Therese Kairuz

James Cook University · Discipline of Pharmacy

Objectives To develop, validate and evaluate a computerized clinical decision support system (MedReview) that aids medication reviewers with pharmacological decision-making. Methods This study included three phases; the development phase included computerizing a consolidated medication review algorithm (MedReview), followed by validation and evalu...

Background The Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) service is a large investment by the Australian government and involves considerable time commitment. Objectives This study determined the impact of RMMRs on the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), benzodiazepines and antidepressants, described patterns of PIM use, and...

Background Frailty is an essential consideration with potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), especially among older women.AimsThis study determined the use of potentially inappropriate medications according to frailty status using the Beers Criteria 2019, identified medications that should be flagged as potentially inappropriate and harmful...

Objectives Home Medicines Reviews (HMRs) can optimize medications for frail older adults. This study aimed to determine the use of HMRs according to frailty status and the association between frailty and use of HMRs. Methods The study included 9139 female participants enrolled in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health from 2003 (aged...

Background Older people use many medications, but combinations of medications used among the oldest old (≥ 80 years) are not commonly reported. Aims This study aimed to determine common combinations of medications used among women aged 77–96 years and to describe characteristics associated with these combinations. Methods A cohort study of older...

Medication reviews are effective in improving the quality of medication use among older people. However, they are conducted to various standards resulting in a wide range of outcomes which limit generalisability of findings arising from research studies. There also appear to be funding and time constraints, lack of data storage for quality improvem...

Background Polypharmacy is an important consideration for the provision of Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMRs) among older women given their enhanced risk of medication-related problems and admission to residential aged care (RAC). Objectives To determine the prevalence of the use of RMMRs among older women in RAC, and the association...

Objectives This study aimed to determine the prevalence of continuous polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy, determine medications that contribute to continuous polypharmacy, and examine the association between frailty and continuous polypharmacy. Study design A prospective study using data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Wo...

A systematic review is a process of synthesizing research evidence by collecting and summarizing all empirical evidence that meets predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Systematic reviews are performed by using systematic methods and often include a meta-analysis component which involves statistical techniques to conduct quantitative synthes...

The use of anticholinergic medications by residents in aged care homes is associated with increased risk of adverse effects. These include cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, and falls, and necessitate increased healthcare visits and the associated burden on healthcare systems. The objective of this study was to investigate associations betwe...

Introduction: Novel tobacco products require independent research to assess their safety. This study assessed the current literature for trials comparing levels of biomarkers of exposure (BoE) between conventional cigarettes and heat-not-burn (HNB) devices. Methods: Ten databases were searched using terms including: 'heat not burn', 'iqos', 'tee...

Poor sleep quality is prevalent among older adults and is compounded by frailty and polypharmacy. This descriptive, cross-sectional study examines the associations between sleep quality, inappropriate medication use and frailty. The study was conducted among 151 residents of 11 aged care homes in three states in Malaysia; convenience sampling was u...

This chapter narrates and outlines key developments in the time line of pharmacy practice and the underpinning and associated research . It also synthesizes the definitions about pharmacy practice research from different key documents that describe practice research and its elements. The three major elements that were identified include health serv...

Illustrated health resources are useful for people who have limited English linguistic ability. The aim was to compare the preferences of resettled refugees from Africa and non-African countries, on pictograms describing common symptoms of illness. Data were collected in two cities in Queensland, Australia. Participants indicated their preference f...

Resettled refugees in Australia have been shown to exhibit a high prevalence of limited health literacy and are at greater risk of mismanaging their medication and not being able to access the healthcare services they need. The aim of the current study is to explore the barriers to accessing medicines and pharmacy services in Queensland, Australia,...

(1) Background: The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate current and potential roles for pharmacists in sports medicine and to identify key themes in outcomes reported in studies. (2) Methods: EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus and the Cochrane Library were searched in January 2019. Peer-reviewed, original research articles were conside...

Objectives The education of future pharmacists is the responsibility of a relatively small sector of the pharmacy workforce, and pharmacy academics (faculty) are essential for the continued viability of our profession; many also contribute to research within the profession. However, little is known about the ‘work’ of employees in this sector of ph...

This poster details the findings of a systematic review investigating how clinical pharmacists can positively impact the outcomes of paediatric hospital patients.

Clinical pharmacists provide beneficial services to adult patients, though their benefits for paediatric hospital patients are less defined. Five databases were searched using the MeSH terms ‘clinical pharmacist’, ‘paediatric/paediatric’, ‘hospital’, and ‘intervention’ for studies with paediatric patients conducted in hospital settings, and describ...

Medication review algorithms and minimization frameworks are known to aid reviewers in identifying and discontinuing potentially inappropriate medications, which may otherwise lead older population to harmful events.1 There have been many algorithms and minimization frameworks that have been developed to aid to evaluate medication reviews, with eac...

Medication reviews are essential in the optimization of pharmacotherapy among the older population. This study developed a comprehensive approach to medication management among older people in aged care facilities. The framework is centered on medication appropriateness and comprises a five-step medication review algorithm that is supplemented with...

Background: Dispensing patterns reflect drug usage trends. Benzodiazepines are known as drugs with potential for misuse, and frequent dispensing may be a surrogate marker of misuse. Objective: The primary aim of this study was to obtain a comparative snapshot of anxiolytic and sedative-hypnotic dispensing in a developing country and a developed...

Introduction: Students consider feedback to be an important aspect of good teaching, and meta-analyses confirm its influence on academic achievement. Anecdotal observations in pharmacy practice workshops at our institution suggested variance in students’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of feedback. Aim: To explore reasons students perceive...

Background: Aging is often associated with various underlying comorbidities that warrant the use of multiple medications. Various interventions, including medication reviews, to optimize pharmacotherapy in older people residing in aged care facilities have been described and evaluated. Previous systematic reviews support the positive impact of var...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the barriers to accessing medicines and pharmacy services among refugees in Queensland, Australia, from the perspectives of resettled African refugees. Methods: A generic qualitative approach was used in this study. Resettled African refugees were recruited via a purposive snowball sampling method...

Purpose – The core business of universities is learning. Cognitive thinking is critical for learning and the development of new knowledge which are essential in higher education. Creative, reflective and critical thinking are negatively affected by unrealistic demands and stress. The purpose of this paper is to argue that key performance indicators...

Early diagnosis of frailty, a common geriatric condition, is imperative for proactive primary care. The Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) was developed in the Netherlands to assess frailty. However, its validity in other ethno-cultural backgrounds has not been established. This study evaluated the reliability and construct validity of the GFI among...

Background: Previous reports suffer from the problem that they simply pooled data using aggregate means or standard meta-analytic method. The aim of the current study was to re-estimate the point prevalence of comorbid depression and anxiety in people with diabetes. Methods: The estimates were calculated using recently introduced directly standardi...

Anxiety and depression are more common among females and those experiencing diabetes and menopause. Menopausal symptoms experienced by women can vary tremendously from population to population; therefore, there is a need to investigate these symptoms and associated risk factors in different communities. This study investigated the differences in ps...

Background: Previous reports suffer from the problem that they simply pooled data using aggregate means or standard meta‑analytic method. The aim of the current study was to re‑estimate the point prevalence of comorbid depression and anxiety in people with diabetes. Methods: The estimates were calculated using recently introduced directly standardi...

Objective: Australians are among the highest users of antibiotics in the developed world. The primary aim was to determine the 'age' of antibiotic prescriptions at the time of dispensing as a possible contributor to antibiotic misuse and ultimately, resistance. The secondary aim was to test customised software to permit extraction and de-identific...

Introduction There are challenges associated with selecting a qualitative research approach. In a field abundant with terminology and theories, it may be difficult for a pharmacist to know where and how to begin a qualitative research journey. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into generic qualitative research and to describe the jour...

Background/Research Question The Health Literacy in Pharmacy (HeLP) Program is an educational intervention developed for Australian community pharmacies, to refine and focus pharmacy staff behaviors to reduce the impact of limited health literacy on medicines use in Australia. A core skill in reducing risks for patients is use of ‘teach-back’ by ph...

Background/Research Question The Health Literacy in Pharmacy (HeLP) Program is an educational intervention developed for staff of Australian community pharmacies, aiming to reduce the impact of limited health literacy on medicines misadventure in Australia. This paper explores the adoption of measures by participating pharmacies to promote a more ‘...

Background/Aims: Recent fiscal scrutiny and changes in health care financing have necessitated that health care providers justify a clinical and economical basis for their involvement in patient care. Although clinical pharmacists have been shown to enhance patient health outcomes and reduce costs among adult patients, the impact of a pharmacist in...

Background: Overuse of antibiotics is a global concern and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of relapsing to an era with no effective antibiotics. In Australia, various national consumer campaigns had been running since 2000, and the concern was prioritised in 2011, when the need for a national approach to address antibiotic resistanc...

This study aimed to explore the association between transitions in anxiety symptoms and the risk of diabetes in women, using longitudinal data. This longitudinal study measured diabetes, and transitions in anxiety symptoms, using validated instruments. Data obtained by the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy were analysed. Anxiety was...

Background Once a disease of developed countries, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has become widespread worldwide. For people with T2DM, achievement of therapeutic outcomes demands the rational and quality use of medicine. Aims The primary aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of diabetes and prescribing patterns of anti-diabetic medicati...

Longitudinal studies examining the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders associated with diabetes are limited. This study examined the association between diabetes and the risk of depressive and anxiety disorders in Australian women using longitudinal data. Data were from a sample of women who were part of an Australian pregnancy and birth cohor...

This meta-analysis examined depression as a consequence of diabetes by conducting a meta-analysis, using data from longitudinal studies. Databases were systematically searched for relevant studies. Incidence of depression is presented as cumulative incident proportion (CIP). Pooled effect sizes were calculated using random-effects model. The data w...

Despite being used since 1976, Delusions-Symptoms-States-Inventory/states of Anxiety and Depression (DSSI/sAD) has not yet been validated for use among people with diabetes. The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the personal disturbance scale (DSSI/sAD) among women with diabetes using Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy...

The difficulties that resettled refugees experience in accessing primary health-care services have been widely documented. In most developed countries, pharmacists are often the first health-care professional contacted by consumers; however, the ability of refugees to access community pharmacies and medication may be limited. This review systematic...

Background: Feedback is information provided by another person regarding a skill, understanding or performance. Although there is substantial evidence that feedback is a critical influence on student learning there is little research on feedback in pharmacy education. Aim: To increase awareness of the complexity of feedback by comparing and contras...

The primary objective of this study was to examine the association between depression, anxiety symptoms, and glycemic control in Malaysian women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Another objective was to examine the association between glycemic control and mental status, measured by mental composite score (MCS). This study was conducted on 611...

Background: Symptoms of depression can be recurrent or limited to one episode. This study discusses the prospective association between psychological health, measured as change in depression symptoms, and the risk of diabetes mellitus in Australian women. Methods: Data obtained from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy. Depression...

Aims: We estimated the incidence and risk of diabetes associated with depressive symptoms using data from longitudinal studies. Materials and methods: Databases were systematically searched for relevant studies. Incidence of diabetes is presented as cumulative incident proportion (CIP). Pooled effect sizes were calculated using random-effects mo...

Background: Resources to help the older aged (≥65 year olds) manage their medicines should probably target those in greatest need. The older-aged have many different types of living circumstances. There are different locations (urban, rural), different types of housing (in the community or in retirement villages), different living arrangements (li...

Background: Low health literacy is expected to be associated with medication non-adherence and early research indicated that this might be the case. Further research suggested that the relationship may be more equivocal. Aim of the review: The goal of this paper is initially to clarify whether there is a clear relationship between health literac...

This study explored how a sample of Australian pharmacists would convey information about the side effects of a medicine, if they were to counsel a patient. A qualitative method was selected and written responses to a case-based scenario were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The grounded theory approach elicited a fluid and dynamic model...

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between pregnancy complications, mental health-related problems, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Malaysian women. A case-control study of women with T2DM (n=160) matched by age range to controls without T2DM (n=160). Data were collected in the Negeri Sembilan and PutraJaya regions in M...

Functional health literacy is founded on general and numerical literacy and practical skills and is required for the appropriate and effective management of health symptoms in children. This study aimed to assess the health literacy skills of parents and caregivers of preschool-aged children, using a progressive scenario describing a child with fev...

Background The Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary (APF) has diversified in content and grown in size. Change can be indicative of progress within, and influences on, a profession.AimTo determine variations to the formulary sections of the 22 editions of the APF (1902 to 2012) with respect to dosage forms, ingredients and compounding methods.Method...

Background Low health literacy has important consequences for health status, medication adherence and use of health services. There is little insight from the perspective of pharmacy staff into how they identify the information needs of consumers and particularly the signals and risk factors of limited health literacy that they encounter in their d...

Objective Over the last two decades the pharmacy profession has seen a major revision to patient-focused teaching and practice. This study evaluated the perceived impact of experiential clinical pharmacy placements on students' preparedness to provide patient-centered care. Methods This cross-sectional study among Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) fin...

Background Changes in the roles of the contemporary pharmacist has seen a decline in the number and variety of extemporaneously compounded dosage forms. Pharmacy curricula reflect this change with a reduction in the emphasis on extemporaneous compounding practice.AimTo elicit information about extemporaneously compounded dosage forms and perception...

Background Resources to assist the older-aged manage their medicines should target those in greatest need. Little is known about whether socioeconomic status (SES) influences medicines management by the older-aged.AimTo explore whether there is a difference in medicines management by the older-aged living independently in different types of retirem...

In recent times the basic understanding, perceptions and CAM use among undergraduate health sciences students have become a topic of interest. This study was aimed to investigate the understanding, perceptions and self-use of CAM among pharmacy students in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 systematically sampled pharmacy stu...

Producing paediatric drug formulations is a unique challenge. The ideal drug should be effective, well-tolerated, stable, affordable, and have acceptable taste, after-taste and smell. This supplement discusses the problems of paediatric compliance including abstract matters such as perceptions of medicines and illness, and subjective issues of tast...

There are various legal and administrative requirements required in New Zealand prescriptions. New Zealand residents receive subsidized medicines which varies depending on their financial status (1). The New Zealand pharmacy profession actively encourages and supports members of the profession to provide patient counseling and pharmaceutical servic...

AimTo formulate a stable and palatable paediatric phenobarbitone 10 mg/mL oral liquid and compare its physicochemical stability to the existing formulation compounded in some New Zealand hospitals.Method Formulations were compounded from pharmaceutical standard ingredients according to good manufacturing practices and stored in glass bottles at dif...

The aim of this article is to present information related to pharmacy practice and education in two countries, South Africa and New Zealand, where there is currently a small migration of pharmacists from the former to the latter. The pharmacy profession in both countries is under the statutory regulation of a pharmacy council, and a society is resp...

Health literacy is the ability to obtain, interpret and use health information. Low rates of health literacy in Australia have been suggested, but no validated measure exists. To explore health literacy competencies in a sample of community pharmacy consumers. Structured interviews were undertaken by a team of researchers during August, 2009. The i...

To determine the perceptions of pharmacy interns and newly registered pharmacists and preceptors regarding the preparedness of graduates to enter professional practice. A questionnaire was developed from the New Zealand Competence Standards for the Pharmacy Profession (pharmacist level), with additional questions on communication skills included. T...

Objective Benzodiazepines are primarily indicated for the treatment of anxiety states and as hypnotics. Their inappropriate use often relates to duration and manner of use. Few studies have attempted to assess the prevalence of benzodiazepine prescribing in South Africa. The primary aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of sedative/hypnoti...