level.ResultsResponses from 250 students, 51 pharmacists and 20 educators were obtained. Smoking educators scored significantly higher than pharmacists and students (P < .05), while score differences in the latter two groups were not statistically significant (P > .05). All groups scored high on ‘general’ knowledge questions as compared to specialised pharmacologic and pharmacotherapeutic questions. All respondents demonstrated positive attitudes toward the implications of smoking cessation. Factor analysis of the 24-item knowledge section extracted 12 items loading on 5 factors accounting for 53% of the total variance.ConclusionsThe results provide a valid indication of ‘gaps’ in the practice of up-to-date smoking cessation services among Australian pharmacy professionals, particularly in clinical expertise areas involving assessment of nicotine dependence and indications, dosages, adverse effects, contraindications, drug interactions and combinations of available pharmacotherapies. These gaps should be addressed, and the results should inform the design, implementation and evaluation of a pharmacy-based educational training program targeting current clinical issues in smoking cessation.

Objective. To assess final-year pharmacy students' performance and evaluate their experience in a "flipped exam" versus a "traditional exam" for an advanced clinical pharmacy course.Methods. The students devised the multiple choice questions that comprised the flipped exam. Biggs revised 2-factor Study Process Questionnaire was administered before and after the exam to assess any possible changes in the students' perceptions of their level of engagement in the learning process. Focus groups discussions were also conducted to further gauge the students' feedback and insights into the flipped examination experience.Results. Changes in mean total study process scores, at the deep and surface levels of learning, were statistically significant. The flipped exam experience was enjoyable, facilitated a less-stressful learning environment, and improved the students' learning satisfaction, knowledge, and assessment marks. Conclusion. The flipped exam model represents an innovative instructional approach that, ifpedagogically designed and implemented, could potentially bring about significant educational gains.

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