| This study was carried out to determine community pharmacists' perceived value of a pharmacy network prior to its implementation. A questionnaire was mailed to all 435 community pharmacists practicing in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2002, with 217 completed questionnaires returned (49.9% response rate). Overall, 90.3% of community pharmacists agreed drug utilization review would be an important function of the Pharmacy Network; reducing prescribing problems was found to have the strongest support (91.3%). For eight measures of computerized physician order entry, agreement ranged from 69.6% to 97.2%, with removing problems with illegible hand writing receiving the strongest support. Although suspected adverse reactions appears to be under reported, 87.6% of community pharmacists indicated they would report more if it could be done electronically. Considerable support was found for four measures related to payment for pharmaceutical services (range 82.9% to 89.4%), with a higher proportion of female pharmacists indicating they would expect payment. Younger pharmacists, and/or those working in urban areas, had a higher perceived value of a pharmacy network than older pharmacists and/or those working in rural areas. Differences in perceived value of a pharmacy network was also found between education levels and years practicing and gender. |
