Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play?
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 territori...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4865180?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818382492540862464 |
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| author | Salem Hasn Abukres Kreshnik Hoti Jeffery David Hughes |
| author_facet | Salem Hasn Abukres Kreshnik Hoti Jeffery David Hughes |
| author_sort | Salem Hasn Abukres |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T02:51:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-103a55604e564ead8b95d9b5974d20cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T02:51:20Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-103a55604e564ead8b95d9b5974d20cd2022-12-21T23:19:44ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01115e015499210.1371/journal.pone.0154992Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play?Salem Hasn AbukresKreshnik HotiJeffery David HughesOBJECTIVE: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.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4865180?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Salem Hasn Abukres Kreshnik Hoti Jeffery David Hughes Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? PLoS ONE |
| title | Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? |
| title_full | Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? |
| title_fullStr | Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? |
| title_short | Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? |
| title_sort | avoiding treatment interruptions what role do australian community pharmacists play |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4865180?pdf=render |
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