Methods  A systematic review of allied-health literature was conducted to help devise an anonymous web-based CPPD needs-assessment survey. Questions were characterized into domains of interest including pharmacist demographics, internet access, frequency and characteristics of past CE activity, preferences for delivery and content, barriers to participation,

and plans for future CE activities. All pharmacists in Qatar were invited to participate through e-mail and fax invitations. Key findings  After 4 months, 134 of 523 (≈25%) pharmacists had completed the survey. Practice sites (hospital and community) and gender were equally represented. Approximately one-third had no or inadequate internet access in the workplace. In the past 2 years, one-quarter had not attended any live local educational programmes. Major obstacles included poor timing (66%) and excessive workload (56%). Most pharmacists Fluorouracil price preferred this website interactive CE programme formats and one-third indicated Arabic as delivery language of choice. The majority expressed high motivation to achieve their CPPD goals and only 12% outrightly opposed mandatory CE for pharmacist re-licensure. Conclusions  Qatar pharmacists demonstrated support for enhanced CE

opportunities. While views and preferences mirror those of colleagues elsewhere, current conditions merit careful consideration of CPPD programme development and delivery, including language and technology capabilities. “
“Objective  The aim was

HSP90 to investigate and compare counselling on prescription medicine provided by Australian community pharmacists based on pharmacist and consumer self-reports, and to explore consumers’ interest in receiving prescription medicine information. Methods  Mail and face-to-face surveys containing comparable questions for both study groups. The setting was Sydney metropolitan community pharmacies, Australia (22 pharmacists and 157 consumers). Key findings  No statistically significant differences were found between pharmacists and consumers in reporting provision of verbal information for new (Z = −0.57, P = 0.57) and repeat prescriptions (Z = −1.71, P = 0.09). However, there were statistically significant differences between the two cohorts in reporting dissemination of written information (Z = −2.6, P = 0.009 and Z = −2.68, P = 0.007 for new and repeat prescriptions, respectively). Both groups reported that the most common type of verbal information provided by pharmacists was in relation to medicine administration rather than safety aspects of medicines. Approximately 59% of consumers expressed an interest in receiving counselling for new prescriptions only. Conclusions  Pharmacists regularly provided verbal counselling on new prescription medicines, but infrequently provided written medicine information or any type of information for regular medicines. Lack of consumers’ interest in receiving prescription medicine information may have contributed to the low counselling rates.