Assessing community pharmacists’ attitudes towards identifying opportunities for deprescribing in clinical practice in Ireland

Abstract

Objectives The main objective of this study was to assess community pharmacists’ thoughts regarding the role they can play in effectively integrating deprescribing into clinical practice in Ireland. The aim was to assess pharmacists’ (1) knowledge of deprescribing, (2) confidence in deprescribing, (3) attitudes towards deprescribing and (iv) barriers and facilitators to deprescribing in a community pharmacy setting. Methods An online questionnaire was disseminated to pharmacists currently registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, with instruction only to complete if working in community pharmacy. Statistical analysis was conducted on the quantitative data, whereas thematic analysis was carried out on the open-ended responses. Key findings Results indicate good knowledge scores and positive attitudes surrounding deprescribing, with demographic factors having no significant effect on results. Although deprescribing knowledge is high, willingness to engage is hindered by obstacles such as time. Remuneration was identified as an enabler for deprescribing. Interdisciplinary educational opportunities and bidirectional communication channels with prescribers are viewed as the major facilitators of deprescribing. Conclusions Community pharmacists demonstrate that they possess sufficient knowledge, confidence and willingness to play a greater role in facilitating deprescribing. To enable this role expansion, enablers such as education and funding need to be implemented, to overcome barriers such as insufficient time. Further studies are required to assess community pharmacists’ deprescribing competence, to demonstrate their ability to fulfil this role in clinical practice in Ireland.

Deprescribing practices, habits and attitudes of geriatricians and geriatricians-in-training across Europe: a large web-based survey

“…In our study, only one in four respondents thought that education in medical school had prepared them for deprescribing in clinical practice. Education is of utmost importance as it is one of the main facilitators of deprescribing as expressed in our study and also earlier by Irish pharmacists [ 35 ]. Recently, a review on geriatric medicine topics in medical curriculums [ 36 ] was published.…”

Barriers and enablers to deprescribing in long-term care: A qualitative investigation into the opinions of healthcare professionals in Ireland

“…Resources such as time, staff and documentation were described as insufficient in Irish long-term care facilities and a lack of communication and co-ordination between healthcare settings was believed to be responsible for the fragmented care for long-term care patients. These environmental barriers echo challenges identified in Irish primary care settings [ 46 , 47 ] and in international long-term care settings. [ 48 – 53 ].…”

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Primary Health Care Providers towards Deprescribing in Ethiopia

“…Even though majority of healthcare providers in the present study know the term deprescribing, and for whom and for why it employed, more than half of them said that they did not have su cient knowledge on how to do with deprescribing. On contrary, the study conducted in a community pharmacy in Ireland showed that pharmacists had su cient knowledge about deprescribing (25). The difference might rise from the composition of study participants where we included all healthcare providers supposed to have direct or indirect role in patients' medication review.…”