Background and objectivesPractice-based research (PBR) is of pivotal importance for hospital pharmacists which not only up-grades the profession but also improves the patient care. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude, perception, willingness, motivation and barriers to PBR among hospital pharmacists in Pakistan.MethodsA descriptive, cross sectional study design was employed. Data were collected between 1st December, 2017 and 1st March, 2018 from 130 hospital pharmacists employed in 41 hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. A survey instrument comprising of six sections was designed to determine the attitude, perception, willingness, motivation and barriers to PBR. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 21.0, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The normality of the data was determined through Shapiro-Wilks and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Independent Samples Mann-Whitney U Test and Independent Samples Kruskal-Wallis Test were carried out to test if there were differences among the characteristics of the hospital pharmacists. Logistic regression analysis was used to figure out the factors associated with attitude, perceptions, willingness and motivation towards PBR. A p-value <0.05 was used for statistical significance of differences.ResultsA total of 141 pharmacists were approached. Among them, 130 responded to the survey (response rate 92%). Out of a maximum score i.e., 5 (100%) the respondents obtained a median score of 4 (IQR = 0) for attitude, perception and motivation towards PBR; whereas, a median score of 4 (IQR = 1) was obtained for willingness thus demonstrating fair positive attitude, good perceptions, increased motivation and willingness towards PBR. The most common barrier limiting the pharmacists’ participation in PBR was lack of time (23.8%) followed by lack of incentives (16.2%) and lack of support (14.6%). Results of the logistic regression analysis revealed that hospital pharmacists practicing in the inpatient settings had 4.56 times more positive attitude towards PBR (OR = 4.56, 95%CI = 1.07─19.42, p-value = 0.040) as compared to those practicing in the outpatient settings. The male hospital pharmacists (OR = 8.86, 95%CI = 1.15–53.74, p-value = 0.017), those practicing in the outpatient (OR = 23.51, 95%CI = 2.04─271.53, p-value = 0.011) and inpatient settings had increased motivation towards PBR (OR = 12.24, 95%CI = 1.61─94.66, p-value = 0.016).ConclusionDespite the presence of several barriers, the respondents had fair positive attitude, good perceptions, increased motivation and willingness towards PBR which is a promising finding.

Background and objectivesDue to physiological and pharmacological variations, geriatrics are at high risk of experiencing life-threatening outcomes related to the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). Thus, the present study aims to evaluate prescribing practices of PIMs among elderly patients who may lead to unplanned hospitalization and associated risk factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in different hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. The study population consisted of geriatric patients aged ≥65 years. Data were collected from the medical records of geriatric patients, who attended these selected hospitals between December 1, 2017, and February 28, 2018. Data were analyzed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0) and Microsoft Excel (MS Office 2010).ResultsThe records of 385 geriatric patients were investigated. More than half (60.8%) of the patients were subjected to polypharmacy, which can be defined as the utilization of 5–9 drugs by the patient at the same time, whereas 36.4% were prescribed with one PIM and 56.4% were hospitalized due to PIMs. Majority of them were prescribed with PIMs including N02BA01 (aspirin, 32.4%), A02BC01 (omeprazole, 23.6%), A10AB02 (insulin, 17.4%), A02BC05 (esomeprazole, 8.5%), C08CA01 (amlodipine, 8.3%), and R06AA02 (diphenhydramine, 5.9%). Results of regression analysis revealed that patients exposed to polypharmacy (OR=2.556, 95% CI=1.579–4.135, P-value≤0.001) and excessive polypharmacy (OR=37.828, 95% CI=4.754–300.9, P-value≤0.001) were significantly associated with unplanned hospitalization, whereas factors such as age 75–84 years (OR=0.343, 95% CI=0.156–0.756, P-value=0.008) and polypharmacy (OR=2.480, 95% CI=1.219–5.048, P-value=0.012) were significantly correlated with PIMs.ConclusionThe utilization of PIMs listed in Beers criteria among geriatric population can cause unplanned hospitalization. As the patients receiving polypharmacy are at high risk of unplanned hospitalization, so caution must be exercised in prescribing PIMs for elderly people.

Due to the gradatory reduction and exuberant ingestion of fossil fuels and the subsequent environmental problems, accretive work has been paid to the utilization of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. Solar Photovoltaic System or Solar Power System is one of the renewable energy systems which uses PV units to convert sunlight into electricity. A DC compressor of 12 V/80 W, 12 V/50 Ah battery, a pair of 12 V/175 W solar panels connected in parallel through a 10 A charge controller was used for the refrigerator. Temperature was programmed to monitor and control the switching states of the DC compressor. This research project has established that the energy required for the real process of a DC refrigerator could be amassed from a renewable energy source at a reduced price and its application can be beneficial in developing countries. ATMEGA16 microcontroller with temperature, weight and momentary sensors interfacing was programmed in C language to control and monitor the ON/OFF states of the DC compressor. In this work, energy can be obtained from renewable energy resources at a reduced cost for the effective operation of a DC refrigerator. Thus, developing countries can also take benefit from its applications.