Assessing community pharmacists' attitudes towards identifying opportunities for deprescribing in clinical practice in Ireland

The main objective of this study was to assess community pharmacists' thoughts regarding the role they can play in effectively integrating deprescribing into clinical practice in Ireland. The aim was to assess pharmacists' (1) knowledge of deprescribing, (2) confidence in deprescribing, (3) attitudes towards deprescribing and (4) barriers and facilitators to deprescribing in a community pharmacy setting.

An online questionnaire was disseminated to pharmacists currently registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, with instruction only to complete if working in community pharmacy. Statistical analysis was conducted on the quantitative data, whereas thematic analysis was carried out on the open-ended responses.

Results indicate good knowledge scores and positive attitudes surrounding deprescribing, with demographic factors having no significant effect on results. Although deprescribing knowledge is high, willingness to engage is hindered by obstacles such as time. Remuneration was identified as an enabler for deprescribing. Interdisciplinary educational opportunities and bidirectional communication channels with prescribers are viewed as the major facilitators of deprescribing.

Community pharmacists demonstrate that they possess sufficient knowledge, confidence and willingness to play a greater role in facilitating deprescribing. To enable this role expansion, enablers such as education and funding need to be implemented, to overcome barriers such as insufficient time. Further studies are required to assess community pharmacists' deprescribing competence, to demonstrate their ability to fulfil this role in clinical practice in Ireland.