News
08-09-2015

Pharmacies provide mainly information, don’t ask enough questions

When dispensing prescription medication, pharmacy staff provide mainly technical information – for example, how often you have to take the medication and for how long, what you should watch for, and so on. However, they ask patients relatively few questions about medication adherence or their experiences with the medication. Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) and Utrecht University have published these findings in the journals Patient Education and Counseling and the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice.

 
“Nearly all questions are initiated by a pharmacy staff member. Patients themselves don’t ask much. And although pharmacy staff respond to patients’ questions, they don’t really encourage them to ask more,” says NIVEL programme director Liset van Dijk. “Also, they seldom ask about medication adherence or patients’ experiences and preferences, even though pharmacists would increasingly like to be seen as health care providers. The subject of medication adherence came up in fewer than 2% of the exchanges. They should also ask more questions.”
 
Video recordings
For the research, exchanges at pharmacy counters between pharmacy staff and people who came in to have prescriptions filled (first prescriptions as well as prescription refills) were videotaped. These recordings were made in both outpatient pharmacies (pharmacies that are located in or near a hospital) and community pharmacies. The researchers scored the content of the exchanges, including the information given by the staff member, what was explained about the medication (such as how to take it), and how long you have to take it. The majority of the patients received information about how to use the medication the first time they had a prescription filled, but the duration of the treatment and possible side effects were covered in only about half of these exchanges.
 
Database communication
One third of the 119 video recordings made of exchanges at outpatient pharmacy counters concerned first prescriptions, and two thirds concerned refills. A quarter of the 153 videotaped exchanges in community pharmacies concerned first prescriptions, and three quarters concerned refills. For the refills, the researchers differentiated between first refills and subsequent refills because this determines which information is provided and which questions are asked. The video recordings will be stored in NIVEL’s Database communication.
 
Online communication training
In September, the researchers will begin developing an online course to improve the communication skills of pharmacy staff. The project will be funded by ZonMw (the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development).

Cooperating partner
UPPER Utrecht University