A National Survey of Training and Smoking Cessation Services Provided in Community Pharmacies in Thailand

Abstract

Over the past few years, several training programs have been run in support of smoking cessation services within community pharmacy circles in Thailand. These have included a comprehensive training program offered by the Thai Pharmacy Network for Tobacco Control (TPNTC) and brief training programs run by other agencies. This study provides an estimate of the scale of smoking cessation activities among Thai pharmacies, and examines the impact of both the brief and comprehensive training programs on the provision of smoking cessation services. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 3,600 Thai community pharmacists. A total of 1,001 questionnaires were returned (response rate: 27.8%). Smoking cessation services were provided by 71.1% of the respondents, and 47.4% of such services gave only brief advice. Comprehensive services (defined by the 5A's: ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange follow-up) accounted for 15.3% of the respondents. Only 293 pharmacists (29.6%) said they had received cessation training; 62.5% of whom had received such training from TPNTC. The receipt of brief and comprehensive training was associated with a higher rate of the provision of brief advice, when compared with no training, showing adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 2.93 (95% CI, 1.66-5.18) and 5.93 (95% CI, 3.18-10.17) respectively, while evidence of differences between these training programs was not observed, having an adjusted OR of 1.94 (95% CI, .89-4.21). TPNTC trained pharmacists were 4.98 times (95% CI, 2.24-11.05) more likely than those who received other brief training to provided the 5A's cessation services. All types of training program help to promote the provision of brief counseling by pharmacists. Comprehensive training is associated with the increased provision of both 4A's and 5A's cessation services.

Involvement Of Community Pharmacists In Public Health Priorities: A Multi-Center Descriptive Survey In Ethiopia

“…In the present survey, lack of knowledge or clinical skills was the most commonly reported barrier to the provision of public health service in community pharmacy followed by lack of access to additional training programs and lack of personnel or resources. Similar barriers have also been documented in different parts of the globe including lack of time and personnel, lack of clinical skills and tools [7][8][9][10]. Public's lack of awareness of community pharmacy professional's role in public health and uncooperative patients were other important barriers identified in the literature but had not been prominent in our study [26,27].…”

“…Lack of knowledge and skills, lack of confidence and adequate training, lack of policies, poor recognition within the healthcare system, patients' reluctance to use pharmacy services and presence of inadequate number of pharmacy staff are some of the factors which can contribute to the low level of pharmacy services uptake and public health initiatives [7][8][9][10][11]. In developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, pharmacists are well integrated into public-health programs [12].…”

Outcomes, costs and stakeholders' perspectives associated with the incorporation of community pharmacy services into the National Health Insurance System in Thailand: a systematic review

“…When assessing the quality of the evidence by peer‐review following the criteria in Table , 18 studies were acceptable and eligible for analysis (Figure ). Of the 18 articles, one article provided more than one outcome; thus, the total number of papers when grouping by outcomes was 20 . Ten studies were excluded due to a high dropout rate and/or small sample size, as shown in Table .…”

“…Of the 18 included studies, there were 10 clinical outcome studies, two qualitative studies, three survey studies, and three economic studies that met all of the quality assessment criteria. Three studies were randomized controlled trials, three studies were clinical trials with a control group, and four were clinical trials without a control group .…”

“…Of the 18 articles, one article provided more than one outcome; thus, the total number of papers when grouping by outcomes was 20. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Ten studies were excluded due to a high dropout rate [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and/or small sample size, [40,43] as shown in Table 2.…”