Pharmacy Roles and Service Delivery Models to Provide Medication Support in Rural Queensland, Australia

Abstract

s / Research in Social and Admin the ever-increasing number of heroin-dependent clients in the community. Pharmacy Roles and Service Delivery Models to Provide Medication Support in Rural Queensland, Australia A.C.W. Tan, L. Emmerton, L. Hattingh, V. Jarvis, School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, School of Pharmacy, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Australia Objectives: This research explored (1) the roles of, and issues reported by, rural healthcare providers in medication supply and management in a rural Queensland (Australia) community, and (2) roles and service delivery models for pharmacists and pharmacy support staff to provide medication support to the rural community. Methods: Ethical approval was obtained. A rural community in Queensland, Australia was identified as a suitable study location through a geographical mapping exercise. Healthcare providers with medication-related roles in the study community (n1⁄449) participated in semi-structured interviews on-site between October and November 2010. Interview topics were informed via literature review and interviews with 12 key informants external to the study community. Interviews were recorded, and manually transcribed and analysed thematically. Results: Interview data revealed difficulties in ensuring continuity of medication therapy in rural areas. Extended prescribing and medication supply roles were supported in principle. Healthcare providers reported challenges in providing optimal medication management due to ineffective medication information transfer between health service providers and inadequate medication support systems for rural healthcare providers. Potential roles or service delivery models for rural pharmacists to provide support included medication liaison services and extended pharmacy services via telepharmacy, sessional employment or outreach services. Conclusions: Providing medication services in rural Australia can be challenging. There is potential for pharmacists and pharmacy support staff to support rural healthcare providers and improve medication management in rural areas. While there may be jurisdictional differences across state borders of Australia and internationally, the roles and models explored should be applicable to rural settings similar to Australia’s, at least for exploratory purposes. International examples of rural pharmacy practice could also be trialled in Australia, pending their compliance with legal and professional frameworks. A National Survey of Working Conditions in UK Community Pharmacy Following Initiatives to Extend the Pharmacist's Role W.K. Gidman, S. Tagg, J.N. Booth, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland Objectives: Internationally community pharmacists have extended their role by becoming involved in providing medicine optimisation, health promotion and screening services. In the Great Britain (GB) new pharmacy contracts frameworks (NPCF) formalised these changes from 2005 onwards. Previous research conducted in 2006 in England and Wales has suggested that increased workload and insufficient remuneration initially impeded the community pharmacist’s involvement in service provision outlined in the NPCF. Further evidence also suggests that work related stress attributed to workload intensification could impact on patient care. This study aimed to examine GB community pharmacists’ attitudes following contractual change. Methods: Following University ethical approval a link to a web-based survey was emailed to GB community pharmacists (n1⁄411437) using SNAP (v10) in March 2010. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain supplied the sample from registration data stratified using national census data. Following two reminder emails the data were transferred into SPSS for analysis (v17). Nonparametric tests were chosen for inferential analysis because the Kolmogrov-Smirnov test demonstrated that the data were not normally distributed. Results: The data were screened, and duplicate cases were removed leaving a total of 689 cases (a response rate of 5%). The sample was representative of GB census figures for community pharmacist gender, ethnicity and country of work. This study suggests that the majority of community pharmacists believed that, since the implementation of the new contract, their workload had increased (95%), stress levels had risen (91%), pay had stayed the same (58%) and levels of job satisfaction had decreased (51%). Responses were significantly related to the pharmacists’ role and the type of pharmacy organisation. Conclusions: Policy makers should be aware that data reported here suggest that workloads and stress levels have risen following the implementation of the NPCF in GB; the implications for patient care and safety require careful consideration. Pharmacy Students’ Attitudes about Independent Prescribing – The Canadian Perspective M. Rosenthal, C. Hughes, K. Hoti, T. Charrois, EPICORE Centre/c/COMPRIS, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Alberta, e33 istrative Pharmacy 8 (2012) e1–e66