Experiences, attitudes and training needs of pharmacy support staff providing services to drug users in Great Britain: A qualitative study

Abstract

Community pharmacies play an important role in providing services to drug users, having provided needle exchange and substitution therapy services for a number of years. Previous studies of these services and the problems faced in implementing them have focused on the attitude and experiences of pharmacists. However, with the increasing use of pharmacy support staff in a range of expanded roles, it is also appropriate to consider this group. This article aims to qualitatively explore the experiences, attitudes, and training needs of pharmacy support staff involved in providing services to drug users. Copies of the questionnaire were issued to a 10% sample of community pharmacies and distributed to up to five support staff working in the pharmacy. The questionnaire asked open questions regarding training needs, personal experiences and attitudes. Data were transcribed and thematically analysed according to Grounded Theory in NVivo v7. 454 respondents made qualitative comments. The data demonstrated a strong desire among some support staff to be further involved in support services. However, many expressed negative attitudes towards drug users and some considered pharmacies as inappropriate venues for providing services to this group. Identified training needs focused on four key areas: advising and working with drug users; the nature of drug use; treatment services and their availability; and clinical and legal detail. Knowledge gaps were evident in some of the responses, most notably a misunderstanding of service aims and intended outcomes. All those involved in designing and delivering pharmacy services to drug users should ensure that they take account of and involve support staff when developing training.

Keywords:

• Community pharmacy
• pharmacy support staff
• attitudes
• training
• qualitative methods

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the dedicated hard work and support of Mrs Phillipa Blake who was employed as a research assistant on this study. The authors also wish to thank the pharmacists who acted as gatekeepers to the participants and the participants themselves, for the time given to completing the questionnaires.

This study was funded by the British Academy, project reference number SG: 44218. This study was reviewed and approved by the LJMU Research Ethics Committee and the University of Bath Ethical Review System. Since the study fell outside the requirements of GAfREC (para 3.1), NHS ethical committee review was not sought.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.