(1) Background: pharmacy technicians are the largest group of staff at Danish community pharmacies and play a vital role in counselling customers on prescription medication, over-the-counter (OTC) medication and non-medical products. This is the first study carried out to specifically analyse how they contribute to counselling and identification of drug-related problems (DRPs) at Danish community pharmacies. (2) Methods: seventy-six pharmacy technicians from 38 community pharmacies registered data on all of their customer visits for five days, over a four-week period, between January and March 2019. Data were analysed in SPSS version 24. (3) Results: 58.9% of all registered customers (n = 10,417) received counselling. They identified DRPs for 15.8% of all registered customers (n = 2800). Counselling by pharmacy technicians solved, or partially solved, problems for 70.4% of customers with DRPs. Pharmacy technicians estimated that 25.2% of customers receiving counselling (n = 2621) were saved a visit to the general practitioner (GP). (4) Conclusions: as community pharmacists get more involved in complex services, it would be necessary to expand the roles of pharmacy technicians. Pharmacy technicians contribute to medication safety via counselling, and identifying and handling DRPs for all customers. This study documents the role of pharmacy technicians in customer counselling at Danish community pharmacies. It provides evidence to researchers and policy makers to support discussions on the future role of pharmacy technicians at community pharmacies.

The programme improved staffs' motivation and confidence and their perceived ability to handle residents' medication safely through improved role clarification, safety culture, medication handling and patient empowerment and communication skills.

Involving healthcare professionals with ethnic minority backgrounds in encounters with ethnic minorities holds potential for the adaptation of services to ethnically diverse populations, thus improving access to and quality of care. However, it is important to ensure sufficient personal and organisational support and to acknowledge the delicate balance between simultaneously serving as a peer and as a professional.

Background: Diabetes is a demanding disease with a complex treatment regimen. Many persons with diabetes have difficulty managing their disease and taking medication as prescribed, possibly because they lack knowledge and sometimes misinterpret medical benefits. Community pharmacies continuously provide professional counselling to persons with diabetes. Objective: This study aimed to explore 1) which services adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes want from community pharmacies and 2) how pharmacies can meet these wishes. Methods: A qualitative, explorative study design using focus group interviews was chosen. Informants were recruited from Region Zealand in Denmark. Data were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed by means of thematic analysis. Results: Thirteen adults (11 female) with the mean age of 66.2 years (range 49–81 years) participated in one physical (n=6) or one online (n=7) focus group interview. Ten had type 2 diabetes, three had type 1 diabetes. The average duration of participants’ diabetes was 13.4 years (range 2.3–33.0 years). The analysis revealed three overall themes of the functions which the informants would like community pharmacies to fulfil: 1) raise awareness of pharmacies’ counselling service and competences; 2) act as a dialogue partner; 3) be a source of information and guidance about local activities and support. Conclusion: The informants did not regard community pharmacies as a natural part of the healthcare system or as a place where they would expect counselling. They would like the community pharmacy to make their medical competences and services obvious and the community pharmacy staff to act as a dialogue partner and provide competent counselling. The informants would like to have a contact person with diabetes competences with whom they can book an appointment to complement over-the-counter counselling. They experience a gap in their care between routine visits in the healthcare system and suggest that community pharmacies counselling services become a natural supplement and that healthcare professionals in the primary and secondary sectors inform patients about the services - especially for patients newly diagnosed with diabetes. Finally, they would like a formal collaboration between diabetes associations and community pharmacies to make their competences, services and information visible.

Community pharmacists provide a resource to engage in educational programmes on medication handling in residential facilities, which may facilitate improved cooperation between community pharmacies and residential facilities. However, development of pedagogical competences and understandings of local settings are prerequisites for facilities and pharmacists to experience the programmes as successful.