Activities and Challenges of Sports Pharmacist: A Questionnaire Survey

We conducted a questionnaire survey with sports pharmacists, who engage in anti-doping, to elucidate the activities and challenges they face in their daily work. A total of 218 responses were obtained with the cooperation of the four prefectural pharmacists' associations. We found that 46.8% of respondents had consultations for medication doping concerns once a year or less, while 17.0% reported these multiple times per year. 83.9% of respondents indicated that connections among sports pharmacists would be beneficial, whereas 41.3% had communication with sports pharmacists they were acquainted with. In free text responses, we found challenges experienced were a lack of practical experience, the necessity of increased skills, the lack of cooperation among sports pharmacists and between sports pharmacists and sports organizations, and low awareness of their presence. Regarding future plans, 93.6% indicated an intention to renew certification. 64.2% of respondents were interested in networking events with staff, such as coaches or trainers and 48.6% were interested in regular consultations at training venues. Our findings suggest that in order to expand the anti-doping activities of sports pharmacists, networking opportunities among sports pharmacists and platforms for collaboration with sports organizations should be considered.