THE ROLE OF PHARMACISTS´ CARE ON OUTPATIENTS UNDERGOING HAEMODIALYSIS

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Cross-cultural adaptation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire into Portuguese

Publication . Salgado, Teresa M.; Marques, Alexandra; Geraldes, Leonor; Benrimoj, Shalom I.; Horne, Robert; Fernandez-Llimos, Fernando

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ-Specific) has proven useful for measuring patients' beliefs and associating them with non-adherence to treatment in several illness groups. The aim was to cross-culturally adapt the BMQ-Specific into Portuguese for the general population of medicine users. DESIGN AND SETTING Cross-sectional study conducted among users of public hospitals and outpatient clinics in Guarda and Covilhã, Portugal. METHODS The BMQ-Specific was translated using international recommendations for performing cross-cultural adaptation and was administered to 300 patients. An initial principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted with the extraction criterion of eigenvalue > 1.0, followed by a second PCA with restriction to two components. Reliability was assessed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. RESULTS The mean scores obtained for the Necessity and Concerns subscales of the Portuguese BMQ-Specific were 19.9 (standard deviation, SD = 2.8) (range 10 to 25) and 17.7 (SD = 3.9) (range 6 to 30), respectively. The first PCA produced an unstable three-component structure for the Portuguese BMQ-Specific. The final PCA solution yielded a two-component structure identical to the original English version (a five-item Necessity and a six-item Concerns subscale), and explained 44% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha for the complete Portuguese BMQ-Specific was 0.70, and 0.76 and 0.67 for the Necessity and Concerns subscales, respectively. CONCLUSION A cross-culturally adapted Portuguese version of the BMQ-Specific questionnaire for use among the general population of medicine users was obtained, presenting good internal consistency and component structure identical to the original English version.

2013Journal article

Open access

Exploring the role of pharmacists in outpatient dialysis centers: a qualitative study of nephrologist views

Publication . Salgado, Teresa M.; Moles, Rebekah; Benrimoj, Shalom I.; Fernandez-Llimos, Fernando

Background Implementation of pharmacy services in dialysis centers seems to be limited and requires acceptance from nephrologists. The aim of this study was to explore the opinions of Australian and Portuguese nephrologists toward a potential future provision of clinical pharmacy services in outpatient dialysis centers. Methods A qualitative study using semistructured interviews was conducted with a purposeful sample of 7 Australian and 14 Portuguese nephrologists. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Results Three themes emerged from the analysis: ‘attitudes of nephrologists towards pharmacist involvement’, ‘types of pharmacy services’ and ‘consequences of implementation of pharmacy services’. Australian nephrologists showed positive attitudes and reported several pharmacy services that could be performed by pharmacists in dialysis centers, whereas Portuguese nephrologist views restricted pharmacists to administrative duties. In addition, Portuguese nephrologists showed concerns with professional boundaries and demonstrated lack of awareness and knowledge of pharmacist skills. Pharmacy services suggested by Australian nephrologists included medication review, medication reconciliation, medication history update, patient and staff education, patient compliance improvement and development and implementation of anemia protocols. Nephrologists expected economic benefits from the services implementation by minimizing the inappropriate use of drugs, avoiding medication errors, and reducing drug wastage due to noncompliance. Conclusions Australian and Portuguese nephrologists hold different views regarding the future provision of pharmacy services in outpatient dialysis centers. Acceptability seems to be related to a previous acquaintance with pharmacists and pharmacy services. Different health policies in the two countries that promote collaborative practice between physicians and pharmacists may also account for the differences.

2013Journal article

Restricted access

Lack of harmonisation in the classification of renal impairment in European Summaries of Product Characteristics

Publication . Salgado, Teresa M.; Arguello, Blanca; Martinez Martinez, Fernando; Benrimoj, Shalom I.; Fernandez-Llimos, Fernando

2015Periodical

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