WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT • Pharmacists, along with certain other health professionals, may train and practice as supplementary or independent prescribers. The implementation and sustainability of pharmacist prescribing services throughout Britain will require a sizeable workforce. However, a survey of GB pharmacists highlighted that only a minority has taken any action to investigate prescribing training. Newly registered pharmacists may be keen to explore extended clinical roles and their engagement is likely to be key to the future success of this initiative. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • Newly registered pharmacists are cautious in their approach to taking on prescribing training and roles. While almost all expressed interest in prescribing training, they acknowledged training needs in clinical examination, patient monitoring and medico‐legal aspects of prescribing. Longitudinal research on a cohort of newly registered pharmacist prescribers is warranted, aiming to identify later prescribing training actions and subsequent impact on patient care. AIM To investigate newly registered pharmacists' awareness of pharmacist prescribing and views on potential future roles as prescribers. METHODS A mailed questionnaire was sent to all 1658 pharmacists joining the Pharmacist Register in 2009. RESULTS The response rate was 25.2% (n= 418). While most (86.4%) expressed interest in prescribing training, they acknowledged training needs in clinical examination, patient monitoring and medico‐legal aspects of prescribing. Two thirds of respondents (66.3%) thought the current requirement of being registered as a pharmacist for 2 years prior to commencing prescribing training was appropriate. CONCLUSION Newly registered pharmacists are cautious in their approach to taking on prescribing training and roles.

Background Pre‐registration pharmacy graduates are a key group in relation to developing and implementing innovations in practice. Objective To explore the views and reflections on pharmacist prescribing of UK pre‐registration pharmacy graduates. Method Semi‐structured telephone interviews with a sample (n = 12) of pre‐registration pharmacy graduates. Key findings Most reported a desire to train as prescribers, largely for reasons of professional development, but acknowledged the need first to develop as pharmacists. They perceived the lack of organisational strategy, pharmacist prescribers' self‐confidence and additional workload to be barriers and were aware of the value of interprofessional relationships as potential facilitators to pharmacist prescribing. Conclusion While participants were supportive of pharmacist prescribing, they highlighted the need first to gain experience as pharmacists and were acutely aware of barriers to prescribing implementation.

No abstract

Objectives This systematic review (SR) reviews the evidence on use of theory in developing and evaluating behaviour change interventions (BCIs) to improve clinicians’ antimicrobial prescribing (AP). Methods The SR protocol was registered with PROSPERO. Eleven databases were searched from inception to October 2018 for peer-reviewed, English-language, primary literature in any healthcare setting and for any medical condition. This included research on changing behavioural intentions (e.g. in simulated scenarios) and research measuring actual AP. All study designs/methodologies were included. Excluded were: grey literature and/or those which did not state a theory. Two reviewers independently extracted and quality assessed the data. The Theory Coding Scheme (TCS) evaluated the extent of the use of theory. Results Searches found 4227 potentially relevant papers after removal of duplicates. Screening of titles/abstracts led to dual assessment of 38 full-text papers. Ten (five quantitative, three qualitative and two mixed-methods) met the inclusion criteria. Studies were conducted in the UK (n = 8), Canada (n = 1) and Sweden (n = 1), most in primary care settings (n = 9), targeting respiratory tract infections (n = 8), and medical doctors (n = 10). The most common theories used were Theory of Planned Behaviour (n = 7), Social Cognitive Theory (n = 5) and Operant Learning Theory (n = 5). The use of theory to inform the design and choice of intervention varied, with no optimal use as recommended in the TCS. Conclusions This SR is the first to investigate theoretically based BCIs around AP. Few studies were identified; most were suboptimal in theory use. There is a need to consider how theory is used and reported and the systematic use of the TCS could help.

No abstract