Expanded services survey repeated to study COVID developments

“It’s important to understand how things are actually changing in practice and what supports or hinders the development of extended services”

The expanding role of pharmacists will again be surveyed by researchers who want to see how new roles are developing and how they contribute to primary health care.

The survey, part of the Enhancing primary health care services to improve health in Aotearoa New Zealand study led by project manager Janet McDonald, was first done in 2018 and showed the main services pharmacy were delivering, which included the emergency contraceptive pill, erectile dysfunction, uncomplicated urinary tract infections, immunisations, medicines use reviews and Community Pharmacy Anticoagulation Management Services (CPAMS).

Dr McDonald says the research team is repeating the survey in order to see how services have changed and developed over the past four years.

“We expect to see continued growth in pharmacist-vaccinators, given their important contribution to COVID-19 vaccinations,” she says in an email to Pharmacy Today.

“Models of care, services provided and funding have been changing in New Zealand and internationally over the past decade. They’ve transitioned from dispensing towards the more patient-facing roles to make better use of the skills of pharmacists.” 

The survey is for pharmacists working in community pharmacy and in primary care roles, such as in general practice.

However, the voice of interns, included in the 2018 survey, has “generally been absent” and the researchers are keen to hear from them again.

“We want to see how those newer roles are developing too and what they contribute within the wider primary health care team.”

The survey is part of the wider study that was granted funding of $1.2million by the Health Research Council.

Dr McDonald says the research team, which includes pharmacists Caroline Morris and Tara Officer, is aware of how busy pharmacists are but thinks taking part in the survey, which closes on August 31, is important to document how services are developing in light of the health reforms.

“It’s important to understand how things are actually changing in practice and what supports or hinders the development of extended services.”