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Subsidised nicotine replacement therapy in a community pharmacy setting
Author(s) -
Poder Natasha,
Perusco Andrew,
Hua Myna
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he05151
Subject(s) - pharmacy , nicotine replacement therapy , community pharmacy , medicine , population health , health economics , community practice , community health , family medicine , public health , nicotine , clinical pharmacy , alternative medicine , nursing , psychiatry , pathology
Issues addressed Nicotine replacement therapies are effective, but are mostly under‐utilised and often not used for an appropriate duration. The paper reports on a pilot project that used subsidies for NRT as a means to engage community pharmacists to deliver tobacco cessation to the Arabic‐speaking community. Method Arabic‐speaking community pharmacists were recruited through direct mail‐outs and trained in tobacco cessation brief intervention. Fifteen selected pharmacies recruited Arabic smokers through their pharmacies. Pharmacy follow‐up was conducted three months after the program was implemented. Results A total of 65 participants attended the seminar. A total of 31 pharmacy customers received at least one packet of subsidised NRT patches. Twenty (64.5%) clients received both the first and second subsidised pack. Fifteen clients continued to use patches after the third packet, however only three clients continued the patches to the eighth pack. Conclusion The pilot was successful in improving recruitment of pharmacies into training for smoking cessation counselling as well as engaging community pharmacists to deliver tobacco cessation intervention with small incentive. So what? A small incentive for pharmacies has encouraged community pharmacists to deliver tobacco cessation. Further studies are required to explore effective recruitment strategies and the impact of subsided NRT versus non‐subsided NRT on quit rates through the pharmacy setting.