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- Ax, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
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Electronically transmitted prescriptions not picked up at pharmacies in Sweden
- 2010
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In: Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1551-7411 .- 1934-8150. ; 6:1, s. 70-77
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Electronic transmitted prescriptions (ETPs) became common after 1995 in Sweden; however, it is accompanied by a substantial increase in the number of prescriptions not picked up at pharmacies.Objective: To investigate the ‘‘no pick-up’’ rates of ETPs at pharmacies across type of drug and patient age and gender and the reasons patients’ report for no pick-up.Methods: A cross-sectional study examining no pick-up of ETPs transmitted during 3 months in 2002, and a mail survey of patients to determine the reasons for failure to pick-up in the county of Sormland, Sweden, with a population of 261,000, and 21 pharmacies. Chi-square tests were used for calculations of frequency differences among groups.Results: The overall no pick-up rate of ETPs was 2.5%; men had consistently higher rates than women. The highest rates were seen for adolescents and young adults. Rates were higher than average for antibiotics. About 60% of the answers indicated that prescriptions not picked up were duplicate prescriptions or not needed. ‘‘Unintentional nonadherence’’ was reported by one-fifth of patients.Conclusions: No pick-up rate in general was low (2.5%), but there were differences across patient age and sex, the rates being higher among adolescents and young adults. Duplicate prescriptions may explain a significant share of the abandoned prescriptions.
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| 2. |
- Mandt, Ingunn, et al.
(author)
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Community pharmacists' prescription intervention practices : exploring variations in practice inNorwegian pharmacies
- 2010
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In: Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. - : Elsevier. - 1551-7411 .- 1934-8150. ; 6:1, s. 6-17
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Evidence suggests that prescription intervention frequencies have been found to vary as much as 10-fold among Norwegian pharmacies and among pharmacists within the same pharmacy.Objective To explore community pharmacists' perceptions of how their prescription intervention practices were influenced by their working environment, their technological resources, the physical and social structures of the pharmacies, their relations with colleagues, and to the individual pharmacist's professional skills.Methods Two focus groups consisting of 14 community pharmacists in total, from urban and rural areas in Norway, discussed their working procedures and professional judgments related to prescription interventions. Organizational theories were used as theoretical and analytical frameworks in the study. A framework based on Leavitt's organizational model was to structure our interview guide. The study units were the statements of the individual pharmacists. Recurrent themes were identified and condensed.Results Two processes describing variations in the dispensing workflow including prescription interventions were derived—an active dispensing process extracting information about the patient's medication from several sources and a fast dispensing process focusing mainly on the information available on the prescription. Both workflow processes were used in the same pharmacies and by the same pharmacist but on different occasions. A pharmacy layout allowing interactions between pharmacist and patients and a convenient organization of technology, layout, pharmacist-patient and pharmacist-coworker transactions at the workplace was essential for detecting and solving prescription problems. Pharmacists limited their contact with general practitioners when they considered the problem a formality and/or when they knew the answers themselves. The combined use of dispensing software and the Internet was a driving force toward more independent and cognitively advanced prescription interventions.Conclusion Implementation of a general organizational model made it easier to analyze and interpret the pharmacists' intervention practices. Working environment, technology, management and professional skills may all contribute to variations in pharmacists' prescription intervention practices in and between community pharmacies.
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