Abstract
Research exploring the integration of pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing by pharmacists into their primary care practices (including community pharmacies) has focused on the “external” factors that impact practice implementation. In this study, additional “internal” factors, related to the capabilities, opportunities, and motivations of pharmacists that influence their ability to implement PGx testing, were analyzed. Semi-structured interview data from the Pharmacists as Personalized Medicine Experts (PRIME) study, which examined the barriers and facilitators to implementing PGx testing by pharmacists into primary care practice, were analyzed. Through thematic analysis, using the theoretical domains framework (TDF) domains as deductive codes, the authors identified the most relevant TDF domains and applied the behavioural change wheel (BCW) to generate intervention types to aid in the implementation of PGx testing. Pharmacists described how their professional identities, practice environments, self-confidence, and beliefs in the benefits of PGx impacted their ability to provide a PGx-testing service. Potential interventions to improve the implementation of the PGx service included preparing pharmacists for managing an increased patient load, helping pharmacists navigate the software and technology requirements associated with the PGx service, and streamlining workflows and documentation requirements. As interest in the wide-scale implementation of PGx testing through community pharmacies grows, additional strategies need to address the “internal” factors that influence the ability of pharmacists to integrate testing into their practices.
Highlights
Pharmacogenomics (PGx) relates to the interplay between an individual’s genome and their response to medications [1,2]
The Pharmacists as Personalized Medicine Experts (PRIME) study aimed to address many of these gaps by providing participating pharmacists with a PGx training program, and it supported these pharmacists as they began offering PGx services in their existing practices [7]
Pharmacists described how their professional identities, professional relationships, practice environments, self-confidence, and belief in the benefits of PGx influenced the degree of success they experienced in performing the complex processes involved in the PGx service
Summary
Pharmacogenomics (PGx) relates to the interplay between an individual’s genome and their response to medications [1,2]. Providing PGx services requires that pharmacists perform new tasks within the complex contexts of their existing practice settings. Implementation research can be used to understand the interplay between these new tasks, or the behaviours and the factors that influence the participation of pharmacists in them. The TDF can guide the identification of the determinants of service implementation that exist at multiple levels (e.g., the individual level, the organizational level, and the health-system level), the majority of its 14 domains relate to factors that govern behaviour often conventionally considered to occur at an individual level (i.e., those that are “internal” to the actors implementing and delivering the new service or program) [8,10]. A unique feature of the TDF is that it complements the capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour (COM-B) model for understanding behaviour [11]. The behaviour change wheel (BCW) incorporates the COM-B model and offers a theory-based tool for determining effective intervention strategies and policies for changing a given behaviour [11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
