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 territo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Public Library of Science
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12561 |
| _version_ | 1848748108536610816 |
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| author | Abukres, Salem Hasn Hoti, Kreshnik Hughes, Jeff |
| author_facet | Abukres, Salem Hasn Hoti, Kreshnik Hughes, Jeff |
| author_sort | Abukres, Salem Hasn |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| 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 | 2025-11-14T06:59:48Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-12561 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:59:48Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-125612017-09-13T14:57:35Z Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? Abukres, Salem Hasn Hoti, Kreshnik Hughes, Jeff 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. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12561 10.1371/journal.pone.0154992 Public Library of Science fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Abukres, Salem Hasn Hoti, Kreshnik Hughes, Jeff Avoiding Treatment Interruptions: What Role Do Australian Community Pharmacists Play? |
| 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://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12561 |