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The Role of Community Pharmacists in Public Health II
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The Role of Community Pharmacists in Public Health II

A special issue of Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacy Practice and Practice-Based Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 12200

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Reem Kayyali

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacy, School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2EE, UK
Interests: public health; medicines optimisation; patient care; mobile health; pharmacy services; patient education; telehealth; patient experience; healthcare education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is a known fact that community pharmacists are one of the most frequently visited healthcare professionals, and that community pharmacies are the first port of call for the general public. Pharmacy has undergone remarkable changes, and community pharmacists have made an effort to expand their traditional role of dispensing medication by providing more patient-oriented and public health-related interventions. Community pharmacies now offer a range of services in relation to health promotion and disease prevention, such as smoking cessation, weight management, and vaccinations. They also offer services for health improvement which focus on medication adherence and optimising medicines use for long-term conditions, and play a role in disease screening and early detection.

Community pharmacists were the only healthcare professionals who were still open for face to face consultations to the public under social isolation during the COVID- 19 pandemic. With the great recognition of the role of pharmacists in this period, the extra demand placed on them provides an opportunity to identify new working models for this accessible healthcare team in the community while ensuring the reach of their services. Technological advances may offer a solution for service delivery and therefore potentially expand the reach of community pharmacy through the use of virtual consultations.

We invite you to share your experiences, evaluations, innovations, or any service evaluation or research you have undertaken in relation to the role of community pharmacists in all dimensions of public health from disease prevention and early screening to health improvement pre or post COVID-19. We hope this Special Issue will inspire pharmacists and researchers to share their own practices and adopt new approaches and innovate to make improvements in public health provision.

Prof. Dr. Reem Kayyali
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmacy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • public health
  • health promotion
  • health protection
  • community pharmacy
  • community pharmacists
  • patients’ perceptions
  • public perceptions
  • pharmacy services
  • digital health
  • well-being
  • screening
  • health improvement
  • cost-effectiveness
  • evidence
  • disease prevention
  • adherence
  • medicines optimisation
  • medicines
  • COVID-19

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2002 KiB  
Article
Implementation of a Real-Time Medication Intake Monitoring Technology Intervention in Community Pharmacy Settings: A Mixed-Method Pilot Study
by Sadaf Faisal, Jessica Ivo, Ryan Tennant, Kelsey-Ann Prior, Kelly Grindrod, Colleen McMillan and Tejal Patel
Pharmacy 2021, 9(2), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy9020105 - 25 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6721
Abstract
Innovative dispensing products offering real-time medication intake monitoring are being developed to address medication non-adherence. However, implementation of these interventions within the workflow of a community pharmacy is unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting implementation of a real-time [...] Read more.
Innovative dispensing products offering real-time medication intake monitoring are being developed to address medication non-adherence. However, implementation of these interventions within the workflow of a community pharmacy is unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting implementation of a real-time adherence-monitoring, multidose-dispensing system in community pharmacies. A mixed-method study was conducted with pharmacy staff, who packaged and dispensed medications in smart multidose packages and monitored real-time medication intake via web-portal. Pharmacy staff participated in semi-structured interviews. The Technology Acceptance Model, Theory of Planned Behaviour and Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour Model informed the interview guide. Interview transcripts were analyzed thematically and findings were mapped back to the frameworks. The usability was assessed by the System Usability Scale (SUS). Three pharmacists and one pharmacy assistant with a mean of 19 years of practice were interviewed. Three themes and 12 subthemes were generated. Themes included: pharmacy workflow factors, integration factors, and pharmacist-perceived patient factors. The mean SUS was found to be 80.63. Products with real-time adherence monitoring capabilities are valued by pharmacists. A careful assessment of infrastructure—including pharmacy workload, manpower and financial resources—is imperative for successful implementation of such interventions in a community pharmacy setting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Community Pharmacists in Public Health II)
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12 pages, 361 KiB  
Communication
Addressing Barriers to HIV Point-of-Care Testing in Community Pharmacies
by Kimberly McKeirnan, Sorosh Kherghehpoush, Angie Gladchuk and Shannon Patterson
Pharmacy 2021, 9(2), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy9020084 - 16 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4115
Abstract
Significant numbers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are transmitted unknowingly, making efforts to increase HIV testing accessibility crucial. As trusted healthcare providers, pharmacists can increase accessibility of HIV screening and referral services. However, challenges with lack of private counseling and testing space, [...] Read more.
Significant numbers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are transmitted unknowingly, making efforts to increase HIV testing accessibility crucial. As trusted healthcare providers, pharmacists can increase accessibility of HIV screening and referral services. However, challenges with lack of private counseling and testing space, need for training and education, lack of adequate staffing, heavy workload, and uncertainty supporting patients with reactive results have been previously reported by community pharmacists as barriers to offering HIV screening. The objective of this study was to investigate pharmacists’ opinions of strategies for addressing these barriers. A survey was developed to gather information regarding steps that could be taken to increase pharmacist comfort and interest offering HIV point-of-care testing (POCT) services. Thirty pharmacies were contacted and representatives from twenty-six responded. Pharmacists reported that they were likely or very likely to offer HIV POCT if they were given the following: a 2 h training session on administering and interpreting HIV POCT (73%); a 4 h education session on a variety of HIV education topics (73%); training about couples testing, post-test counseling, and de-escalation techniques (58%); or a semi-annual CE training (58%). Pharmacist respondents were likely or very likely (81%) to implement HIV POCT if there was a protocol in place so that patients with a reactive screening would out be referred for diagnostic testing and if there was a script provided as a template for post-test counseling (81%). The majority of pharmacists (69%) also preferred the appointment-based model rather than a walk-in or combination option and preferred (77%) having 20–30 min of dedicated time with the patient to provide adequate testing, education, and counseling. By using these strategies to improve comfort and likelihood implementing HIV POCT, pharmacists can increase access to HIV testing and decrease the spread of HIV. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Community Pharmacists in Public Health II)
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