Mark J Makowsky

University of Alberta | UAlberta · Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Objective To describe the frequency, type, and severity of reported medication incidents that occurred at a long-term care facility (LTCF) despite electronic medication administration record and barcode-assisted medication administration (eMAR-BCMA) use. The study also contains analysis for the contribution of staff workarounds to reported medicati...

Background Pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing is an evidence-based approach to finding effective medication therapies. While community pharmacists are ideally situated to provide PGx testing, the extent of its implementation is limited within community pharmacies. Objective This study aimed to explore trends in the international peer-reviewed primary l...

Background In many countries, pharmacists’ scope of practice enables the delivery of professional pharmacy services related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Studies exploring practices and perspectives regarding a wide range of SRH professional pharmacy services and the extent to which pharmacists are involved in prescribing or administerin...

Background: Digital health interventions are efficient and flexible methods for enhancing the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. However, little is known about the characteristics associated with eHealth literacy in the Canadian South Asian population. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe perceive...

BACKGROUND Digital health interventions are efficient and flexible methods for enhancing the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. However, little is known about the characteristics associated with eHealth literacy in the Canadian South Asian population. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to describe perceived eH...

BACKGROUND Canadian South Asians are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Consumer-oriented health information technology may help mitigate lifestyle risk factors and improve chronic disease self-management. OBJECTIVE To explore the prevalence, patterns, and predictors of use of the Internet, digital devices, and apps fo...

Background South Asian Canadians are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Consumer-oriented health information technology may help mitigate lifestyle risk factors and improve chronic disease self-management. Objective This study aims to explore the prevalence, patterns, and predictors of the use of the internet, digital...

Fluid and magnesium abnormalities are common in patients with high-output stomas. Subcutaneous magnesium administration may be more feasible for long-term management in ambulatory patients, but magnesium sulfate is approved only for intravenous or intramuscular injection. We describe the management of chronic hypomagnesemia and dehydration secondar...

Heartburn and acid regurgitation are the classic symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Heartburn is defined as a burning sensation in the retrosternal area (behind the breastbone) and regurgitation is the perception of flow of refluxed gastric content into the mouth or hypopharynx. GERD is the most prevalent acid-related disorder in C...

Objectives Legislative and regulatory bodies in Canada have authorized pharmacists to prescribe in different provinces. Albertan pharmacists have the broadest prescribing scope. Our objective was to cluster Albertan pharmacists into different prescriber groups based on their self‐reported prescribing practice and to compare the groups according to...

Background Blood pressure (BP) tracking apps may aid in hypertension (HTN) self-management, but app quality may be problematic. Objective This study aimed to develop a content-dependent rating system for BP tracking apps and systematically evaluate BP tracking features, content-independent quality, functional characteristics, and educational compr...

BACKGROUND Blood pressure (BP) tracking apps may aid in hypertension (HTN) self-management, but app quality may be problematic. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to develop a content-dependent rating system for BP tracking apps and systematically evaluate BP tracking features, content-independent quality, functional characteristics, and educational compr...

Objective Study objectives were to develop a questionnaire to assess factors influencing pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing (i.e., continuing, adapting or initiating therapy), describe use of pre-incentive and mixed mode survey, and establish survey psychometric properties. Methods Questions were developed based on prior qualitative research and...

Objectives To map the extent, range, and nature of research on the effectiveness, level of use, and perceptions about electronic medication administration records (eMARs) in long‐term care facilities (LTCFs) and identify gaps in current knowledge and priority areas for future research. Design Scoping review of quantitative and qualitative literatu...

Objectives: To investigate the content, quality and popularity of information about type 2 diabetes available on YouTube. Methods: We searched YouTube with the terms Diabetes, Diabetes type 2, Diabetes South Asians, Diabetes Punjabi and Diabetes Hindi to identify videos concerning type 2 diabetes. A team of health-care providers independently cl...

Background: Electronic medical record (EMR) screening for indicators of medication risk could improve efficiency in identifying primary care clinic patients in need of clinical pharmacist care compared with patient self-reporting. Objectives: To (a) compare the performance of an EMR medication risk assessment questionnaire (MRAQ) with a self-adm...

Purpose Results of a survey to characterize pharmacist prescribing in the Canadian province of Alberta are reported. Methods A cross-sectional survey of a random sample of pharmacists registered with the Alberta College of Pharmacists was conducted. The survey was developed in four stages, with evidence of reliability and construct validity compil...

We sought to evaluate whether case ascertainment using administrative health data would be a feasible way to identify peripheral artery disease (PAD) patients from the community. Subjects' ankle-brachial index (ABI) scores from two previous prospective observational studies were linked with International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Canadia...

To identify which activities produced a significant improvement in blood pressure control in patients with type 2 diabetes when pharmacists were added to primary care teams. This prespecified, secondary analysis evaluated medication management data from a randomized controlled trial. The primary outcome was a change in treatment, defined as additio...

Over forty years after publication of the University Group Diabetes Program trial, the cardiovascular safety of sulfonylureas is still contentious. Although several hypotheses linking sulfonylureas to adverse cardiovascular effects exist, none provide conclusive evidence. Adding to the controversy, current clinical trials and observational studies...

What is known and objective: Since 2007, pharmacists in Alberta have had authority to adapt existing prescriptions and independently prescribe medications after a peer review process. This study aimed to explore and characterize how pharmacists incorporated prescribing into practice 3 years after this legislation was approved. Methods: We invite...

Background and objectives Pharmacists working in primary care clinics are well positioned to help optimize medication management of community-dwelling patients who are at high risk of experiencing medication-related problems. However, it is often difficult to identify these patients. Our objective was to test the feasibility of a self-administered...

Objective In 2007 Alberta, Canada, became the first North American jurisdiction to adopt prescribing legislation for pharmacists. In light of these legislative changes and expanded scope of pharmacy practice, we evaluated what ‘prescribing’ means to pharmacists in Alberta and the application of prescribing in pharmacy practice. Methods We invited p...

In 2007, Alberta became the first Canadian jurisdiction to grant pharmacists a wide range of prescribing privileges. Our objective was to understand what factors influence pharmacists' adoption of prescribing using a model for the Diffusion of Innovations in healthcare services. Pharmacists participated in semi-structured telephone interviews to di...

Background: While people of South Asian (SA) descent have higher rates of cardiovascular disease compared with people of White European (WE) descent, a lower prevalence of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has been suggested in SA. Our intent was to systematically review the literature on PAD prevalence in people of SA descent and...

Collaborative care between physicians and pharmacists has the potential to improve the process of care and patient outcomes. Our objective was to determine whether team-based pharmacist care was associated with higher physician-rated collaborative working relationship scores than usual ward-based pharmacist care at the end of the COLLABORATE study,...

Hypertension is a common problem in people with diabetes and several changes have occurred to the joint Canadian Hypertension Education Program and Canadian Diabetes Association hypertension recommendations over the past 5 years. This article uses a case-based approach to review contemporary issues in hypertension management in the context of diabe...

To evaluate the effect of pharmacist care on patients with dyslipidemia. Systematic review of 21 randomized controlled trials. A total of 5416 patients who received enhanced pharmacist care or standard care as part of a research study. Nineteen databases and four trial registries were systematically searched from inception through February 21, 2010...

Background Although pharmacists have been granted prescribing privileges in Alberta since 2007 and most other Canadian provinces have granted or put forward similar legislation since then, there is a lack of Canadian data exploring pharmacists' understanding and adoption of prescribing practice. Therefore, our goal is to investigate pharmacists' pe...

Lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is underdiagnosed and undertreated in Canada, although data are limited. We sought to measure PAD prevalence and treatment patterns in ambulatory settings. Five trained undergraduate pharmacy students screened subjects > 50 years of age in 10 community pharmacies and 4 physician offices in northern...

1During the course of the study, several patients or their family members offered positive comments about the teambased clinical pharmacist services. These cases came to the authors’ attention during weekly investigator meetings and via pharmacists’ reflective journals, which were kept as a mecha nism to capture pharmacists’ experiences in working...

Purpose To determine the effect of pharmacistled interventions in dyslipidemia on clinical and process outcomes. Methods Search: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, HealthSTAR, Pascal, MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, CINA...

Medical inpatients are at risk for suboptimal health outcomes from adverse drug events and under-use of evidence-based therapies. We sought to determine whether collaborative care including a team-based clinical pharmacist improves the quality of prescribed drug therapy and reduces hospital readmission. Multicenter, quasi-randomized, controlled cli...

While collaborative, team-based care has the potential to improve medication use and reduce adverse drug events and cost, less attention is paid to understanding the processes of well functioning teams. This paper presents the findings from key informant interviews and reflective journaling from pharmacists, physicians and nurse practitioners parti...

Blood pressure (BP) control in patients with diabetes mellitus is difficult to achieve and current patterns are suboptimal. Given increasing problems with access to primary care physicians, community pharmacists and nurses are well positioned to identify and observe these patients. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a community-based mul...

Our objective was to examine the effect of concomitant lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) on long-term prognosis and pharmacotherapy in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Prospective cohort study enrolling all patients with angiographically proven CAD between April 1, 2000, and December 31, 2004, in Alberta, Canada. Of 28,6...

Two of our patients experienced myotoxicity associated with colchicine administration. The first was a 54-year-old woman who was receiving dialysis and came to the emergency department with progressive generalized weakness and vomiting. She recently had taken colchicine for the treatment of gout. Physical examination revealed proximal muscle weakne...

Background and Objective: The emergence of vancomycin resistance among gram-positive organisms over the past 10 years has raised serious health concerns worldwide. In response, several government organizations have developed recommendations for the appropriate use of vancomycin. The goal of this study was to assess the appropriateness of vancomycin...