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Community pharmacists: a forgotten resource for palliative care
Paul Anthony Tait1, John Gray, Paul Hakendorf
1Southern Adelaide Palliative Services, Repatriation General Hospital, Adelaide, Australia.
BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
|June 21, 2014
Summary
Community pharmacies stock few essential palliative care medicines, hindering home-based symptom control. Improved strategies are needed to ensure timely access for patients nearing end-of-life care.
Area of Science:
- Palliative Care
- Community Pharmacy Practice
- Medication Access
Background:
- Home-based palliative care is crucial for patient comfort.
- Timely access to symptom-control medicines is vital for patients at home.
- Current community pharmacy stock levels for palliative care medicines are largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify medicine access issues for community-based palliative care patients.
- To establish baseline data on community pharmacy stock of essential palliative medicines.
- To assess community pharmacist awareness of palliative care patients.
Main Methods:
- Observational study surveying community pharmacies in South Australia.
- A list of 13 essential palliative medicines was used for the survey.
- Data collected on stock availability, expiry dates, and pharmacist awareness.
Main Results:
- Pharmacies stocked a median of 3 out of 13 medicines; 1 in 8 stocked none.
- Postcode aggregation showed a median stock of 5 medicines per region.
- Only 1 in 5 pharmacies learned of patient palliative status from other health practitioners.
Conclusions:
- Community pharmacies are underutilized in supporting home-based palliative care.
- New strategies are required by palliative care services and government to improve medicine access.
- Enhanced collaboration can improve medication availability for palliative patients and their carers.
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