It's not what you do it's the way that it's measured: quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies:Quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies

Inch, Jackie, Porteous, Terry, Maskrey, Vivienne, Blyth, Annie, Burr, Jackie, Cleland, Jennifer, Wright, David J., Holland, Richard, Bond, Christine M. and Watson, Margaret C. (2017) It's not what you do it's the way that it's measured: quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies:Quality assessment of minor ailment management in community pharmacies. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 25 (4). 253–262. ISSN 0961-7671

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Abstract

Background: Effective management of minor ailments in community pharmacies could reduce the burden on alternative high-cost services (general practices, Emergency Departments). Evidence is needed regarding the appropriateness of management of these conditions in community pharmacies. Objective: To explore the appropriateness of minor ailment management in community pharmacies. Setting: Prospective, observational study of simulated patient (SP) visits to community pharmacies in Grampian (Scotland) and East Anglia (England). Method: Eighteen pharmacies (nine per centre) were recruited within a 25-mile radius of Aberdeen or Norwich. Consultations for four minor ailments were evaluated: back pain; vomiting/diarrhoea; sore throat; and eye discomfort. Each pharmacy received one SP visit per ailment (four visits/pharmacy; 72 visits total). Visits were audio-recorded and SPs completed a data collection form immediately after each visit. Primary Outcome Measure: Each SP consultation was assessed for appropriateness against product licence, practice guidelines and study-specific consensus standards developed by a multi-disciplinary consensus panel. Results: Evaluable data were available for 68/72 (94.4%) visits. Most (96%) visits resulted in the sale of a product; advice alone was the outcome of three visits. All product sales complied with the product licence, 52 (76%) visits complied with practice guidelines and seven visits achieved a ‘basic’ standard according to the consensus standard. Conclusion: Appropriateness of care varied according to the standard used. Pharmacy-specific quality standards are needed which are realistic and relevant to the pharmacy context and which reflect legal and clinical guidelines to promote the safe and effective management of minor ailments in this setting.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2016 The Authors. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Pharmaceutical Society This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: community pharmacy services,health care,non-prescription medicines,quality indicators,self-care,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Medicines Management (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Patient Care
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 06 Oct 2016 14:00
Last Modified: 21 Oct 2022 06:31
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/60770
DOI: 10.1111/ijpp.12305

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