Implementation of pharmacist-prescribed contraceptive services: A case series of early adopters

The objective of this study was to interview five early adopters of pharmacist-prescribed contraceptive services to gain insight into successful implementation, with a focus on each pharmacy's approach, successes, challenges, lessons learned, and practice implications.

The five pharmacists who were interviewed included men and women working for independent, chain, and hospital system pharmacies in rural, suburban, and urban areas in various states. Each pharmacy had a unique approach to implementation of pharmacist-prescribed contraceptive services and a variety of service features. The pharmacists were asked about their motivation for starting the service, implementation processes, financial justification, challenges, and successes. Similarities and differences in the intervention characteristics (processes), outer setting (factors outside of the pharmacy), inner setting (factors within the pharmacy), and individual characteristics were compared to determine lessons learned and practice implications for implementation of pharmacist-prescribed contraceptive services.

The pharmacists interviewed encountered common challenges in implementing pharmacist-prescribed contraception services, including lack of community awareness, difficulty justifying the service financially, difficulty with time management, staying updated with changing regulations, and managing staff turnover. Successful contraception service implementation strategies included efficient workflow integration, financial justification of the service, and increasing community awareness of the service.

These early adopter case studies can serve as a reference for pharmacists wanting to implement contraceptive services in their pharmacies. By incorporating lessons learned and anticipating challenges, more pharmacies may be able to offer contraceptive services, further increasing patient access to contraceptives.