Medicine-related questions handled by community pharmacists: an exploratory study

The objectives of this study were to determine what type of medicine-related questions community pharmacists were asked and to ascertain whether responses given were appropriate.

All community pharmacists from three Primary Care Trusts were invited to participate in a week-long exploratory study. Piloted data-collection forms were self-completed. Data were analysed descriptively using Microsoft Excel and statistical tests conducted with Minitab.

Sixty-six medicines-related questions were answered by participating pharmacists. The type of questions asked were varied and asked by patients, the general public and health care professionals. Most answers (over 80%) were assessed as being appropriate; only four questions raised concern with assessors that possible patient harm may have resulted. Almost half (42%) of the questions were answered without consultation to any reference source.

Despite the small-scale nature of the study the findings show that community pharmacists provide a good-quality service that is easily accessible to all people. However, the failure to use reference sources may impact on pharmacists' ability to answer medicine-related questions fully.