Journal of Health Education Research & Development

Here, we provide a comprehensive insight into current advances in the use of modern biotechnology in agriculture. Considering that biotechnology involves the use of scientific and engineering principles in the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services. This study does not only take a historical retrace of biotechnology into account but considers the pros and cons of the use of biotechnology in attending the need for global food production as well as the challenges there of.

The ‘Wellness Workshop’ is a peer-led intervention within mental health services. It was designed and implemented by two Peer Specialists (people with their own lived experience of mental illness and recovery), with support from two Occupational Therapists, and is aimed at helping people experiencing mental health distress in order to explore, demonstrate and promote the principles of Personal Recovery discussed by Slade (2009). The workshop is a learning model with an emphasis on instructing attendees how to maintain good mental health using a strength-based approach to attaining wellness. The central component and guiding principle is the ‘lived experience’ of the facilitators who can act as role-models offering their vital experiential knowledge, hope and understanding to the participants. The style of the workshop is conversational and interactive, lasting for approximately one hour. It has received very positive feedback from the participants, who often state that they can better relate to the information and advice delivered by Peer Specialists rather than traditional mental health service staff. The workshop has primarily been delivered at the local NHS Crisis Team Day Hospital, but its popularity with people who access mental health services and traditional nursing staff has resulted in the workshops being delivered at other sites in the county.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if daily pharmacist counseling improves Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) medication scores in a 25 bed medical surgical unit. Secondary objectives included determination of Full-time equivalent (FTE) hours required to complete the task of a pharmacist completing daily counseling and medication reconciliation for each patient on a 25 bed hospital unit, as well as determining if medication reconciliation performed on each patient improved satisfaction survey scores among staff.

Methods: This was a single center, controlled, parallel study in two medical surgical units. Patients included were those admitted to the control or intervention unit and the primary investigator (PI) completed daily counseling in the intervention unit and counseling once during admission on the control unit. Medication reconciliation was also completed by the PI on the intervention unit, and satisfaction was assessed through a survey provided to caregivers before and after the study. An FTE analysis was completed to determine the FTE and cost burden to implement this practice model.

Results: A total of 128 patients were included in the study over 27 days. Overall medication communication scores increased by 11.4% and decreased by 0.9% in the intervention and the control unit, respectively. Communication about side effects increased by 43% (p = 0.007) and 13.3% (p = 0.013) in the intervention and control units, respectively. A number of medication reconciliation satisfaction endpoints trended towards significance including decreased number of medication misadventures (p = 0.107), increased efficiency of patient admission (p = 0.157) and decreased interference with patient discharge (p = 0.157), and decreased total time to complete the discharge process (p=0.058). The FTE cost analysis indicated that on average, an additional 16 minutes of counseling is required per 3 day admission. Therefore, an additional four to seven FTEs will be required to incorporate this model into our institution.

Conclusion: Daily counseling by a pharmacist resulted in a statistically significant increase in communication about side effect HCAHPS survey scores and an overall increase in medication communication compared counseling once during admission.