Objective: To evaluate (1) a questionnaire for pharmacists on learning about drug information (DI) and using DI in practice, and (2) our DI seminar.
Methods: (1) 72 hospitals and 105 community pharmacists in Miyagi, Japan were recruited. The questionnaire included items on DI activities and questions about topics that pharmacists “want to study.” (2) We held a seminar based on the questionnaire results and the reports of six pharmacists (one from a nonprofit corporation specializing in disseminating information on dietary supplements, one acute care pharmacist, two chronic and cancer hospital pharmacists, one community pharmacist, and one belonging to a community pharmacist association). At the end of the seminar, participants were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire on the seminar.
Results: (1) The DI activity “participate in scientific meetings and collect information” was associated with other DI activities among both hospital and community pharmacists. Multivariate analyses revealed that this DI activity was more strongly significantly associated with the topics “want to study techniques for presentation skills” (p<0.0001) and “want to study other DI practices” (p=0.008) than other DI activities. (2) Sixty seven participants attended the seminar. According to the evaluation questionnaire, the mean grade for the seminar was 80.5/100 points, and 96% of participants agreed with the “necessity of information sharing.”
Conclusion: Participation in scientific meetings is important for pharmacists to develop their DI practice, and encourages information sharing between hospital and community pharmacists. Environments in which more pharmacists have opportunities to participate in scientific meetings and related seminars are needed.
