Stearns Jenna, Burgoon Rachel, Sahadak Zachary, Alazar Beka, Eng Marty L
Cedarville University School of Pharmacy.
Cedarville University School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy Practice.
Innov Pharm. 2021 Jun 10;12(3). doi: 10.24926/iip.v12i3.2396. eCollection 2021.
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most prevalent type of dementia and has a high prevalence in the aging population. Due to the requirements for care, it is valuable for members of the healthcare system to be knowledgeable about AD and its treatment. Community pharmacists are particularly valuable in assisting in AD care because of their accessibility to the general public and they are a source for dispensing AD medications. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of knowledge of AD among Ohio community pharmacists based on regional practice settings using the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS). A standardized, 30-question assessment tool known as the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale exists to measure the level of knowledge of AD among a given population. Studies on AD knowledge have been conducted using this tool, and the use of this scale identifies major misconceptions about AD that could be addressed in education initiatives for both the general public and for health care professionals. This study implemented this tool to compare the knowledge of community pharmacists that serve rural areas to those that serve urban areas. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy provided a list of emails of community pharmacists to send an anonymous survey including both demographic questions and the ADKS. Statistical analyses including independent t-tests and descriptive statistics were conducted using SPSS to determine the significance of the data. This study found no statistically significant difference between urban versus rural community pharmacists. However, in the future we hope to identify specific questions that correlate to areas of AD where continuing education may be helpful in improving patient outcomes by enabling caregivers and healthcare providers with a more accurate understanding of AD.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）是最常见的痴呆类型，在老年人群中患病率很高。由于护理需求，医疗保健系统的成员了解AD及其治疗方法很有价值。社区药剂师在协助AD护理方面特别有价值，因为他们便于公众接触，并且是AD药物的配药来源。本研究的目的是使用阿尔茨海默病知识量表（ADKS），根据区域实践环境评估俄亥俄州社区药剂师对AD的知识水平。存在一种标准化的、有30个问题的评估工具，即阿尔茨海默病知识量表，用于测量特定人群对AD的知识水平。已经使用该工具进行了关于AD知识的研究，并且使用该量表可以识别出关于AD的主要误解，这些误解可以在针对公众和医疗保健专业人员的教育倡议中得到解决。本研究使用该工具比较了服务于农村地区的社区药剂师与服务于城市地区的社区药剂师的知识水平。俄亥俄州药房委员会提供了社区药剂师的电子邮件列表，以便发送一份包括人口统计学问题和ADKS的匿名调查问卷。使用SPSS进行了包括独立t检验和描述性统计在内的统计分析，以确定数据的显著性。本研究发现城市和农村社区药剂师之间没有统计学上的显著差异。然而，未来我们希望确定与AD领域相关的具体问题，通过使护理人员和医疗保健提供者对AD有更准确的理解，继续教育可能有助于改善患者的治疗结果。
