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Practice change in community pharmacy: quantification of facilitators
Alison S Roberts1, Shalom I Benrimoj, Timothy F Chen
1The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. roberts_alison@bigpond.com
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
|May 15, 2008
Summary
Implementing cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS) in community pharmacies is facilitated by factors like physician relationships, remuneration, and patient expectations. A multilevel strategy is needed to integrate these professional services effectively.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy Practice Research
- Health Services Research
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Increasing international adoption of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS) in community pharmacies.
- Lack of a standardized framework for CPS implementation and understanding of practice change facilitators.
- Implementation complexity involves various internal and external factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the facilitators of practice change within Australian community pharmacies.
- To develop and validate a scale measuring factors influencing the adoption of new pharmacy services.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and qualitative study to design a 43-item "facilitators of practice change" scale.
- Quantitative survey distributed to a random sample of 2000 community pharmacies, with responses from owners, employed pharmacists, and assistants.
- Exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha used to establish scale validity and reliability.
Main Results:
- 735 pharmacies (37% response rate) provided 1303 questionnaires.
- Factor analysis identified 7 key facilitators explaining 48.8% of variance: physician relationships, remuneration, pharmacy layout, patient expectations, staffing, communication/teamwork, and external support.
- All factors demonstrated good reliability and construct validity.
Conclusions:
- Identified facilitators are crucial for integrating professional services into community pharmacy.
- Implementation of CPS requires support for both clinical delivery and the change process, with remuneration models needing adjustment.
- A multilevel strategy engaging pharmacists, staff, policymakers, educators, and researchers is recommended for successful integration.
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