Abstract
Aim: To explore the expectations of Icelandic community pharmacists and final year pharmacy students on future role extensions and associated education needs. Methods: All community pharmacists across Iceland registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Iceland (LFI) (n=136) and all fourth- and fifth-year pharmacy students enrolled at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Iceland (n=69). An online cross-sectional questionnaire was designed, validated, piloted and analysed using descriptive statistics, logistic regression and content analysis. Results: The response rate was 27.9% (n=38) for community pharmacists and 33.3% (n=23) for fourth- and fifth-year pharmacy students respectively. Of these, 90.2% (n=55) saw the need for community pharmacists’ role extensions and most (n=60, 98.4%) were willing to accept additional education to make role extensions in Iceland possible. Logistic regression identified that students identified the need for pharmacists to be making prescribing recommendations to medical healthcare professionals (p=0.023); for example “Pharmacists should use their knowledge to give advice and collaborate with physicians and other healthcare professionals about drug therapies”. Conclusion: Both community pharmacists and pharmacy students showed a strong willingness to extend their roles in the future. It will require government support to overcome perceived barriers and to develop further education programmes.
Highlights
Never has the pivotal role of the community pharmacist in promoting healthier lifestyles, management of chronic medications, and disease prevention been more obvious than during the current COVID19 pandemic (Aldeyab, 2020)
Pharmacists are the third-largest group of healthcare professionals in the European Union (EU) after physicians and nurses, the development of a role extension has been very fractious with no clear, standardised policy across Europe (Garattini, 2020)
A pilot questionnaire was designed in accordance with published best practice and current scientific work conducted by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and reviewed for face and content validity by four research experienced pharmacy practitioners (Table I) (EAHP, 2010; Harrison, 2012)
Summary
Never has the pivotal role of the community pharmacist in promoting healthier lifestyles, management of chronic medications, and disease prevention been more obvious than during the current COVID19 pandemic (Aldeyab, 2020). Due to their accessibility and wide geographical distribution, community pharmacies are often the first point of contact for people with health-related concerns. Community pharmacists' extended roles vary depending on the country they work in (Mossialos, 2015). A role extension that is not reflected across all of the European countries is Iceland (Ministry of Welfare, 2012)
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