Evaluation of a two-day hospital on-site training program for community pharmacists: Approach to facilitate collaboration among community healthcare professionals

Abstract

The importance of community-based care systems has increased due to the highly aging population and diversity of disease. To enhance the cooperation among healthcare professionals in community-based care systems, a two-day onsite training program for community pharmacists based on a multidisciplinary team approach was conducted at the Medical Science Hospital of Shiga University from April 2015 to March 2017. There were two professional courses in this training program: The palliative care course and nutrition support course. Both courses consisted of common pharmaceutical care training as follows: Regional cooperation among healthcare professionals, pharmacist's clinical activities in the ward, pressure ulcer care, infection control, and aseptic technique for parenteral solutions. Each course was limited to 2 participants. A questionnaire was given to participants in the training program. Seventy-five pharmacists participated in the training and all of them answered the questionnaire. According to the questionnaire, 86% of participants felt that 2 days was an appropriate term for the training program. Positive answers regarding the content of each program and overall satisfaction were given by 100% and 99% of the participants, respectively. In the categorical classification of free comments regarding the expected change in pharmacy practice after the training, both "support for patients under nutritional treatment" and "cooperation with other medical staŠ" were answered by 24 participants. These results suggested that the 2-day on-site training for community pharmacists facilitated cooperation among healthcare professionals in the community.