A Survey Research on Qualities of Dispensing Services Offered by Primary Care Pharmacists in Taipei County
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Chen, Ling-Jie
Abstract
Background:he separation of drug prescribing and dispensing was implemented in Taiwan since 1997. Physicians make diagnosis and prescribe medicine for patients, and the patients then take the prescriptions to the pharmacies for dispensing. Pharmacists can practice in community pharmacies or physician clinics in Taiwan. Nomatter in which practice cite, the public pay much attention to the qualities of dispensing of the pharmacist.otivation:here were limited studies focused on dispensing service qualities in community pharmacies and clinics in Taiwan. The qualities of dispensing of primary concern in terms of medication use safety, therapeutic efficacy, and the pharmacists’ professional image in the society.bjective:he aim of the study was to investigate the current status and qualities of dispensing practice in community pharmacies and clinics. The dispensing qualities in the study encompassed qualities of dispensing processes and dispensing services.The key factors influencing dispensing qualities were also determined in the study. ethod: field survey, including both quantitative and qualitative researches, of pharmacist-in-charge at community pharmacies and practicing pharmacists at physician clinics in Taipei County was conducted. For quantitative research, a survey instrument was constructed and mailed to 960 random samples of community pharmacies and clinics. The qualitative researches included pharmacist interviews and site observations to explore the current status of dispensing practices, and understand pharmacists’ opinion toward pharmaceutical policies and issues relevant to dispensing practices.esult:he questionnaire survey was conducted from April to September, 2008. A total of 505 questionnaires were collected (response rate 52.6%; community pharmacies 48.1%, clinics 57.1%). The pharmacists that were interviewed were nine and eight for community pharmacy and physician clinic practitioners, respectively. Five community pharmacies and two clinics were visited.esults by multiple logistic regression for NHI-contracted pharmacies and all clinics indicated that quite a few factors would influence dispensing qualities. The overall qualities of dispensing processes were better in community pharmacies, with more prescription drugs, regular drug the expiration date check-up by pharmacists, pharmacists confident in storage conditions of medicine in-house, and larger dispensing area. To the contrary, the qualities of dispensing practice were worse for those with characteristics such as older age and hired by physicians. The qualities of dispensing services of NHI-contracted pharmacies and clinics were better if larger dispensing area, pharmacists checked inventories by themselves, and pharmacists confidence in storage conditions of in-house medicines. On the other hand, the qualities of dispensing services were inferior for male pharmacists and employees of physicians, and also in Tai-Lin subarea.he results from qualitative researches showed that in addition to above-mentioned factors, the qualities of dispensing would also be affected by workload, dispensing area settings, the practice attitude or knowledge of the pharmacists, impacts from doctors, patients, or other related persons, the contents and completeness of physician prescriptions, and the thoroughness and accuracy of drug database built in informative systems.onclusion:o improve the qualities of dispensing processes and dispensing services, all the parties including pharmacists, government, and hospitals/clinics should take respective efforts in promoting quality dispensing services and safeguarding medication use for the society.
Subjects
dispensing process
dispensing quality
community pharmacy
clinic
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