Pharmaceutical care certificate program: assessment of pharmacists' implementation into practice

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Continuing Education
• Health Outcomes

Background:

• Community pharmacists play a crucial role in patient care.
• There is a need for structured training programs to enhance pharmacists' skills in pharmaceutical care.
• The Pharmaceutical Care Certificate Program (PCCP) was developed to address these needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a Pharmaceutical Care Certificate Program (PCCP) on community pharmacists.
• To assess changes in pharmacists' job functions and perceived preparedness in delivering pharmaceutical care.
• To identify barriers to implementing pharmaceutical care and propose solutions.

Main Methods:

• A repeated measures design was employed to compare pharmacists' outcomes at baseline and after one year.
• The study included 36 pharmacists from retail, independent, and managed care settings.
• Key outcome measures included pharmacist job functions, pharmaceutical care components, and perceived barriers.

Main Results:

• Pharmacists demonstrated significantly improved preparedness in all pharmaceutical care components after completing the PCCP.
• The program successfully enhanced pharmacists' knowledge and skills related to practice re-engineering and drug therapy management.
• Participants reported increased confidence in performing pharmaceutical care activities.

Conclusions:

• The PCCP is effective in enhancing pharmacists' readiness to provide pharmaceutical care.
• Time constraints were identified as a significant barrier to the practical application of learned skills.
• Collaboration between pharmacists and pharmacy schools is proposed as a strategy to overcome implementation challenges.