We compared the content of tracing reports (TRs) submitted based on information gathered during medication guidance (Face-to-Face/TRs) with those submitted after medication follow-up by phone calls (TEL/TRs) and analyzed subsequent prescription changes. During the study period, 845 Face-to-Face/TRs (covering 907 cases, average of 1.07 cases per TR) and 907 TEL/TRs (covering 2,475 cases, average of 2.73 cases per TR) were submitted. The proportion of reports related to “disease awareness, medication knowledge, and living environment,” “concomitant medications, dosage, and dosage form,” and “poor drug adherence (DA)” was significantly higher in Face-to-Face/TRs than in TEL/TRs (P<0.01). On the other hand, the proportion of reports related to “good DA,” “other factors,” and “side effects and allergies” was significantly higher in TEL/TRs than in Face-to-Face/TRs (P<0.01). Specific prescription proposals were found in 355 Face-to-Face/TRs and 140 TEL/TRs. However, there was no significant difference in prescription changes after the submission of these TRs (P=0.07). This study demonstrated that the types of patient information obtained differ between face-to-face interactions during pharmacy visits and follow-up phone calls, leading to variations in the content provided and proposed to physicians. These findings underscore the importance of integrating both face-to-face and telephone follow-ups to achieve seamless and continuous patient care, rather than depending on a single approach.

Introduction: Occupational stress is a significant concern for pharmacists in community pharmacy settings, with implications for job satisfaction, well-being, and productivity. The New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (New BJSQ) is a widely recognized tool for assessing job-related stress. This study aims to evaluate and compare occupational stress levels among pharmacists in different job roles within community pharmacies using the New BJSQ. Methods: An anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted using Google Forms, targeting pharmacists employed at Frontier Co., Ltd. Participants were asked to provide demographic information and complete the standard version of the New BJSQ. A total of 468 pharmacists across 137 facilities responded, yielding a response rate of 79.2%. Participants were categorized into two groups—general pharmacists and supervising pharmacists—to examine differences in occupational stress levels and job resources, with analyses focusing on scores across the New BJSQ’s 42 scales. Results: Analysis demonstrated significant disparities in stress indicators across the two employment categories, with 20 of the 42 scales showing job position-based variations. General pharmacists reported significantly higher scores than supervising pharmacists on scales reflecting department-level and organizational-level resources, suggesting that general pharmacists perceive greater availability of stress-related resources. Conclusion: These findings provide valuable insights into the occupational stress dynamics within community pharmacy settings, revealing job position-specific variations. A comprehensive evaluation of these stress patterns may inform targeted strategies to enhance job satisfaction, well-being, and productivity among pharmacists, ultimately enhancing organizational outcomes in pharmacy environments.

To enable pharmacists to appropriately encourage dental visits, we developed guidelines for encouraging dental visits by community pharmacists for continuous purchasers of oral care products. To develop the guidelines, we employed a two-step approach: (1) evaluating the effectiveness of the educational video, and (2) identifying issues in the draft guidelines through survey responses and making improvements accordingly. First, we drafted a preliminary version of the guidelines and created an educational video followed by a web-based training session. To assess the effectiveness of the training program, we conducted surveys before and after every session. The results demonstrated that 98.7% of the participants expressed willingness to use the draft guidelines, 97.3% found the educational video easy to understand, and 98.7% found the training useful. Improvements were identified based on open-ended survey feedback and incorporated into the finalized version of the guidelines. This study demonstrated that evaluating the draft guidelines allowed improvements to make them more practical. These guidelines are expected to help pharmacists encourage dental visits.

This single-site study evaluated the optimization of antibiotic prescriptions for pharyngitis through a collaboration between community pharmacists and primary care physicians. This collaboration involved discussions on the indications and selection of antibiotics for pharyngitis, incorporating perspectives from both pharmacists and physicians. We analyzed oral antibiotic prescriptions between April 2022 and January 2024, and compared the periods before and after the introduction of regular consultations (July 2023), using the AWaRe classification as a basis for comparison. The proportion of prescriptions for penicillin and first-generation cephalosporins (access group) increased from 6.7% to 56.9%, whereas the use of third-generation cephalosporins and new quinolones (watch group) decreased from 91.4% to 40.6% (p<0.01). These results suggest that pharmacist-led information sharing and prescription proposals may promote a shift toward narrow-spectrum antibiotics. In particular, the recommendation of cephalexin for patients with penicillin allergies contributed to this improvement. Further multi-facility studies are needed to improve diagnostic accuracy. This study demonstrated the potential role of community pharmacists in improving outpatient antibiotic stewardship.

The number of dementia patients in Japan is increasing every year, and early detection and multifaceted support through collaboration among various professionals are needed to address this issue. We have been exploring activities at community pharmacies that can lead to the early detection of cognitive decline, and we have been focusing on a tool called the Kirakira Boshi Noukatsukei. This device measures brain motor regulation function. It captures the hand and arm movements of users making the same moves as those displayed on a screen and then quantifies the time lag and movement deviation from visual perception to physical movement. There have been cases where brain function investigation by using this device in pharmacies has led to the early diagnosis of cognitive decline. Furthermore, comparison of the measurement results between dementia-drug users and non-users has shown significantly lower scores in the user group, indicating that the measurement results of the device could serve as one of the indicators of cognitive function. In pharmacies that have health-support functions, we believe this device could be an effective tool for the early detection of dementia in local patients.