Depression Screening in a University Campus Pharmacy: A Pilot Project

Screening for major diseases in community pharmacies: a systematic review†

“…The total number of participants involved in each study ranged from 18 to 93 258 . Of the 45 studies that reported gender of the participants, 33 included both male and female participants (30 of these had a higher proportion of females), 11 involved only females and one involved only males. Studies took place in the USA (48%, n = 24), Australia (18%, n = 9), the UK (12%, n = 6), Thailand (6%, n = 3), Switzerland (4%, n = 2), Spain (4%, n = 2) and Canada (4%, n = 2).…”

“…These findings concur with those reported in the review by Jepson et al ., and suggest that providing flexible screening interventions requiring less‐invasive tests is likely to encourage more people to participate. Where screening was aimed at both genders, 30 of the 33 studies reporting the male : female ratio of participants recruited a higher proportion of women . The reasons for this are not fully understood but may be related to the fact that some men are reluctant to seek medical help .…”

“…The majority of the studies included in this review used screening tools that are used in other primary care settings such as those used by medical and nursing staff for spirometry, BMD measurements and cholesterol testing. Similarly, questionnaires were usually based on existing instruments such as the five‐item COPD screening questionnaire based on criteria of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease and the Zung Self‐rating Depression Scale . However, evidence about the accuracy of these interventions being used in community pharmacies by pharmacists was limited.…”

Development, implementation, and evaluation of a pharmacist-conducted screening program for depression

“…7 To improve the detection of depression, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published guidelines in ReseaRch dePression screening ProgrAm undertreated depression in 45 patients with diabetes in an urban primary care setting. Knox et al 15 conducted depression screenings in a university campus pharmacy and measured patient satisfaction with the program. Following completion of a satisfaction survey, 64% of patients rated the screening tool as very useful and 92% felt very comfortable completing the screening tool and discussing it with the pharmacist.…”

“…In fact, the overall positive screening rate among all patients was much lower than that seen in the previous studies. 14,15 Possible reasons for this include the differences in practice set-ReseaRch dePression screening ProgrAm tings and patient population. A smaller patient population with diabetes would be more likely to have depression symptoms than a larger, generally healthy patient population, as the presence of diabetes approximately doubles the risk of comorbid depression.…”