Community pharmacists’ attitudes towards medicines use reviews and factors affecting the numbers performed

Abstract

This study demonstrates that pharmacists perceive MURs to be an opportunity for an extended role and of value to patients. However, this study has identified perceived barriers, including the availability of a consultation area suitable for performing MURs, time to perform MURs and support staff. The number of MURs performed by pharmacists appears to be affected by the pharmacists' job title, their working hours and the presence of a consultation area. Additional support for 'locum' pharmacists was also highlighted and may be needed.

Medication use review in Qatar: Are community pharmacists prepared for the extended professional role?

“…The respondents acknowledged that the provision of MUR services is a great opportunity for an extended role of community pharmacist and that MUR makes an excellent use of the pharmacist's professional skills in the community. This is in line with what has been reported among community pharmacists in the UK on moving their professional skills towards best practices and new extended roles [7]. Furthermore, GP's acknowledgement of pharmacists' skill and knowledge, with regard to medicines and the potential benefit of extending new services were found by other studies [26,27].…”

“…This would be a prerequisite for the accreditation of pharmacists who are willing to participate in an MUR services program, as per the requirements of other countries offering MUR in the community pharmacy setting [7,9,11,15].…”

“…The questionnaire was developed with reference to the literature pertaining to MUR activities and MUR competencies [7,[9][10][11][12]15], and after consultation with researchers and licensed community pharmacists. To improve face validity, the questionnaire was piloted on six community pharmacists (those who work in different community pharmacies with different general experiences and also with different nationalities and years of experiences in Qatarwho were eventually not included as study participants).…”

“…MUR is defined as a service provision with an accredited pharmacist undertaking structured adherence-centered reviews with patients on multiple medications (prescribed and non-prescribed), particularly those receiving medications for long-term conditions [5] in a private consultation area within the pharmacy, where patient and pharmacist are able to sit and communicate without interference or being overheard by others (pharmacy staff inclusive) [6]. Following the MUR, a report is provided to the patient and if necessary to the patient's general practitioner [7]. MUR gives an opportunity for patients to discuss their medications with a pharmacist, to increase understanding of how their medicines should be used and why they have been prescribed, as well as solving any problems they may be experiencing [8].…”

Investigating the organisational factors associated with variation in clinical productivity in community pharmacies: a mixed-methods study

“…Although previous studies have described an association between pharmacy ownership type and the volume of services delivered (MURs) 18 or pharmacists' perceptions of the relationship between ownership type, volume of services and service quality, 15,74 none have taken a systematic approach on such a large scale to investigate all these inter-relationships. Furthermore, this study has, for the first time, looked further than 'ownership type' as an explanatory organisational variable and investigated a range of different organisational characteristics and configurations simultaneously to obtain a better understanding of the way in which pharmacies operate and how that might affect clinical productivity.…”