Pharmacy staff characteristics associated with support for pharmacy-based HIV testing.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pharmacy Practice
• Infectious Disease Prevention

Background:

• Community pharmacies play a crucial role in public health initiatives.
• Pharmacy staff attitudes towards services like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing are vital for program implementation.
• The Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP) involves pharmacies in harm reduction strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the level of support for in-pharmacy HIV testing among pharmacy staff.
• To identify individual characteristics of pharmacy staff associated with support for in-pharmacy HIV testing.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive, nonexperimental, cross-sectional study was conducted.
• Surveys were completed by 131 pharmacies registered in the ESAP in New York City.
• Data were collected from 480 pharmacy staff, including pharmacists, owners/managers, and technicians/clerks.

Main Results:

• A high proportion (79.4%) of pharmacy staff supported in-pharmacy HIV testing.
• Support for in-pharmacy vaccinations was positively associated with support for in-pharmacy HIV testing.
• Negative perceptions regarding syringe sales and community litter were associated with lower support for in-pharmacy HIV testing.

Conclusions:

• In-pharmacy HIV testing garners significant support from pharmacy staff, particularly those involved in ESAP and syringe sales.
• These findings indicate that active ESAP pharmacy staff are potentially receptive to offering HIV counseling and testing services to injection drug users (IDUs).
• Further research is warranted to explore the feasibility and impact of integrating HIV testing services within community pharmacies.