Asthma advice giving by community pharmacists

Objective — To investigate the frequency and type of asthma‐related advice provided by community pharmacists to customers, and pharmacist attitudes to advice giving and training needs. Method — Postal questionnaire surveying the provision of advice to asthma patients in the previous month. Responses were discussed in a focus group of 13 pharmacists representing different types of community pharmacy and stratified by age and sex. Setting — All community pharmacists in the Grampian health board area, in North East Scotland. Key findings — Of an estimated 180 community pharmacists, 125 responded. Respondents had dispensed a median of 70 asthma medications per week to approximately 40 customers. Most had given advice no more than twice a week. In the previous month, half had checked inhaler technique and most (75 per cent) had “loaned” relief inhalers on an emergency basis. The most common areas where patients sought advice were problems with inhalers, concerns about side effects of asthma medications and using peak flow meters. In the focus group, pharmacists expressed concerns about their training in advice giving for inhaler skills and peak flow meter use and self‐management plans. The 69 pharmacists who had undertaken additional training were significantly more likely to feel confident in giving asthma‐related advice and to give advice more often. Sixty‐one per cent of pharmacists wanted more training in advice giving. Conclusion — At present, asthma‐related advice is given infrequently. Reasons for missed opportunities for giving such advice are limited facilities in premises, lack of pharmacist knowledge of some aspects of asthma management and patient attitudes (ie, lack of awareness that pharmacists can fulfil this role).