Ten years of community pharmaceutical care in Spain: awareness, understanding and availability

Ten years after the implementation of community pharmaceutical care in Spain, the research attempts to address its impact. The research, undertaken in three regions of Spain chosen to represent areas typical of the wide diversity of thecountry, maps the prevalence of pharmaceutical care as practiced by community pharmacists, and explores the impact that its implementation has had on the expectations and actions of patients and primary care doctors. The work starts by addressing variations in the number of pharmacists practicing pharmaceutical care between and within regions and the reasons for this; including factors such as location, professional background and professional motivations. Following this, two means are taken to assess the impact of the implementation of pharmaceutical care in these three regions. Firstly, focus groups with patients receiving and non-receiving pharmaceutical care were undertaken to explore differences in a) knowledge of services provided by pharmacists practicing pharmaceutical care; b) expectations of pharmaceutical care, including main demands placed; c) satisfaction with pharmaceutical attention received. Secondly, a series of interviews was undertaken with primary care doctors across each region in areas where pharmaceutical care was being practiced to assess: understanding and awareness of community pharmaceutical care; opinion of pharmacists as health care professionals; communication with community pharmacists; views on how community pharmacists can assist in patient care. Finally, interviews with pharmacists practicing pharmaceutical care were undertaken to explore their strategies for communicating the role and function of pharmaceutical attention to patients and primary care health professionals. (C) 2011 Ediciones Mayo, S.A. All rights reserved.