Individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with nonprescription counseling in pharmacies participating in the New York State Expanded Syringe Access Program

Abstract

Objective To determine the individual- and neighborhood-level predictors of frequent non-prescription in-pharmacy counseling. Design Cross-sectional survey Setting 130 pharmacies registered in the Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP) in New York City. Participants 477 pharmacists, non-pharmacist owner/managers, and technicians/clerks. Main outcome measures Frequent counseling on medical conditions, health insurance, and other products. Results Technicians were less likely than pharmacists to provide frequent counseling on medical conditions or health insurance. In terms of neighborhood-level characteristics, pharmacies in areas of high employment disability were less likely to provide frequent health insurance counseling and pharmacies in areas with higher deprivation were more likely to provide counseling on other products. Conclusion ESAP pharmacy staff is a frequent source of non-prescription counseling for their patients/customers in disadvantaged neighborhoods of NYC. These findings suggest that ESAP pharmacy staff may be amenable to providing relevant counseling services to injection drug using syringe customers and warrants further investigation.

Pharmacy-randomized intervention delivering HIV prevention services during the syringe sale to people who inject drugs in New York City

“…ESAP-registered pharmacies were selected from disadvantaged neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan, Lower Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. Neighborhood selection, ESAP-pharmacy eligibility, and recruitment have been described elsewhere (Rivera et al, 2010). In brief, 325 pharmacies were screened, 172 were eligible (i.e., willingness to sell nonprescription syringes without additional requirements, at least one new syringe customer per month, and at least one new syringe customer who becomes a regular customer), 31 did not maintain eligibility, and 11 declined to participate following the screener yielding 130 pharmacies with all pharmacy staff interacting with syringe customers agreeing to undergo a baseline survey.…”

Differences in HIV risk behavior of injection drug users in New York City by health care setting

“…PHARM-Link was a pharmacy-randomized intervention study among New York City (NYC) pharmacies registered with the New York State Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP) which permits syringes to be purchased without a prescription. Detailed methods have been described elsewhere (Rivera et al, 2010). In brief, of 325 pharmacies screened over the phone using a randomly ordered ESAP-registered list of NYC pharmacies in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx, 142 pharmacies were eligible (i.e., those reporting active syringe sales without additional requirements) and 62% agreed to participate.…”

Attitudes toward Web application supporting pharmacist–clinician comanagement of postexposure prophylaxis patients

“…Pharmacists were recruited from a list of pharmacists who had participated in our previous pharmacy-based intervention studies that have explored expanding pharmacy services to include public health practice in NYC. 34 Eligibility included participation in the New York State Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP) allowing pharmacy syringe sales without a prescription. Pharmacists were contacted by phone about participation in the study.…”