Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Pharmacist Orientation Toward Dispensing Controlled Substances

Abstract

Ongoing tracking of pharmacists' use of PDMPs is important both at the implementation stage and as PDMPs develop over time. The orientation construct developed here is useful in understanding pharmacist behavior and attitudes towards patients potentially at risk for misuse of controlled substance medications. Further research on this construct could shed light on barriers and incentives for pharmacist PDMP participation and use and provide guidance for pharmacist training, ultimately enhancing patient care.

The attitudes and practice strategies of community pharmacists towards drug misuse management: A scoping review

“…Attitudes and practice strategies of pharmacists towards drug misuse management and the relevance of years of practice experience were discussed in seven studies . The majority of pharmacists recruited by Leong et al and Patel et al had greater than 10 years pharmacy practice experience, and 50% of the respondents interviewed by Fendrich et al had greater than 20 years practice experience. Butler and Sheridan reported that community pharmacists with greater practice experience were more willing to confront patients about drug misuse.…”

“…Fifteen articles reported that pharmacists felt they had gaps in knowledge related to addiction and pain management, or in the misuse potential of over‐the‐counter and opioid medications . Pharmacists in a qualitative study by Hagemeier et al, that specifically explored pharmacists' perceptions of the behaviours of patients who were misusing drugs and the associated challenges reported that they felt they lacked the knowledge to deal with aggressive and intimidating patient behaviour .…”

“…The included studies were published between 1999 and 2018. Eight of the studies were conducted in the United States of America, five studies in the United Kingdom and two studies conducted in Australia, Canada and New Zealand …”

“…Eleven of the studies used cross‐sectional quantitative surveys for data collection . There was one case study, four qualitative studies, one mixed‐method design study and two studies that employed a modified Delphi approach …”

“…Community pharmacy settings featured in all the studies, whereas general practice clinics were included in five studies, hospital‐based pharmacies in two studies, and in the study by Lafferty et al, 8.9% of the sample population of pharmacists were employed in a mail order practice where prescription medications were supplied via an Internet website service. It was difficult to separate the data from the studies that included hospital‐based pharmacies and the Internet website service . The decision was made to include these studies because the rest of the data was relevant to the research question and met the scoping review inclusion criteria.…”