Pharmacists' and consumers' viewpoints on counselling on prescription medicines in Australian community pharmacies

Abstract

Pharmacists regularly provided verbal counselling on new prescription medicines, but infrequently provided written medicine information or any type of information for regular medicines. Lack of consumers' interest in receiving prescription medicine information may have contributed to the low counselling rates. Thus, there is a need to develop strategies to improve pharmacist counselling practice and to enhance consumer involvement in the counselling process.

Misuse of non-prescription codeine containing products: Recommendations for detection and reduction of risk in community pharmacies

“…Pharmacist and counter staff training programmes in the delivery of brief interventions in the area of substance misuse and mental health are reported to remedy lack of staff knowledge or confidence and result in increased knowledge, positive attitudinal scores, work satisfaction and self-related competencies (Butler & Sheridan, 2010;Dhital, Whittlesea, Milligan, Khan, & Norman, 2013;Fitzgerald et al, 2009;McBride, Pates, Ramadan, & McGowan, 2003;Sheridan et al, 2008). Strategies to improve pharmacist counseling and enhance customer engagement in health care advice, screening and brief intervention processes are warranted (Puspitasari, Aslani, & Krass, 2010). Building on codeine specific health care advice, screening and brief interventions, a further expansion in the role of community pharmacies to include harm reduction participation and provision of detoxification programmes for codeine dependents could be considered (Hughes, McElnay, Hughes, & McKenna, 1999;Van Hout et al, 2014).…”

Community pharmacy in Australia: A health hub destination of the future

“…This is not the first call for pharmacists to improve this service. 17,44 Low rates of CMI leaflet supply by community pharmacists have been identified, particularly for repeat prescription items where the consumer had previously used the medication. 44 If community pharmacies are to become a health hub destination, it is vital that pharmacists have the time to provide CMIs and medication counselling tailored to the needs of the customer, as well as any additional information (e.g., health promotion).…”

Medicine-related services in community pharmacy: public preferences for pharmacy attributes and promotional methods and comparison with pharmacists' perceptions

“…Examples of these are the home medicine review (HMR) service in Australia, medication therapy management services (MTM) in the US, and the medicines use review (MUR) and new medicines service (NMS) in England. While research has investigated the provision of these services from the perspectives of both pharmacists and users separately, relatively few studies have compared the views of pharmacists and potential service users 1–3. Studies in the US have explored the expectations of potential users of MTM and investigated the factors they view as important in selecting a pharmacy 4,5.…”