Acceptability of Naloxone Dispensing Among Pharmacists

The San Francisco Department of Public Health initiated naloxone prescribing at 6 safety net clinics. We evaluated this intervention, demonstrating that naloxone prescribing from primary care clinics is feasible and acceptable.

To evaluate acceptability of naloxone dispensing to patients prescribed opioids among pharmacists serving clinics participating in a naloxone intervention.

We surveyed 58 pharmacists from November 2013 through January 2015 at pharmacies that serviced San Francisco safety net clinics. Surveys collected information on demographics, experiences in dispensing naloxone, and interest in prescriptive authority. We conducted descriptive analyses and assessed bivariate relationships.

Most respondents were staff (56.9%) or supervising pharmacists (34.5%). Most (92.9%) were aware their pharmacy stocked naloxone and 86.8% felt it should be prescribed to some or all patients on long-term opioids. Most (82.1%) dispensed naloxone at least once in the past 12 months. More than half were comfortable providing naloxone education. Nearly half (43.4%) indicated they would want authority to furnish without a prescription. Over half (55.2%) reported no problems dispensing. The common problem was insufficient naloxone knowledge. Only 12% reported more than one problem in dispensing naloxone, which was associated with being uncomfortable with educating patients (P = .03).

Naloxone dispensing was acceptable among pharmacists. Their most cited problem was insufficient naloxone education. This may be resolved with improved instructional materials, incentives for patient education, or mandatory training.