Self-perceived role and knowledge of community pharmacists in organ donation

Although a majority of North Americans is in favor of organ donation, registration remains challenging. Community pharmacists are highly accessible frontline health care professionals that could contribute to a new common registration donation consent system.

The objective of the study was to assess self-perceived professional role and organ donation knowledge of community pharmacists in Quebec.

We designed a telephone interview survey using a three round modified Delphi process. Following questionnaires testing, we randomly sampled 329 community pharmacists in Quebec. Following administration, we validated the questionnaire by conducting an exploratory factorial analysis using principal component followed by a varimax rotation and rearranging domains and items accordingly.

A total of 443 pharmacists were contacted, 329 provided answers to the self-perception role and 216 of them completed the knowledge questionnaire. Overall, community pharmacists of Quebec had a positive view on organ donation and demonstrated interest in acquiring knowledge. Respondents have identified lack of time and high pharmacy attendance as non-limiting barriers to implementing the intervention. The average score on the knowledge questionnaire was 61.2%.

With the implementation of an appropriate education program to address this knowledge gap, we believe that community pharmacists could be key players in registered organ donation consent.