A qualitative study exploring professional pharmacy services offered by community pharmacies in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia

Perspectives of Malaysian community pharmacists on challenges and barriers to smoking cessation programme: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVES

Smoking remains a significant public health concern, necessitating effective smoking cessation interventions. This study explores the barriers community pharmacists face in delivering smoking cessation services in Malaysia and potential solutions to improve their contribution to public health.

METHODS

This qualitative study employed purposive and snowball sampling to recruit community pharmacists in Malaysia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, exploring pharmacists' perspectives on barriers, counselling approaches, follow-up strategies, and opinions on smoking cessation services. Thematic analysis was employed to identify key themes and sub-themes.

KEY FINDINGS

Three main themes emerged from the data analysis: barriers, counselling and enhancing follow-up, and pharmacists' opinions on professional fees. Under the theme of barriers, sub-themes included underutilization by the public, poor follow-up by customers, time constraints, lack of educational materials and support, and customer perception. The counselling and enhancing follow-up theme encompassed shared decision-making, motivational intervention, follow-up via phone calls or messaging apps, and providing rebate vouchers. Pharmacists' opinions on professional fees revealed mixed perspectives, with some advocating for fees to recognize the professional service provided, while others expressed concerns about access barriers.

CONCLUSIONS

Community pharmacists face challenges in delivering smoking cessation services, such as underutilization, poor follow-up, time constraints, and affordability. However, strategies like shared decision-making and proactive communication can enhance effectiveness. Addressing professional fees and collaborative efforts are essential to optimising these services.

Systematic review on the effects of the physical and social aspects of community pharmacy spaces on service users and staff

Aim:

This systematic review aimed to provide new insights into how pharmacy spaces, or the architecture of pharmacies, are experienced by pharmacy service users and staff. The review sought to identify environmental factors which may influence service users’ and staff participation in community-based pharmacy health services.

Method:

Ten databases were searched for English language publications, using a combination of search terms relating to pharmacy service users and staff; pharmacy spaces; and health and social care outcomes. Data from the final selected studies were extracted, thematically analysed using a narrative approach and the quality of each study assessed using the Integrated quality Criteria for the Review of Multiple Study designs (ICROMS).

Results:

80 articles reporting 80 studies published between 1994 and 2020 were identified; they were from 28 countries, involving around 3234 community pharmacies, 13,615 pharmacy service users, 5056 pharmacists and 78 pharmacy health staff. Most studies (94%) met the ICROMS minimum score, and half did not meet the mandatory quality criteria. Four themes likely to influence service users’ and staff experiences of pharmacy health services were identified: (1) privacy; (2) experience of the physical environment; (3) professional image; and (4) risk of error.

Conclusion:

To optimise the delivery and experience of pharmacy health services, these spaces should be made more engaging. Future applied research could focus on optimising inclusive pharmacy design features.

A Qualitative Study Exploring Community Pharmacists' Experiences and Views About Weight Management Interventions and Services in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Objective: To qualitatively explore the perspectives of community pharmacists in Malaysia on their roles in weight management, and the barriers and facilitators in the expansion of these roles. Methods: A purposive sampling method was used to recruit community pharmacists in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with community pharmacists, with an interview guide, from May 2018 to January 2019. The interviews were conducted in person (face-to-face). All interviews were audio-recorded with consent and transcribed verbatim. The interview transcripts were analyzed thematically, whereby emerging themes were coded and grouped into categories. Results: Twenty-four community pharmacists were recruited, with years of experience in pharmacy practice ranging from 2 to 40 years. Participants described their perceptions on the different weight management interventions where they emphasized the importance of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention and viewed that it should be the first-line intervention. Participants regarded their weight management service as easily accessible or approachable since community pharmacies are often the first point of call for patients seeking advice for their conditions before consulting doctors. Barriers identified by community pharmacists were mainly organizational in nature, which included lack of private consultation rooms, lack of time, and lack of qualified staff. Participants also described the need for training in weight management. Conclusion: Community pharmacists in Malaysia believed that they can positively contribute to the area of weight management. They cited multiple roles that they could play in weight management interventions and services. The roles cited include provision of education and advice, including on lifestyle modifications, drug therapy, weight loss products and supplements, and monitoring and providing referrals to other healthcare professionals. However, barriers would need to be addressed, including through pharmacist training, to strengthen and improve community pharmacists' roles and contributions in weight management service.

The extent and barriers in providing pharmaceutical care services by community pharmacists in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Since the introduction of pharmaceutical care concept by Hepler and Strand in 1990, community pharmacists worldwide have been realigning their roles from being product-focused to patient-orientated to improve patient's quality of life. The objectives of this study were to determine the type of services, with emphasis on the extent of pharmaceutical care services provided by community pharmacists and the barriers in providing such services in Malaysia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using an online questionnaire. Community pharmacists in Malaysia were invited to participate in the study via emails. The questionnaire was structured based on the Malaysian Community Pharmacy Benchmarking Guidelines, the five practice principles of pharmaceutical care by the American Pharmacists Association and other studies. The online questionnaire was opened for 6 months, from April to September 2018. A reminder to participate was sent via email to the community pharmacists every fortnight.

RESULTS

A total of 420 community pharmacists responded to the online questionnaire. Besides essential services such as treatment for minor illness, medicine dispensing and counselling, most of the respondents were providing health screening and monitoring (99.5%), selection and recommendation of health supplements (90.5%), patient medication review (68.8%), weight management (52.4%) and counselling on smoking cessation (51.0%). More than half (53.3%) of the respondents reported that they were providing pharmaceutical care services to patients with chronic diseases. Based on the practice principles of pharmaceutical care, the respondents were involved in patients' data collection (23.3%), medical information evaluation (18.6%), formulating a drug therapy plan (9.3%), implementing a drug therapy plan (4.5%), and monitoring and modifying the plan (18.3%). Lack of separation between prescribing and dispensing was perceived as the main barrier to the implementation of pharmaceutical care services by a majority of the respondents (84.0%).

CONCLUSIONS

The present study found that pharmaceutical care services provided by community pharmacists in Malaysia were inadequate compared to international practice principles. Areas that need improvement included collaboration with patients' other health care providers; more proactive management of patient's medicine regimen; having proper patient monitoring and follow-up mechanisms, and documentation.

Community pharmacists on the frontline in the chronic disease management: The need for primary healthcare policy reforms in low and middle income countries

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), over 12 million people die yearly from chronic diseases and this number is expected to increase if concerted actions are not taken. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the roles and impact of community pharmacists in chronic disease management support and the need for policymakers in LMICs to reposition community pharmacists appropriately for this extended role. Recent findings have shown that community pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers to the members of the community. Published evidence have demonstrated that community pharmacists' interventions in chronic diseases significantly improve economic, clinical, and humanistic outcomes. However, they are not officially recognized as primary healthcare providers in LMICs. Therefore, there is need for policy reforms that will encourage strategic use of the clinical skills of community pharmacists as part of the primary healthcare team in LMICs.

Perspectives of community pharmacists in Pakistan about practice change and implementation of extended pharmacy services: a mixed method study

Background Community pharmacists' role in the primary health care, patient-centered services, beyond traditional dispensing services is well established in the developed world. However, this role is not fully established in low-middle-income countries including Pakistan. Objective To explore community pharmacists' perspectives and preparedness about practice change and associated facilitators and barriers to extended services. Setting A study was conducted involving community pharmacists of Lahore, Pakistan. Method Two phased studies were conducted using mixed-method sequential design. The first phase involved qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews with the community pharmacists, while the second phase constituted a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Main outcome measure Pharmacists' perspectives about extended pharmacy services, facilitators, barriers and preparedness for the practice change. Results For the first phase, pharmacists were purposively sampled and the saturation yielded a final sample size of fifteen pharmacists (N = 15). The thematic content analysis yielded four distinct themes; (1) current practices and familiarity with extended pharmacy services (2) practice gap between Pakistan and the developed countries (3) facilitators and the preparedness, and (4) barriers towards its implementation and provision. The second part was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional phase, where a total of 348 community pharmacists were approached, while only 242 responded, yielding a response rate of 69.5%. The triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data identified several barriers such as; shortage of pharmacists, lack of knowledge and skills, poor collaboration with general practitioners, failure of customers to pay for extended services. Facilitators and preparedness for the provision of extended pharmacy services were; access to patient notes, follow-up, separate counselling areas, accreditation of specific services and sufficient resources. Conclusion This study's findings call for the implementation and enforcement of Punjab Drug Sale Rules 2007 to facilitate the practice change and provision of comprehensive pharmacy services in Punjab, Pakistan. There is a need for additional laws to define community pharmacists' roles, uniform job description, training, new funding model, separate area, and accreditation of extended pharmacy services in Pakistan.

Enhancing pharmacists' role in developing countries to overcome the challenge of antimicrobial resistance: a narrative review

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health challenge and developing countries are more vulnerable to the adverse health impacts of AMR. Health care workers including pharmacists can play a key role to support the appropriate use of antimicrobials in developing countries and reduce AMR.

Objective

The aim of this review is to investigate the role of pharmacists in the appropriate use of antibiotics and to identify how the pharmacists’ role can be enhanced to combat AMR in developing countries.

Method

The databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched for articles published between 2000 and the end of August 2017 that involved studies on the role of pharmacists in developing countries, the expanded services of pharmacists in patient care in developed countries and pharmacists’ contributions in antimicrobial use in both developed and developing nations.

Key findings

In developing countries pharmacists role in patient care are relatively limited. However, in developed nations, the pharmacists’ role has expanded to provide multifaceted services in patient care resulting in improved health outcomes from clinical services and reduced health care costs. Success stories of pharmacist-led programs in combating AMR demonstrates that appropriately trained pharmacists can be part of the solution to overcome the global challenge of AMR. Pharmacists can provide education to patients enabling them to use antibiotics appropriately. They can also provide guidance to their healthcare colleagues on appropriate antibiotic prescribing.

Conclusions

This review highlights that appropriately trained pharmacists integrated into the health care system can make a significant impact in minimising inappropriate antibiotic use in developing countries. Strengthening and enhancing the pharmacists’ role in developing countries has the potential to positively impact the global issue of AMR.