No abstract

No abstract

Background For pharmacists expected to encounter the deaths of many of their patients in the near future, it is important to understand the perception of a “good death” for patients with cancer who are likely to be aware of the circumstances of their poor prognosis. In this study, we clarified pharmacists’ perceptions of a “good death” and considered the differences in perception among patients with cancer, oncologists, and oncology nurses. Methods From April to June 2022, an anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted on pharmacists working in hospitals and pharmacies and on members of the Japanese Society for Pharmaceutical Palliative Care and Sciences. The questionnaire consisted of 57 questions, called attributes, developed by Miyashita et al. to investigate the perception of “good death” in Japanese cancer medicine. The importance of those attributes was investigated using a 7-point Likert scale. Results Three thousand four hundred thirty-two pharmacists were made aware of this survey, and 207 participated in the survey. The responses of pharmacists to the 57 questions were very similar to those of the oncologists. Among them, “Fighting against disease until one’s last moment” and “Not making trouble for others” had very low importance, which was the most significantly different from the responses of patients with cancer. “Fighting against disease until one’s last moment” tended to be significantly underestimated by pharmacists engaged in patient guidance and interview compared to that by pharmacists not engaged in the duty (p = 0.02). Also, when we compared pharmacists with or without qualifications related to cancer and palliative care, there was no significant difference in the importance of “Fighting against disease until one’s last moment.” However, the importance of “Not making trouble for others” for qualified pharmacists was significantly underestimated (p = 0.04). Conclusion Since pharmacists understand the limits of chemotherapy, they may want to be close to the patient but may not strongly agree with the “Fighting against cancer” component that patients with cancer prefer. It may be necessary to reconsider better ways of approaching the wishes and satisfaction of patients with cancer under the care of medical professionals in the field of oncology.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the current status of collaboration between nurses and community pharmacists as well as the requests and expectations that community pharmacists have of nurses in community-based comprehensive care systems. Questionnaires requiring open-ended responses were sent to 867 pharmacies throughout Fukushima prefecture (excluding four suspended pharmacies). We asked one pharmacist at each facility to answer the questions. We then analyzed the collected questionnaires using descriptive statistics, including the current status of nurse cooperation and the basic information about the pharmacies. Additionally, the open-ended descriptions of nurses' requests and expectations were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The questionnaire collection rate was 32% (278 cases), and the breakdown of pharmacies that responded was 68.0% for facilities with 1 or 2 full-time pharmacists and 26.9% for facilities with 3 to 5 pharmacists. About 30% of respondents reported contact with the nursing profession at least once a week, while about 50% reported no contact at all or several times a year. The types of nurses collaborating with the pharmacies were clinic nurses (54.6%) and visiting nurses (43.4%). Some pharmacists had expected nurses to work cooperatively and rely on pharmacists. These results indicate that only about half of the pharmacists had opportunities to cooperate with nurses. For trust to be established between nurses and pharmacists, it is necessary for nurses to ask the pharmacists about medication and consult with them about patient medication management.

In the medical scene of drug administration via tubes, catheter-type syringes should be changed whenever sliding of the syringe plunger deteriorates. We encountered a situation where the syringe plunger sliding worsened earlier than other preparations. However, there have been no reports investigating factors that impair plunger sliding. In this report, we evaluated the grime on the plunger gasket in relationship to the force for sliding resistance of the plunger. Prescription drugs studied included "Gaster ® Tablets 20 mg" and other four drugs. The number of pixels on the image corresponded to the amount of grime. The force applied on the plunger was measured using a digital force gauge. We observed a correlation, albeit weak (R = 0.51), between the number of pixels and the force required to move the plunger. The force and particle number values were high for "Gaster ® Tablets 20 mg". We repeated the measurements with "Gaster ® D Tablets 20 mg". Lower values were obtained for "Gaster ® D tablets 20 mg". Talc, showed higher values so that the smaller the particle sizes, the higher the contents. Conversely, low substituted hydroxypropylcellulose and anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate, of the type present in "Gaster ® Tablets 20 mg" as an additive, gave lower values. In conclusion, the grime on gaskets is a sign that the syringes need to be changed, and the content and particle size of the talc, which was an additive agent, is one of the factors that impair syringe plunger sliding.