Impact of a hormonal contraceptive training program for pharmacists.

BACKGROUND: Several states have passed legislation allowing pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraceptives in an effort to expand access to family planning options for patients. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this research is to evaluate participant knowledge and perception, attitudes, and preparedness regarding pharmacist-prescribed hormonal contraception before and after completion of the American Pharmacists Association's interactive online training program, "Increasing Access to Hormonal Contraceptive Products: A Training Program for Pharmacists." METHODS: Training program participants were assessed on their knowledge after each module, and they were invited to participate in a pre- and postsurvey about practice environments and opinions related to hormonal contraceptive prescribing. Descriptive statistics were calculated for categorical survey responses, and means and standard deviations were calculated for program knowledge assessment scores. Pre- and postsurvey responses were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test or McNemar's test according to the type of response options. RESULTS: More than 450 participants completed the Hormonal Contraception Training Program; 61% completed the presurvey and 39% completed the postsurvey. Participants had an average score of 86% across modules for both surveys. Comfort level increased statistically significantly in all areas surveyed after program completion. Survey results identified statistically significant changes between pre- and postsurvey in the belief that pharmacists are trained and educated to counsel on and initiate hormonal contraceptives (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001) and that prescribing hormonal contraceptives should be within a pharmacist's scope of practice (P < 0.001). Most respondents (83%) agreed that pharmacy schools should expand content on contraceptive prescribing, although more than half (56%) reported that their pharmacy school taught them the requisite hormonal contraceptive clinical content. CONCLUSION: Training programs play an important role in preparing pharmacists for prescribing roles by providing knowledge and increasing confidence and generally positively affecting perceptions of and attitudes toward prescribing hormonal contraceptives.

Pharmacist and student pharmacist views of professional and personal well-being and resilience.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the views of pharmacists and student pharmacists regarding (1) aspects of life and experiences that provide professional and personal satisfaction and fulfillment, (2) causes of stress, and (3) needs related to maintaining satisfaction and fulfillment. DESIGN: A generic qualitative research design was used for collecting data from 380 pharmacists and 332 student pharmacists who wrote responses to an online survey hosted by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) from November 17 to December 2, 2018, using standard data collection procedures applied by that organization. APhA uses its member and affiliate data files as its sampling frame and limits the number of contacts per year for each person in those files. De-identified responses from those who volunteered to write comments were sent to the research team for analysis. A conventional content analysis approach was applied for analysis of the text. Analysts convened to discuss emergent themes and develop operational descriptions. Key segments of text that best represented each theme were identified. Personal presuppositions were disclosed and were useful for developing group consensus for theme identification and description. Rigor was supported through assessment of credibility, confirmability, intercoder checking, transferability, inductive thematic saturation, and authenticity. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants are in the design since data already collected. OUTCOME MEASURES: Not applicable. RESULTS: Findings showed that pharmacists and student pharmacists are able to recognize and pursue achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, relationship, esteem, self-actualization, meaning, and accomplishment in both their professional and personal lives. However, external factors such as "workism" and individual factors such as "moral distress" were identified as areas of improvement that are needed for well-being and resilience. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists' basic human needs are being met, but to improve well-being and resilience for pharmacists in both their professional and personal lives, there is a need for addressing both the external factors and individual factors that they encounter.

Patient care services provided at primary community pharmacy residency sites.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the types of services provided at primary community pharmacy residency program (CPRP) sites and the levels of intensity devoted to different levels of patient care. DESIGN: Descriptive nonexperimental study. SETTING: United States during May and June 2012. PARTICIPANTS: 120 key informants from CPRPs. INTERVENTION: Key informants from CPRPs were surveyed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of residency sites providing selected patient care services, proportion of each service provided by residents, estimates for the number of repetitions needed for a typical resident to become proficient in each service, and services provided at other practice sites. RESULTS: Of the 120 respondents, 70 identified themselves as preceptors/directors, 45 identified themselves as residents, and 5 did not identify their position. Variation was achieved for representation from different practice settings and geographic locations. The findings revealed variability in the types of services provided at CPRP practice sites and the experiences offered for residents. Collaboration with other practice sites, in order to enhance residents' training and experiences, also appeared to be occurring. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the types and intensity of services provided at CPRP sites gave residents opportunities for advancing patient care services training, directing patient contact, and creating opportunities to be engaged in practice innovation.