Rebekah J Moles

Rebekah J Moles
The University of Sydney · Faculty of Pharmacy

B.Pharm, Dip.Hosp.Pharm, Ph.D, Grad.Cert.Ed.Stud

About

229
Publications
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Introduction

Publications

Publications (229)
Article
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Background Despite high disease burden and heightened suicide risk associated with psychosis, psychosis education is lacking in healthcare curricula, potentially hindering students’ willingness, and confidence to provide psychosis care as future healthcare professionals. This study aimed to co-design and content validate psychosis care assessment m...
Article
Issue Addressed The growing prevalence of osteoporosis requires preventative management starting from an early age as peak bone mass is typically reached by age 30. However, current Australian adolescents are not adequately addressing key osteoprotective factors. Alarmingly, around 17% have insufficient vitamin D levels, 55% consume insufficient di...
Article
Full-text available
Background Access to essential medicines is imperative for delivering effective healthcare, yet a significant proportion of the global population continues to face barriers in obtaining them. The South Pacific Region (SPR) faces unique medicine access challenges due to geographic remoteness, economic limitations, and, strained healthcare infrastruc...
Article
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Background: Effective treatment of osteoporosis is hindered by poor adherence and lack of persistence with medical therapy. Interventions can be designed to elicit and address patients' concerns about side effects and promote self-management. Objective(s): The aim was to develop and evaluate the impact of a community pharmacy-based medication manag...
Preprint
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Background: Interventions to minimise community antibiotic use have focused on the GP and patient behaviour rather than the community pharmacist. Patient expectations are a known driver for antibiotic prescribing, and pharmacists may be inveterately contributing to these expectations by referring patients for GPs for suspected antibiotic-requiring...
Article
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Issues Addressed Osteoporosis and poor bone health impact a large proportion of the Australian population, but is drastically underdiagnosed and undertreated. Community pharmacies are a strategic location for osteoporosis screening services due to their accessibility and the demographic profile of customers. The aim of this study was to develop, im...
Article
This systematic review aimed to explore healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) experiences and perspectives of osteoporosis medication treatment through thematic synthesis of qualitative studies. We found themes about how osteoporosis is perceived as a disease, treatment decision-making and what empowers HCPs to provide the best possible care. The system...
Article
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Purpose Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training is embedded in various tertiary healthcare curricula. However, opportunities for students to practise their newly acquired MHFA skills before entering the clinical practice workforce are lacking. The purpose of this study was to explore pharmacy students’ experiences of MHFA training and post-MHFA sim...
Article
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Background Perinatal depression (PND) screening is often recommended in primary care settings, which includes the community pharmacy setting. However, there is limited research exploring pharmacists’ perspectives on their roles in screening for perinatal mental illness. Aim This study aimed to explore pharmacists’ views of pharmacists’ roles in PN...
Article
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Background Diabetes is common among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, yet often undetected in hospital. Objective To identify how urban hospital pharmacists can detect if Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients have diabetes or a higher chance of getting diabetes. Methods A multi-methods study used data from patients, an...
Article
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Introduction Minimal trauma fractures (MTFs) often occur in older patients with osteoporosis and may be precipitated by falls risk-increasing drugs. One category of falls risk-increasing drugs of concern are those with sedative/anticholinergic properties. Collaborative medication management services such as Australia’s Home Medicine Review (HMR) ca...
Article
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Background: Pharmacists need knowledge and confidence to support people living with mental illness. Evidence-based educational materials for pharmacy students to provide psychosis care is limited. Aim: To co-design, content validate and pilot-test, with mental health stakeholders, simulated patient scenarios to educate and assess students in pro...
Article
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Background Polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medicine use is common in older people, resulting in harm increased by lack of patient-centred care. Hospital clinical pharmacy services may reduce such harm, particularly prevalent at transitions of care. An implementation program to achieve such services can be a complex long-term process. Ob...
Article
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Objectives To explore the knowledge and skills of pharmacists practicing in Sydney, Australia, in preventing the use of prohibited medications by athletes. Methods Using a simulated-patient study design, the researcher (an athlete and pharmacy student herself) contacted 100 Sydney pharmacies by telephone requesting advice about taking a salbutamol...
Article
Objectives: To explore how mental health simulation has been used in the context of pharmacy practice and education, specifically what types of simulation techniques have been used, and which mental health-related content has been simulated. Findings: A literature search retrieved 449 reports, from which 26 articles pertaining to 23 studies were...
Article
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Background Medication reconciliation is an effective strategy to prevent medication errors upon hospital admission and requires obtaining a patient’s best possible mediation history (BPMH). However, obtaining a BPMH is time-consuming and pharmacy students may assist pharmacists in this task. Aim To evaluate the proportion of patients who have an a...
Article
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Background Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches participants how to respond to mental health crises, including suicide. Little is known about the impact of training on participants’ observed MHFA behaviours. This exploratory study aimed to compare MHFA-trained Australian and US student pharmacists’ performance and suicide assessment lang...
Article
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Internationally, 20% of women experience perinatal depression (PND). Healthcare providers including general practitioners and midwives are critical in providing PND screening and support; however, the current workforce is unable to meet growing demands for PND care. As accessible and trusted primary healthcare professionals, pharmacists could provi...
Article
Full-text available
Perinatal depression (PND) screening recommendations are made by national, state-based and professional organisations; however, there is disagreement regarding screening timing, provider responsible, screening setting, screening tool as well as the follow-up and referral pathways required post-screening. This systematic review aimed to identify, de...
Article
Objective(s) Osteoporosis is a major public health concern, as disease prevalence is expected to significantly increase due to the ageing population. Community pharmacists can play a key role in the identification and management of chronic diseases. The purpose of this systematic review was to present an overview of the literature on the role of co...
Article
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Objectives To explore how clinical yarning has been utilised as a health intervention for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and if there are any reported impacts yarning might have on health outcomes. Study design Systematic scoping review of published literature. Data sources A one-word search term “yarning” was applied in Scopus,...
Article
Background Despite the growth of research in how professional services are implemented in the community pharmacy setting, there is limited evidence for which implementation strategy is more effective. Objective The aim of this review was to assess the evidence for the comparative effectiveness of implementation strategies for pharmacist delivered...
Article
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Background There is a need to appropriately train, support and remunerate pharmacists for their expanding roles in mental healthcare. Pharmacists often care for people experiencing mental health crises, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours, but little is known about pharmacists’ suicide care experiences. Aim This cross-sectional study aimed...
Article
Introduction There are limited data describing the role of hospital pharmacists caring for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander inpatients. Objectives To determine roles of and specific services provided by Australian Hospital pharmacists/Pharmacy Departments in providing medicine management services to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander...
Article
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Background Suicide is among the leading causes of death among people aged 15 to 29 worldwide. Healthcare professionals interact with people at risk of suicide regularly, yet mental health and crisis first aid training is lacking in curricula. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches crucial communication and crisis first aid skills and is in...
Chapter
The assessment of content validity is important when developing instruments used to measure complex phenomena and constructs, in pharmacy practice and health services research. Content validity provides evidence about the degree to which elements of an assessment instrument are relevant to and representative of the targeted construct for a particul...
Chapter
The simulated patient method is becoming an increasingly popular observational method to measure practice behavior in pharmacy practice and health services research. The simulated patient method involves sending a trained individual (simulated patient among other names), who is indistinguishable from a regular consumer, into a healthcare setting wi...
Article
Background Pharmacy practice today mandates “patient-centered care”, thereby assigning higher levels of professional responsibility for pharmacists leading to ethical challenges. These challenges often involve ethical principles, institutional, personal, or other constraints that can pull practitioners in incompatible opposite directions, creating...
Article
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Importance Suicide is a major and preventable cause of death worldwide. Means restriction aims to reduce the rate of completed suicides by limiting public access to lethal suicide methods. Means restriction of agents used in poisoning is more controversial because there is potential to switch to other lethal methods. Objective To identify the chan...
Article
Background Electronic medication management (eMM) has been shown to reduce medication errors; however, new safety risks have also been introduced that are associated with system use. No research has specifically examined the changes made to eMM systems to mitigate these risks. Objectives To (1) identify system-related medication errors or workflow...
Article
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Background: Medication reconciliation aims to prevent unintentional medication discrepancies that can result in patient harm at transitions of care. Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation has clear benefits, however workforce limitations can be a barrier to providing this service. Pharmacy students are a potential workforce solution. Objective:...
Article
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Background: With increased patient-centred care, pharmacists are often faced with ethical dilemmas and expected to provide solutions for practice dilemmas, relying on ethical judgment, principles of professional ethics, standards of practice, and moral reasoning capabilities. Pharmacists need to be competent in ethical decision-making which will en...
Article
Objective To explore the evidence relating to the involvement of patients in the education of student pharmacists, in terms of the nature, extent and outcomes of their contribution. Methods A systematic literature search was undertaken within EMBASE, MEDLINE, ERIC, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus databas...
Article
Aim: Non-evidence-based practice and inappropriate paediatric fever management by care givers is common. The aim of this study was to survey a large sample of Australian parents and care givers utilising a validated Fever Management Tool, to determine the current knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of Australian care givers regarding fever management...
Article
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Objective: To assess the impact of a bimodal workshop on pharmacy students’ ability to perform asthma first aid (AFA) and their preferred method of learning. Method: Pharmacy students from the Applied Science University (ASU) in Amman, Jordan were invited to participate in an AFA training workshop, comprised of an online training course and simulat...
Article
The simulated patient method is becoming increasingly popular in health services research to observe the behaviour of healthcare practitioners in a naturalistic setting. This method involves sending a trained individual (simulated patient among other names), who is indistinguishable from a regular consumer, into a healthcare setting with a standard...
Article
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Background The Medication-Related Burden Quality of Life (MRB-QoL) tool has been developed to measure the burden of medications on functioning and wellbeing from a patient perspective. However, predictors of MRB-QoL were not reported in greater detail in the validation study. This study aimed to explore factors associated with MRB-QoL to see whethe...
Article
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Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches participants how to assist people experiencing mental health problems and crises. Observed behavioral assessments, post-training, are lacking, and the literature largely focuses on self-reported measurement of behaviors and confidence. This study explores the reliability of an observed behavioral asse...
Article
Background Evaluations of computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems have revealed that reductions in certain types of medication errors occur simultaneously with the emergence of system-related errors – errors that are unlikely or not possible to occur with the use of paper-based medication charts. System-related errors appear to persist man...
Article
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Objective Quality indicators (QIs) are an important mechanism by which health services can be evaluated. We aimed to develop a set of QIs for pharmacist home visit services and assess their measurement properties. Methods A three‐step procedure was applied: (1) Selection of existing content‐validated QIs from the international literature and the d...
Article
Background: The use of simulated patients (SPs) in pharmacy practice research has become an established method to observe practice. The reliability of data reported using this method in comparison to pharmacy staff self-reported behaviour has yet to be ascertained. Objective: To compare the inter-rater agreement of pharmacy staff and SP-reported...
Article
Aim: The symptoms of childhood fever are often inappropriately managed by care givers resulting in overuse of health resources and medication errors. Understanding care giver's knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about fever management using a validated questionnaire is warranted. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a comprehensive Feve...
Article
Aim To systematically review the literature to investigate the role of the hospital pharmacist and the services provided for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Methods A systematic literature review was performed following a search from inception to present of MEDLINE, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA), EMBASE, Scopus and...
Article
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Competency-based education (CBE) “derives a curriculum from an analysis of a prospective or actual role in modern society and attempts to certify students’ progress on the basis of demonstrated performance in some or all aspects of that role”. This paper summarizes pertinent aspects of existing CBE models in health professions education; pharmacy e...
Article
Background Implicit bias is prejudice shown towards an individual or group without consciously meaning to do so. This bias may occur due to age, race, and gender among other factors. Implicit bias has been examined and identified in a variety of health care professionals, primarily using Implicit Association Tests. To date, literature has not exami...
Article
Objectives To characterize over-the-counter (OTC) medicine requests of Australian pharmacy consumers, to explore the factors predicting consumer behavior, and to examine the relationship between characteristics of consumers’ requests and their satisfaction with the pharmacy. Design Paper-based cross-sectional survey consisting of multiple choice, L...
Article
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Background Healthcare ethics have been profoundly influenced by principles of bioethics that emerged post-World War II in the Declaration of Geneva 1948. ‘Beneficence’ (to do good), ‘Non-Maleficence’ (to do no harm), ‘Justice’ (fairness and justice in access) and ‘Respect for Autonomy’ (respect for patient individuality, including decision making,...
Article
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Background: Transitions of care are high-risk situations for the manifestation of medication discrepancies and, therefore, present threats for potential patient harm. Medication discrepancies can occur at any transition within the healthcare system. Methods: Fifth-year pharmacy students assessed a best possible medication list (BPML) during a medic...
Article
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Objective. To explore models of teaching in, resources available to, and delivery of a standardized course in pharmacy ethics. Methods. An email invitation was sent to the educator responsible for teaching pharmacy ethics at each of 19 institutions in Australia and New Zealand. Over a six- to eight-week period, semi-structured interviews were condu...
Article
Objective: To explore the literature describing the delivery and assessment of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training among university students. Data sources: The databases MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, and PsycINFO were searched to identify publications describing MHFA training and assessment among university students since 2000....
Article
Background: In recent years there have been growing concerns regarding non-prescription codeine use in Australia. Efforts to mitigate risks associated with non-prescription codeine, such as addiction and toxicity, have been primarily through two initiatives; regulatory changes restricting their availability, and voluntary live-recording supply of...
Article
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Purpose To analyse conformity with the Basel statements focused on patient safety by Brazilian hospital pharmacies. Methods A web-based cross-sectional study was performed, with data collected from an electronic survey based on the Basel statements, answered by pharmacists from hospitals in all areas of the country. Results Pharmacists from 111 h...
Article
Background: Convention states that it is inappropriate to use tools that have not undergone validity and reliability testing in order to form conclusions on the topic they are assessing. The use of content analysis to aid in the profiling and retrieval of measurement tools may be useful to inform tool design. These analysis methods can be applied...
Chapter
When providing pharmaceutical care to the pediatric population, pharmacists need to take extra care, and be vigilant to try to prevent some of the common drug-related problems that have previously been reported too commonly for this cohort. Through the medication review process (see Chap. 6), pharmacists make recommendations on appropriate dose adj...
Article
Background Shortages of essential medicines impact patient safety and raise the costs of medicines to consumers and governments. Ongoing medicine shortages have become a critical issue that threaten global access to medicines. Objective The aim of this study was to explore key stakeholders’ perspectives on the challenges surrounding management and...
Article
Purpose Suicide is a major cause of preventable mortality and primary healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, require appropriate training to communicate with and support people at risk of suicide. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches participants how to communicate with and support people experiencing suicidal thoughts. The pur...
Article
Introduction: Obtaining accurate patient medication histories and performing medication reconciliation are core pharmacy practice skills that optimize patient safety at transitions of care. Competency-based learning and assessment of medication reconciliation skills are essential methods in undergraduate pharmacy education. The aim of this study w...
Chapter
Complaints pertaining to the upper respiratory tract, such as the common cold and allergies, are a common reason for presentation to community pharmacies. This chapter explores the common cold and influenza and associated symptoms, including cough, congestion, rhinorrhea, sore throat, diarrhea, pain, and fever. This chapter will aid pharmacists in...
Article
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Background In recent years, medication shortages have become a growing worldwide issue. This scoping review aimed to systematically synthesise the literature to report on the economic, clinical, and humanistic impacts of medication shortages on patient outcomes. Methods Medline, Embase, Global Health, PsycINFO and International Pharmaceutical Abst...
Article
Full-text available
Background Numerous studies have been conducted specifically to target “fever phobia” and inappropriate fever management skills. However, despite educational intervention, caregivers continue to adopt inappropriate and non‐evidence‐based practices. Aims To collect and examine peer‐reviewed literature for active educational interventions aimed at i...
Article
Background: Medication discrepancies directly impact patient safety and can adversely impact quality of care and resource utilization at transitions of care. Objectives: To develop a common nomenclature and taxonomy for classifying and reporting medication discrepancies and to assess the content validity and reliability of the taxonomy. Methods...
Article
Aim In Japan, home pharmaceutical care (HPC) has recently been provided to home‐bound older adults who have difficulties in accessing a community pharmacy, for regular medicine supplies and medication management. Although the number of HPC services provided has increased, HPC is not always carried out by clinically well‐trained pharmacists, causing...
Article
Objective. To explore pharmacy stakeholders' perspectives in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) on pharmacy education and quality assurance. Method. Thirty-two interviews were conducted with professionals from 15 EMR countries, exploring pharmacy education in the region. Themes were mapped to the five pillars of the International Pharmaceutical...
Article
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Purpose Health care professionals, including pharmacists, have the potential to recognise and assist those at risk of suicide. The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of utilising people with a lived experience of mental illness as simulated patients on final year pharmacy students’ attitudes toward and confidence in caring for peopl...
Article
Objective: To test the hypothesis that scenario-based skills training is more effective than knowledge training alone in improving the asthma first aid skills of school personnel. Education developed specifically for non-primary caregivers such as school staff is vital to minimize the risk of mortality associated with asthma. Methods: Schools we...
Article
Full-text available
Objective All healthcare systems require valid ways to evaluate service delivery. The objective of this study was to identify existing content validated quality indicators (QIs) for responsible use of medicines (RUM) and classify them using multiple frameworks to identify gaps in current quality measurements. Design Systematic review without meta-...
Article
Aim Asthma is prevalent in our primary (elementary) school population. Training in asthma management for school staff should be relevant and focused on the recognition and management of an acute severe exacerbation of asthma. Evidence suggests that online training can be as effective as face‐to‐face training for medical education; however, there is...
Article
Background: Persistent medicine shortages have highlighted that global access to essential medicines remain problematic. Existing supply chain vulnerabilities impact health systems and risk consumer safety. Objectives: This study aimed to examine how different key stakeholders' roles facilitate access to essential medicines. Methods: In depth...
Article
Objective: To explore the supply of emergency contraception (EC) from Australian community pharmacies after the introduction of ulipristal acetate (UPA), and to explore pharmacists' knowledge, decision-making, attitudes, and beliefs surrounding supplying EC. Study design: A mixed-methods approach of mystery shopping with structured interview was...