Building capacity to implement cognitive pharmaceutical services: Quantifying the needs of community pharmacies

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Health Services Research
• Organizational Management

Background:

• Community pharmacy is transitioning from product supply to service delivery.
• Organizational flexibility provides a framework for understanding capacity building in pharmacies.
• Identifying improvement areas is key for successful service integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine essential needs for community pharmacies implementing services.
• To identify key areas requiring improvement for service delivery.
• To assess the importance and improvement levels of various implementation factors.

Main Methods:

• A mail survey was distributed to 2006 Australian community pharmacies.
• A 25-item scale measured the importance and improvement levels of service implementation factors.
• Exploratory factor analysis was used to validate the construct and reliability of the measures.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis identified three key factors for importance: planning and performance, people and processes, and service awareness and infrastructure.
• Three factors emerged for improvement: planning, performance, and service awareness; infrastructure; and people and processes.
• The study revealed specific areas of importance and improvement crucial for service implementation.

Conclusions:

• Gaps in community pharmacy capacity can be addressed via business and management programs.
• Organizational flexibility highlights critical areas for stimulating change in pharmacy services.
• Enhanced planning, performance monitoring, infrastructure, and staff mix are vital for sustained service delivery.