Evaluation of community pharmacists' recommendations to standardized patient scenarios.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent trends in the global nonprescription drug market show a massive increase in medicine availability to the general public. This places greater responsibility on community pharmacists to ensure that patients exercise self-care appropriately. This small study examined pharmacist performance in facilitating patient self-care. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether an appropriate course of action was taken by UK community pharmacists practicing in one geographic area when presented with 1 of 2 case scenarios: headache or abdominal pain. METHODS: A covert researcher, posing as a patient, spoke with the pharmacist on duty at each of 30 pharmacies, asking for advice on one of the scenarios. The pharmacist was interviewed and their responses were examined by an expert panel. RESULTS: Thirty pharmacies were visited resulting in 28 consultations, 14 each for both scenarios. Pharmacists performed better when counseling the "patient" with abdominal pain than headache. The majority of questions asked were categorized as being relevant by the panel (66% for headache, 89% for abdominal pain), although in both scenarios, the expected outcome of referral was observed only in 7 of the consultations for headache and in 8 cases for abdominal pain. Questioning centered on quantification and clarification of the presenting problem and rarely on questions related to history taking. CONCLUSIONS: Performance levels of the community pharmacists varied considerably. For all pharmacists to perform well, greater emphasis should be placed on eliciting information from the patient to ensure that the appropriate course of action is taken.Citation
Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 38(6): 1080-1085Publisher
Harvey Whitney Books CompanyJournal
Annals of PharmacotherapyPubMed ID
15113984Additional Links
http://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/full/38/6/1080Type
Journal articleLanguage
enISSN
1060-0280ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1345/aph.1D519
Scopus Count
Collections
Related articles
- A systematic review in select countries of the role of the pharmacist in consultations and sales of non-prescription medicines in community pharmacy.
- Authors: van Eikenhorst L, Salema NE, Anderson C
- Issue date: 2017 Jan-Feb
- Measuring the assessment and counseling provided with the supply of nonprescription asthma reliever medication: a simulated patient study.
- Authors: Schneider CR, Everett AW, Geelhoed E, Kendall PA, Clifford RM
- Issue date: 2009 Sep
- The 'third class' of medications: Sales and purchasing behavior are associated with pharmacist only and pharmacy medicine classifications in Australia.
- Authors: Emmerton L
- Issue date: 2009 Jan-Feb
- Intern pharmacists as change agents to improve the practice of nonprescription medication supply: provision of salbutamol to patients with asthma.
- Authors: Schneider CR, Everett AW, Geelhoed E, Padgett C, Ripley S, Murray K, Kendall PA, Clifford RM
- Issue date: 2010 Jul-Aug
- Use of Pharmacist Consultations for Nonprescription Laxatives in Japan: An Online Survey.
- Authors: Shibata K, Matsumoto A, Nakagawa A, Akagawa K, Nakamura A, Yamamoto T, Kurata N
- Issue date: 2016