To investigate community pharmacy managers' perceptions of their role in providing health care to patients and to compare these with their aspirations for the future.
Fourteen pharmacist managers from one regional area of a UK national multiple pharmacy chain participated in two focus groups.
Participants voiced a shared vision of wanting to play a more integral part in the health care of patients. Strategies put forward to embrace a more participative role included delegation of health screening and minor illness clinics from the prescriber to the pharmacist, having more formalised and open channels of communication with prescribers and moving away from performing technical duties, such as the physical assembly of medicines. Participants in both groups showed awareness that apathy and inaction would result in potential opportunities for pharmacy to be lost or passed over to another profession within the primary health care team (PHCT). Two key external obstacles that currently prevented attainment of desired roles were identified: first, a lack of awareness among other health care professionals and the general public about the pharmacist's skills and attributes and, secondly, current UK legislation that limits the potential for community pharmacists to expand their role away from the pharmacy premises.
Participants believed that they could provide a more comprehensive pharmaceutical service if given the chance. However, they believed that implementation of change would be difficult considering the obstacles that needed to be surmounted for change to occur.
研究社区药房经理对于他们在向患者提供医疗保健方面的角色看法,并将这些与他们对未来的期望进行比较。
来自英国一个全国性多家药房连锁店的一个区域的14名药剂师经理参加了两个焦点小组。
参与者表达了共同的愿景,希望在患者的医疗保健中扮演更加重要的角色。提出的策略包括将健康筛查和轻微疾病诊所的委托从开药者转移到药剂师,与开药者建立更加正式和开放的沟通渠道,以及远离执行技术职责,如药品的物理组装。两个小组的参与者都意识到,冷漠和不作为会导致药房失去潜在的机会,或将其转移到初级医疗保健团队(PHCT)中的另一个职业。确定了当前阻碍实现期望角色的两个关键外部障碍:首先,其他医疗保健专业人员和普通公众对药剂师的技能和特点缺乏认识;其次,目前英国的法律限制了社区药剂师在药房场所外扩大其角色的潜力。
参与者认为,如果有机会,他们可以提供更全面的药学服务。然而,他们认为,考虑到需要克服的障碍,实施变革将很困难。