Abstract
Objectives - This survey seeks the opinion of UK community pharmacists to identify barriers in the public health role of community pharmacists.
Methods - This study took the form of a descriptive, cross-sectional survey that generated mostly quantitative data. Questionnaires were mailed to 524 randomly selected community pharmacists from Barnet, London and its surrounding areas, Bedfordshire, Cardiff and Edinburgh. All statistical analyses including tests for significance and correlation of variables were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (spss version 19.0).
Key findings - A majority of the respondents identified time pressure and workload (89.7%, C.I. ±4.94); lack of patients’ records (78.6%, C.I. ±6.66); insufficient funding from the government (75.2%, C.I. ±7.01); lack of understanding by healthcare providers of the training and skill sets of pharmacists (73.7%, C.I. ±7.25); and lack of understanding by the public of the training and skill sets of pharmacists (72.7%, C.I. ±7.29), as the main barriers in enhancing the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK. Male respondents were more likely to agree that ‘insufficient funding’ was a barrier (P = 0.006; Eta, η2 = 0.053). There was a negative correlation between ‘age of respondents’ and respondents agreeing that pharmacists should develop their own expertise in public health (ρ = −0.185; P = 0.029). Free text comments also highlighted a number of barriers, which included, among other things, time pressure and workload, commercial pressure from employers, lack of collaboration between healthcare professionals, and inadequate funding.
Conclusions - Several barriers associated with the public health role of community pharmacists, mainly time pressure and workload; lack of patients’ records; insufficient funding from the government; lack of understanding by healthcare providers of the training and skill sets of pharmacists; and lack of understanding by the public of the training and skill sets of pharmacists have been identified as hindering the enhancement of this role. To enable the profession to evolve fully from product-oriented services to patient-centred care, many of these barriers will need to be tackled.
Methods - This study took the form of a descriptive, cross-sectional survey that generated mostly quantitative data. Questionnaires were mailed to 524 randomly selected community pharmacists from Barnet, London and its surrounding areas, Bedfordshire, Cardiff and Edinburgh. All statistical analyses including tests for significance and correlation of variables were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (spss version 19.0).
Key findings - A majority of the respondents identified time pressure and workload (89.7%, C.I. ±4.94); lack of patients’ records (78.6%, C.I. ±6.66); insufficient funding from the government (75.2%, C.I. ±7.01); lack of understanding by healthcare providers of the training and skill sets of pharmacists (73.7%, C.I. ±7.25); and lack of understanding by the public of the training and skill sets of pharmacists (72.7%, C.I. ±7.29), as the main barriers in enhancing the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK. Male respondents were more likely to agree that ‘insufficient funding’ was a barrier (P = 0.006; Eta, η2 = 0.053). There was a negative correlation between ‘age of respondents’ and respondents agreeing that pharmacists should develop their own expertise in public health (ρ = −0.185; P = 0.029). Free text comments also highlighted a number of barriers, which included, among other things, time pressure and workload, commercial pressure from employers, lack of collaboration between healthcare professionals, and inadequate funding.
Conclusions - Several barriers associated with the public health role of community pharmacists, mainly time pressure and workload; lack of patients’ records; insufficient funding from the government; lack of understanding by healthcare providers of the training and skill sets of pharmacists; and lack of understanding by the public of the training and skill sets of pharmacists have been identified as hindering the enhancement of this role. To enable the profession to evolve fully from product-oriented services to patient-centred care, many of these barriers will need to be tackled.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 253-261 |
Journal | Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 25 Jul 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2016 |