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Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play?


ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To explore the reported practice of Australian community pharmacists when dealing with medication supply requests in absence of a valid prescription. METHODS:Self-administered questionnaire was posted to 1490 randomly selected community pharmacies across all Australian states and territories. This sample was estimated to be a 20% of all Australian community pharmacies. RESULTS:Three hundred eighty five pharmacists participated in the study (response rate achieved was 27.9% (there were 111 undelivered questionnaires). Respondents indicated that they were more likely to provide medications to regular customers without a valid prescription compared to non-regular customers (p<0.0001). However, supply was also influenced by the type of prescription and the medication requested. In the case of type of prescription (Standard, Authority or Private) this relates to the complexity/probability of obtaining a valid prescription from the prescriber at a later date (i.e. supply with an anticipated prescription). Decisions to supply and/or not supply related to medication type were more complex. For some cases, including medication with potential for abuse, the practice and/or the method of supply varied significantly according to age and gender of the pharmacist, and pharmacy location (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Although being a regular customer does not guarantee a supply, results of this study reinforce the importance for patients having a regular pharmacy, where pharmacists were more likely to continue medication supply in cases of patients presenting without a valid prescription. We would suggest, more flexible legislation should be implemented to allow pharmacists to continue supplying of medication when obtaining a prescription is not practical.

SUBMITTER: Abukres SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4865180 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play?

Abukres Salem Hasn SH   Hoti Kreshnik K   Hughes Jeffery David JD  

PloS one 20160512 5


<h4>Objective</h4>To explore the reported practice of Australian community pharmacists when dealing with medication supply requests in absence of a valid prescription.<h4>Methods</h4>Self-administered questionnaire was posted to 1490 randomly selected community pharmacies across all Australian states and territories. This sample was estimated to be a 20% of all Australian community pharmacies.<h4>Results</h4>Three hundred eighty five pharmacists participated in the study (response rate achieved  ...[more]

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