Browsing by Author "van Huyssteen, Mea"

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Cannabidiol: A medicine, health supplement or foodstuff? Analysis of South African policies relating to the introduction of cannabidiol into the market
    (University of the Western Cape, 2022) Boshoff, Suné; van Huyssteen, Mea
    With the recent rise in the popularity of cannabidiol (CBD) around the world, there are many cultivators, manufacturers, and sellers of CBD on the market. It is sold in different dosage forms including oils, used to treat a wide variety of lifestyle diseases and medical conditions. Despite the increasing availability of CBD and its products, there are many controversies and uncertainties regarding the legality and regulation thereof in various countries. The main question is whether CBD is regarded as a medicine, health supplement or merely a foodstuff.
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    Comparative evaluation of pharmacy students’ knowledge and skills in maternal and child health: Traditional versus integrated curriculum
    (MDPI, 2022) Egieyeh, Elizabeth Oyebola; Bheekie, Angeni; van Huyssteen, Mea
    : Reducing maternal and child mortality is a health priority in South Africa. Therefore, health professional education should produce graduates that can meet these needs. This study compared the maternal and child health (MCH) knowledge and skills of cohorts of final-year students exposed to a traditional (in 2017 and 2018) and integrated (2019) curriculum using a 34-item questionnaire. Between the 2019 and 2017 cohorts, ANOVA and post hoc analysis showed significant differences in the reproductive and sexual health component which was dispersed in the second and final years of study (p = 0.007, Mean Difference (MD) = 8.3) andneonatal and child care (p = 0.000, MD = 15). while it was only in maternal and antenatal care (p = 0.009, MD = 10.0) for the 2019 and 2018 cohorts. Significant differences were observed in participants’ average mean scores (p = 0.000 for 2018 and 2017). The highest mean scores were recorded by the 2019 cohort in the three assessments. A onesample t-test showed the highest mean differences in the reproductive and sexual health components (p = 0.000; MD 2017 = 12.4, MD 2018 = 14.8, MD 2019 = 20.7). Overall, the integrated MCH curriculum and the longitudinal dispersion of content enhanced students’ knowledge and skills.
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    Continuous professional development for public sector pharmacists in South Africa: A case study of mapping competencies in a pharmacists’ preceptor programme
    (MPDI, 2020) van Huyssteen, Mea; Bheekie, Angeni; Srinivas, Sunitha C
    Lifelong learning among healthcare practitioners is crucial to keep abreast of advances in therapeutic and service delivery approaches. In South Africa, continuous professional development (CPD) was mandated (2019) for re-registration of pharmacists to illustrate their learning according to the South African Pharmacy Council’s (SAPC) competency standards. This paper uses a preceptor programme linked to the University of the Western Cape School of Pharmacy’s service learning programme to map the competencies employed by pharmacist preceptors in primary care public healthcare facilities in Cape Town in an attempt to encourage completion of their annual CPDs and strengthening the academic-service partnership. Competencies identified were divided into input competencies related to the preceptor’s role in designing and implementing the educational programme in their facilities and assisting students to complete their prescribed learning activities, and output/outcome competencies that emerged from preceptors identifying the facility needs and employing their input competencies. Input competencies pertained to education, leadership, patient counselling, collaborative practice and human resources management. Output competencies related to pharmaceutical infrastructure, quality assurance, professional and health advocacy, primary healthcare, self-management and patient-centred care.
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    Describing medicine therapy management of type 2 diabetes mellitus at primary health care facilities in Cape Town
    (AOSIS, 2019) Monanabela, Khathatso B.; van Huyssteen, Mea; Coetzee, Renier
    Rational medicine use aims to optimise chronic disease management and prevent episodes of hospitalisation that economically burden the health care system. Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases globally, yet more than 60% of patients with diabetes are not optimally managed according to their therapeutic glycaemic targets. To describe the use of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose results in guiding treatment changes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Public sector primary health care facilities in the Cape Town Metropolitan Region in South Africa.
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    Development and implementation of an integrated framework for undergraduate pharmacy training in maternal and child health at a South African university
    (MPDI, 2021) Egieyeh, Elizabeth Oyebola; Bheekie, Angeni; van Huyssteen, Mea
    The South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) regulates undergraduate pharmacy education and pharmacy practice. The SAPC Good Pharmacy Practice manual describes the role of pharmacists in maternal and child health (MCH) in line with the recommendation of international health regulatory bodies. However, baseline study findings in 2017 supported literature from around the world that indicated a need for curriculum review and integration to address the knowledge and skills gap in pharmacists’ MCH training. This paper describes the development and implementation of an integrated framework for MCH training across the four years of a Bachelor of Pharmacy program. The intervention included didactic lectures, skills practical on infant growth assessment, and an experiential learning component at primary health care clinics and pharmacies. Knowledge and skills assessment on contraception, maternal and antenatal care, and neonatal and child care were carried out pre, eight weeks post, and two years post intervention using the same questionnaire. ANOVA and post hoc analyses showed that participants’ knowledge and skills increased post intervention but decreased significantly two years later except in contraception where students experienced longitudinal integration of the MCH component. Generally, participants performed above the university average except in maternal and antenatal care.
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    The effectiveness of using text and pictograms on oral rehydration, dry-mixture sachet labels
    (AOSIS, 2021) Heyns, Jeanne; van Huyssteen, Mea; Bheekie, Angeni
    Medication labels are often the only information available to patients after obtaining medication from a healthcare practitioner. Pictograms are graphic symbols that have shown to increase understanding of medicine use instructions. To compare the accuracy of the interpretation of medicine use instructions from two different oral rehydration (OR) dry-mixture sachet labels – the control ‘routine textonly’ label and an experimental label with ‘text-and-pictograms’. Participants were recruited from waiting rooms in public primary health care (PHC) facilities in Cape Town. Method: Each participant was required to answer six questions about OR preparation. Response accuracy was determined by comparing the participant’s answer to the actual information written on the relevant label. Afterwards, participants could offer their opinion about the label and ways to improve their understanding.
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    Exploring practising pharmacy graduates’ views on improving the effectiveness of pharmacy education at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa
    (HEALTH & MEDICAL PUBLISHING GROUP, 2019) van Huyssteen, Mea; Bheekie, Angeni
    South African health professional education institutions have a mandate to produce graduates who are able to address priority needs of the healthcare system and larger society. However, evidence of the effective use of public resources by health education institutions is not routinely collected. Practising graduates are a target audience who could provide part of this evidence. To explore the views of University of the Western Cape (UWC) pharmacy graduates on the effectiveness of pharmacy education in relation to their current and anticipated practice aspirations. A cross-sectional electronic survey was administered to UWC pharmacy graduates through the university’s alumni office network. Twenty-five graduates responded, of whom 60% were male (average age 38.9 (standard deviation 9.52) years). One of the strongest themes that emerged was the need for exposing pharmacy students from early on in the curriculum to a broad range of pharmacy and healthcare sectors and addressing real issues in these changing and complex environments. Graduates stressed the importance of the development of generic skills, such as interpersonal skills, leadership, advocacy and innovative problem-solving, which are necessary to effect positive change through collaborative and equitable approaches.
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    Moving towards social accountability in pharmacy education: Exploring service-learning outcomes and opportunities with Cape Town community health forum representatives
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Cwati, Vuyo Buhle Zamathole; van Huyssteen, Mea
    The University of the Western Cape (UWC), School of Pharmacy has embedded service-learning in the undergraduate curriculum in an attempt to align activities with the social accountability values. Third-year pharmacy students are expected to provide pharmaceutical services for a week per semester at local community healthcare centres located across the Cape Town Metropole region. This study explored the experiences, opinions, input, and challenges of the service-learning in Pharmacy (SLiP) program from local communities’ perspective. An objective of the study was to also elicit the community representatives’ recommendations for pharmacy curriculum re-design where student activities are directed towards addressing health concerns of the local communities.
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    Preceptor reflections on the Community Health clinical rotation for fourth year pharmacy students at the University of the Western Cape
    (2019) van Huyssteen, Mea; Bheekie, Angeni; Coetzee, Renier
    This paper describes the community health clinic rotation of the Patient Care Experience programme (PaCE) offered to fourth year pharmacy students (2018) at the University of the Western Cape. Reflections from the collective experiences of the faculty and practice preceptors offer insight into integration of a clinically oriented medicine therapy management programme directed at the primary care level.
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    Service learning in pharmacy: Evaluation of tuberculosis screening by pharmacy students in primary health care facilities.
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Adeleye, Adeola Temitope; van Huyssteen, Mea
    Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the arms of the so-called quadruple burden of disease in South Africa. One of the major impediments to TB control is failure to detect the disease, and undiagnosed cases in the community can remain a source of onward transmission promulgating the epidemic. TB screening is thus the starting point for any intervention in tuberculosis control. At UWC, the pharmacy educational curriculum includes a service-learning in pharmacy (SLiP) programme which entails pharmacy students of all years visiting designated community health care facilities, and then perform various priority health tasks. During 2014 the second year SLiP programme was launched at primary health care facilities. The first semester programme focussed on tuberculosis screening and cardiovascular risk assessment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the TB screening aspect of the second year service-learning programme, based on the perceptions of the participating students and nurses, and students’ TB screening reports; and also to find out the perceived impact of the TB screening aspect of the second year SLiP programme on the patients’ health education, the nurses’ workload, and on the students’ learning and skill development at the various public primary health care facilities in the Cape Town Metro-pole area. Objectives: To determine the perceptions of students and nursing staff on TB screenings done by pharmacy students at primary health care facilities, compare these perceptions with actual TB reports compiled by pharmacy students, and assess the perceived impact of students’ TB screenings at the facilities.
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    Service learning in pharmacy: Implementation of tuberculosisscreening by second-year pharmacy studentsin primary health care facilitiesin Cape Town, South Africa
    (FIP, 2021) Adeola, Adeleye T.; Coetzee, Renier; van Huyssteen, Mea
    The School of Pharmacy of the University of the Western Cape implemented a service learning programme where second year students participated in tuberculosis (TB) screening.To determine the views of students and nurses about student-led TB screening at primary healthcare (PHC) facilities. The study was descriptive and quantitative. The target populations were pharmacy students and nurses, who completed self-administered semi-structured questionnaires. Study participants included 99 students from 19 facilities and 38 nurses who represented 15 facilities. Students had screened 1323 patients and referred 210 for further testing. Students and nurses felt students were adequately trained to conduct TB screening and seemed to screen patients with ease. Students and nurses believed that students gained more TB knowledge and clinical experience. Students also believed the TB screenings were beneficial to the patients and nurses.