Pharmacy - Conference Items
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Item Perceived stress experienced by undergraduate healthcare professional students throughout their degree(2020-02-13) Casey, Rachel; O'Doherty, Julia; Murphy, Kevin D.; Sahm, Laura J.Rationale: Stress can be a part of third level education and experienced by undergraduate students across a range of degree courses. Stress can be positive in stimulating optimum performance. However, excessive stress leads to distress which is correlated with decreased health related quality of life (1). The aim of this research study is to investigate the causes of stress among undergraduate healthcare professional students in University College Cork (UCC) and to characterise the nature of the stress factors. Methods: All undergraduate students (excluding 1st year students) enrolled in degree courses in the College of Medicine and Health in UCC (Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery (NM), Occupational Therapy (OT), Pharmacy, Public Health Sciences, and Speech and Language Therapy (SLT)) were sent an email inviting them to participate in an anonymous online survey. The survey comprised two parts: (i) the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (2), which measures the perception of stress on a scale between 0 and 40, and (ii) a customised Academic Stress Factors survey, in which students gave a rating between 1 (little) and 5 (extreme) of how much stress each factor caused. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. (Armonk, NY: IBM Corporation). Findings: Of the 227 responses received (88.1% female); the majority were from NM students (46; 20.3%) while both OT and SLT had the fewest at 15 (6.6%) responses each. The mean PSS score for the total cohort was 21.3 with medical students reporting the highest mean score (24.5), signifying higher perceived stress and OT having the lowest mean score (19.0). The distribution of PSS scores did not vary significantly across degree courses, (F=1.555, p=0.162) gender, (t=-1.241, p=0.216) or year of study (F=0.210, p=0.811). ‘End of module examinations’, ‘overall academic workload’, and ‘oral presentations’ were the reasons associated with the highest average scores for causing stress. Conclusion: Stress affects students from all healthcare degree courses within the College of Medicines and Health. This study has identified the areas that seem to contribute most to the perceived stress experienced by students and therefore may signpost where UCC can act to support students.Item A study to evaluate the potential contribution of medication use to falls in elderly patients presenting to an acute hospital(2019) Richardson, M.; O'Dwyer, C.; Gaskin, J.; Conyard, E.; Murphy, Kevin D.Introduction: Falls in elderly patients is a growing burden on healthcare resources globally. 10-15% of presentations in those ≥65 years at acute hospital services is due to falls. Medicines and polypharmacy are modifiable risk factors for falls. Different classes of medicines increase the risk of falling to differing extents. Aims: The aim was to review the role of medicines in falls in elderly at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda (OLOL). The objectives were: 1: Examine polypharmacy. 2: Examine the implication of the top five classes of falls risk increasing drugs (FRIDs) as potential causative factors in falls. 3: Determine is there a difference in medicine profile between those residing at home and in Long Term Care Facilities (LTCFs). 4: Has the Clinical Pharmacist a role in reducing patients’ risk of future falls. Methods: Admission records in OLOL were checked daily for elderly patients admitted due to a fall. When consent was granted data was collected from their records. Results: 94 patients met the inclusion criteria. 53 were recruited, 41 were excluded. Only 1 LTCF resident was recruited for the study, therefore objective 3 could not be examined. The Falls Risk Odds Ratio (FROR) was reduced for benzodiazepines, ACEi’s, ARB’s and diuretics but it was not a statistically significant reduction in FROR (p=0.22). Polypharmacy: Patients on ≥ 5 medicines on admission (41) 77%; Patients on ≥ 5 medicines on review (44) 83%; Polypharmacy by Medicine Class : Antipsychotics 100%; Benzodiazepines 100% ; Sedatives 100% Antidepressants 94%; Antihypertensives 76%. No of patients on ≥1 FRID: 94.3%. FRID prescribing by class: Antihypertensives 79.2%; Antidepressants 30.2%; Benzodiazepines 13.2%; Sedatives 11.3% ; Antipsychotics 1.9%. Clinical Pharmacist Recommendations Actioned Overall 41.7%. Actioned per FRID class: Antihypertensives 57.9%; Benzodiazepines 28.7%. Conclusions: Pharmacists have a role to play in highlighting polypharmacy and the prescribing of FRIDs.Item Analysis of service-users attending Matt Talbot Services (MTS) from 2007-2010.(Springer Netherlands; European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP), 2012-10-29) Murphy, Kevin D.; Byrne, Stephen; Lambert, Sharon; Sahm, Laura J.