Identifying Community Pharmacists' Readiness to Participate in Transitions of Care

Optimizing care transitions: the role of the community pharmacist

“…In a study conducted by Gibson et al, only 53.7% of surveyed pharmacists expressed a clear idea of the role of the community pharmacist in TOC services. 26 While it may be difficult to standardize the procedural aspects of TOC services as practice settings, organizational structure, and partnerships with hospitals and third parties may differ, it is integral that the fundamental components of TOC services remain the same. 22 , 23 , 27 Many pharmacy organizations, quality initiatives, and coalitions have put forth resource centers, toolkits, and publications to aid in the implementation of quality services and increase TOC program success.…”

“…While community pharmacists may be eager to deliver patient-care programs such as TOC, medication dispensing remains a fundamental component for most community pharmacy business models. 26 Pharmacists express a perceived lack of support from upper management in terms of the importance of performing medication reconciliation and rather a focus on prescription numbers and costs. 22 By advertising short wait times for prescriptions, pharmacists believe that there is not adequate time to perform all duties of a medication reconciliation while dispensing medications for a patient who has been discharged.…”

“…Possibly the biggest concern of community pharmacists is the time required to provide TOC services. 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 Implementing workflow changes to incorporate the components of a TOC program that suit the needs of the pharmacy can improve efficiency and decrease disruptions in the workflow process. 16 Community pharmacists should become comfortable delegating tasks to the appropriate personnel, including pharmacy technicians, student pharmacists, and pharmacy residents based on the level of clinical judgment required.…”

A community pharmacist–led service to facilitate care transitions and reduce hospital readmissions

“…22,24 Pharmacists working in community settings have positive attitudes about their impact on care transitions but have identified barriers such as limited time and difficulty getting the necessary patient data needed to understand the patient's postdischarge medication orders. 25 To date, most studies on community pharmacists participating in care transitions have been qualitative or descriptive in nature or were pilots with small sample sizes. There is a need for further studies on transitions of care interventions using community pharmacists.…”

Emerging role of pharmacists in managing patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…Several barriers prevent the implementation of community pharmacy in transitions of care. 68 , 69 Notably, interventions by unit-based clinical pharmacists in an institutional setting may potentially lead to improved outcomes, 70 with patients participating in physician-pharmacist collaborative practices demonstrated to have improved disease control. 71 However, pharmacists may not always be based in a hospital unit and may therefore find it challenging to increase awareness of newly implemented services.…”