Development of Community Pharmacy Competencies

This study aimed to develop a consensus statement of competencies for community pharmacists in Thailand.

A 2-round modified Delphi process was used to develop consensus among a panel of community pharmacy experts. A total of 18 experts from 6 stakeholders represented a panel of each pharmacy organization in Thailand. In the first experts were asked to rate their degree of agreement on whether a competency was essential using a 7-point Likert scale (1 = "not essential competency" to 7 = "the most essential competency"). Also, in the second round, they were asked to rate the competencies from a scale of "must be included" to "must be excluded." Competencies considered "must be excluded" by a consensus of 80% or more of experts were removed from the community pharmacy competency list.

Nearly half the experts had experience in their position for more than 10 years. The expert panels were typically committee members of the Community Pharmacy Association (Thailand) and community pharmacy clerkship preceptors (29.4% and 23.5%, respectively). The number of community pharmacy competencies on the initial list was 55 competencies. None of them was eliminated after the first round. Of 55 competencies, 11 were eliminated after the second round. The final list of competency statements was 44 competencies divided into 4 domains: personal competencies, pharmacy professional competencies, patient care competencies, and management competencies.

Community pharmacy competencies include having a positive attitude and being accountable for individual patient care, providing disease prevention and health promotion, and addressing morality and ethics in business.