CRoME Lab News
Check out our New Publication about Pharmacist's Perspectives on E-Cigarette Educational Intervention!
Sydney Thao Mar 28, 2025
Pharmacists’ Perspectives on Providing Educational Intervention to Address E-Cigarette Use and Vaping among Adolescents and Their Parents
BACKGROUND. The use of newer forms of nicotine, such as e-cigarettes, has become popular among youth, creating a growing concern about its health impact on adolescents. As the adolescent vaping epidemic persists, it is necessary to engage all public-facing healthcare professionals in prevention and reduction efforts against e-cigarette use. With pharmacists being the most accessible health care professional, they are well-suited to expand their tobacco services to include vaping. OBJECTIVE. The objectives of this study are to examine pharmacists’ opinions on the potential role they may have in addressing adolescent vaping and to determine pharmacists’ view on a proposed educational tool (Ph-EVER) for adolescents and parents to learn more about vaping and e-cigarette use. METHODS. Licensed and practicing pharmacists in Wisconsin were recruited via pharmacy organizations’ email listservs to take part in a semi-structured interview. The interview questions covered knowledge on adolescent vaping, the role of pharmacists in addressing adolescent vaping, interactions with adolescents in their practice, and feedback on the Ph-EVER. Two study team members independently coded the interviews to generate prevalent themes and subthemes. RESULTS. In this study, 30 pharmacist participants were interviewed. From their interviews, themes that emerged included how pharmacists interact with teens, what they already know about e-cigarettes, the potential roles pharmacists may have on adolescent vaping, and feedback on the Ph-EVER. CONCLUSION. Pharmacists can be key professionals in reducing adolescent vaping; however, they lack knowledge on the topic of e-cigarettes, indicating the need for continuing education. Many pharmacists noted that they rarely see adolescents in their practice setting, making adolescents a difficult population to reach. Pharmacists were open to the idea of implementing the Ph-EVER within their pharmacy stating it achieved its intended purpose. Recommendations were made to expand this resource to social media to target the adolescent population.
Upcoming Presentation - American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Meeting 2025
Sydney Thao Mar 26, 2025
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) hosts the Pharmacy Education 2025, held on July 19-22 in Chicago, IL.
Olufunmilola Abraham PhD, MS, BPharm will be discussing about the Implementation of the Wonders of Pharmacy to Engage High School Students in the Pharmacy Profession.
Upcoming Presentation - Translational Science 2025
Sydney Thao Mar 26, 2025
Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) hosts the Translational Science 2025, held at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. from April 14–17, 2025.
Olufunmilola Abraham PhD, MS, BPharm, Motolani E. Adedipe (nee ogunsanya) DPh, PhD, and Ejura Yetunde Salihu PhD will be discussing Community Advisory Boards: A Model for Promoting Health Equity and Engagement in Research among Communities of Color.
Upcoming Presentation - Misdiagnosing a Continent: Perceptions of Africa in Global Health
Sydney Thao Mar 26, 2025
Misdiagnosing a Continent: Perceptions of Africa in Global Health | International Center
The Office of Global Health Initiatives presents a panel discussion centered on perceptions of global health in Africa on Apr 2, 2025, 1:00 – 2:00 PM in the College of Nursing Room 115. Panelists include:
- Olufunmilola Abraham PhD, MS, BPharm from the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science discussing about Nigeria
- Tshepang Tshube PhD from the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, Sports Psychology discussing about Botswana
- Meriem Bensalem-Owen MD, FANA, FACNS, FAES from the Department of Neurology discussing about Algeria
Check out our New Publication about Emergency Department Staff's Perspectives on MedSMA℞T Families!
Sydney Thao Mar 05, 2025
Using MedSMA℞T Families for Opioid Safety Education: Emergency Department Staff Perspective
OBJECTIVES. Misuse of opioid medications was associated with 75% of drug-related deaths in 2020. Although Emergency Departments (EDs) frequently prescribe opioids, no preventative interventions have been implemented to educate adolescents and their families on safe opioid use. This study aimed to characterize ED staff’s perspectives on implementing the MedSMA℞T Families intervention in the ED to improve opioid education and safety among adolescents. METHODS. ED staff played the MedSMA℞T game, completed a survey, and were asked open-ended questions regarding their experience interfacing with the technology. Transcripts were coded using NVivo to conduct content analysis. The analysis integrated the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) 3.0 model into the intervention. RESULTS. A total of 23 ED staff were recruited. Staff reported that the game was more interactive and age-appropriate for adolescents compared to other educational materials in the ED. Reflecting on the care team, nurses and child life specialists were identified as appropriate roles for delivering the game to patients. Moreover, staff buy-in, training, and ED workflows were recognized as important factors within the organizational conditions allowing for game implementation. Space, loudness, and allocated resources in the ED were perceived as challenges to game implementation. Lastly, waiting room gameplay was thought to be the most efficient setting of game implementation. CONCLUSIONS. MedSMA℞T Families can be efficiently implemented into ED settings. It is one of the first serious games to target opioid education and to engage and better retain the attention of younger patients and was well received by ED staff.
