Assessing pharmacists' knowledge and compliance with narcotic inventory management using a computer-based educational platform

Pharmacy professionals are required to take all necessary steps to protect commonly misused drugs such as opioids at their pharmacies to minimize the risk of diversion. The aim of this study is to assess Canadian pharmacy professionals' knowledge and compliance with federal and provincial regulations using the computer-based educational platform Pharmacy5in5.

A Narcotic Inventory module was created and reviewed by experts representing provincial and federal regulators. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze users' performance in quizzes. Binomial regression and logistic regression models were used to investigate the effect of demographic factors on users' performance. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

The analysis included data collected over a period of three months. A total of 792 users accessed the Narcotic Inventory module on the Pharmacy5in5 website between July 2019 and November 2019. Most of the users were licenced pharmacists (64%), female (72%), received their training in Canada (68%), and were practising in Ontario (80%). Users performed best on the quiz addressing the steps for reconciliation of inventory (93%), and worst on the quiz reviewing how to prepare for a Health Canada visit (66%).

Overall, pharmacy professionals showed adequate knowledge of the CDSA and provincial/territorial regulations regarding opioids inventory management. Conversely, the study highlighted poor compliance with the reporting of losses and theft of controlled substances by pharmacy professionals. Innovative approaches are needed to influence pharmacy professionals' behaviours to improve their compliance with best practices concerning inventory management to reduce drug diversion.