Pharmacist Comfort and Awareness of HIV and HCV Point-of-Care Testing in Community Settings

To address the public health concern of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission, various intrapersonal and organizational factors were identified to explore opportunities for pharmacists as part of a HIV/HCV prevention strategy. The awareness and comfort of pharmacists practicing in independent pharmacies and student pharmacists on providing HIV and HCV point-of-care (POC) tests in an urban setting were investigated.

Surveys were anonymously completed by pharmacists practicing in independent pharmacies within a 2-mile radius of our institution and student pharmacists attending our institution. Surveys were administered over a period of 10 weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

A total of 119 pharmacy students and 23 practicing licensed pharmacists completed the survey. Only 21.7% of pharmacists were aware that HIV and HCV screenings are available as POC tests. Pharmacists were more likely to feel comfortable administering other POC tests and not HIV or HCV POC tests. Student pharmacists felt more comfortable than pharmacists in administering HIV and HCV POC tests and had a higher perceived level of comfort of their ability to administer these tests as licensed pharmacists.

In this urban setting, awareness and comfort in pharmacist-provided HIV and HCV POC testing is low, however, with proper training and education, pharmacists in these community pharmacy practice settings can expand HIV and HCV screening opportunities for the community.