Performance in clinical therapeutics training of community pharmacists
Written by: Raisa Laaksonen, Clare Mackie, Ian Bates, Catherine Duggan • June 1 2007• Volume 7 - Issue 2•Abstract
Primary Care Trusts responsible for commissioning healthcare services in the UK are required to ensure that community pharmacists providing clinical medication reviews, an enhanced service, are appropriately trained before becoming accredited service providers. This training has not been defined. The aims of this study were to measure community pharmacists’ performance in training for medication reviews, to explore factors influencing their performance, and to explore the pharmacists’ perceptions of this training. Overall, 37 of the recruited 43 pharmacists completed the training at postgraduate certificate level in 2002. Pharmacists performing well in one module were likely to do so in others, indicating intrinsic competence. These pharmacists provided medication reviews in 2003 and 2004; 33 were interviewed in 2004. The interviewees perceived that whilst the training had been arduous, it had been beneficial for providing medication reviews and everyday practice. Further work is required to develop competencies and training for clinical medication reviews in community pharmacy.
