PONE-D-24-33395Developing a competency assessment framework for pharmacists in primary health care settings in IndiaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Kumar,

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

The manuscript has strengths but needs major revisions to improve its quality and merit.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Thank you, managing editorial, for giving me this opportunity to review the article “Developing a competency assessment framework for pharmacists in primary health care settings in India” in this prestigious journal. This article provides the initial primary stages and roles for developing the competency assessment framework for primary health care in India.

Abstract

In the background, it's crucial to highlight the significance of the competency framework for pharmacists, as it underpins their professional development and performance.

The method of assessment was insufficiently described.

To whom were the competency framework and associated behaviour discussed and agreed upon? Please clarify the statement.

In general, there is a lack of information about the competencies, just the number of competencies and the number of roles. Kindly add some lines in the result or conclusion about which competency framework for pharmacists has been introduced.

Introduction

Please add an example from the primary rather than the community set-up to elaborate on the importance of competency at the primary healthcare level.

Add a few lines about the availability of pharmacists at the primary healthcare level and then explain their importance to their country's prospects.

The authors are advised to specify the status of pharmacists at their country level because these studies are of Indian origin. So, the targeted approach will be more important than covering the whole world.

Please advise the authors to reference the statements, as no competency assessment has already been conducted in their country.

There is no introduction regarding the competency tool and globally available competencies for pharmacists at the primary level.

Method

Authors are advised to use the assessment tool for literature review for effective data collection and representation.

In stage two, on which basis the experts were selected for consultation.

In stage three, which instrument was used for assessing competencies? Please specify.

There should be numbered score definitions in the assessment tool.

Is there only English grammar pretesting required for the competency assessment tool?

Results

The competencies selected in the literature review are related to the in-service pharmacist or not. These competencies were related to pharmacists or taken as general.

On which basis were the eleven roles made for pharmacist competencies, and on which bases were they selected?

In role 2, how is it possible for a pharmacist to observe the optimal use of medical products?

In role 3, please specify which drugs require high compliance with regulations.

In role 4, although medical product management and documentation are solely the responsibility of the pharmacist as they are available in the pharmacy, the pharmacist assists the medical officer with these tasks.

In role 7, on which limit the ethical practice will be allowed. Please specified.

In role 10, Is it possible for the author to please specify the list of diagnostic tests and checks in emergencies?

In role 11, authors are advised to please specify the programs for continuing professional development in Indian origin.

Authors are advised to reduce the paragraph content as already described in the table.

Authors are advised to provide the details of the validation of the competency assessment tool.

Which tests were performed during the pre-testing of the competency assessment tool?

Discussion

The discussion regarding the factors related to coping with pre-service education is limited. The authors advised adding more possible measures to cope with these challenges at the government level.

The discussion regarding the importance and implications of competence assessment was very limited, making this portion weak.

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Reviewer #1: No

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Developing a competency assessment framework for pharmacists in primary health care settings in India

PONE-D-24-33395R1

Dear Dr. Sanjeev Kumar,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Naeem Mubarak, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

The manuscript requires no further changes.

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: The author has thoroughly addressed all the comments and suggestions. After reviewing the updated manuscript, I find the revisions satisfactory and in line with the objectives of the work. At this stage, I have no further suggestions or comments to add.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy .

Reviewer #2: No

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