Opportunities for pharmacists to recommend and administer routine vaccines

Isenor, Jennifer E.; Bowles, Susan K.

doi:10.1177/1715163519878473

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Many studies indicate the positive effects of implementing vaccinations in community pharmacies. The results of these studies prove that pharmacists increase the availability of vaccinations, accelerate immunization, effectively educate patients, affect the vaccination coverage rate, prevent new cases of diseases, and by reducing the number of diseases or complications, they bring savings to the healthcare system [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Readiness and Willingness to Provide Immunization Services after Pilot Vaccination Training: A Survey among Community Pharmacists Trained and Not Trained in Immunization during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Merks

Religioni

Bilmin

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Immunization rates among the adult population in Poland are below desired targets, urging the need to expand this service in the community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ultimate goals for limiting the spread of the infection are vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Pharmaceutical companies are in a race for the fastest possible way to deliver vaccines. Community pharmacists in Poland are recognised as an accessible yet underutilised group of medical professionals. Therefore, involving pharmacists in vaccinations may have beneficial results for the healthcare system. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the readiness and willingness of community pharmacists following the Pharmacist Without Borders project who had either been trained or not in providing immunization services, and to identify the factors that may support the implementation of such services in Poland. Methods: This study was conducted among pharmacists between February and August 2020 in Poland. A survey was developed to determine their readiness to provide vaccination services in their pharmacies, to recognise any barriers to vaccinations, as well as the factors necessary to implement vaccination services in Polish pharmacies. Results: A total of 1777 pharmacists participated in the study, comprising 127 (7.1%) pharmacists trained in vaccinations during the Pharmacists Without Borders project and 1650 (92.9%) pharmacists not participating in the workshops. Pharmacists participating in the workshops more often indicated that providing vaccinations in community pharmacies would improve the overall vaccination rate (p = 0.0001), and that pharmacists could play an important role in advertising and promoting vaccinations (p = 0.0001). For the pharmacists not participating in the workshops, they indicated to a much greater extent possible barriers affecting the readiness to provide vaccinations in pharmacies. They most often pointed out that vaccination services would result in a significant workload increase (p = 0.0001), that pharmacies were not adapted to immunization, and that there were not enough training courses for pharmacists (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: The pharmacists working in community pharmacies indicated many advantages of vaccinations in pharmacies. This study identified barriers to the introduction of vaccinations and factors necessary to implement these services in pharmacies. The pharmacists trained during the immunization programme of the Pharmacists Without Borders project showed a greater readiness to provide immunization services.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Readiness and Willingness to Provide Immunization Services after Pilot Vaccination Training: A Survey among Community Pharmacists Trained and Not Trained in Immunization during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Merks

Religioni

Bilmin

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…NZ pharmacist prescribers prescribed more preventative agents (nicotine replacement therapy), and immunisations (influenza vaccine). UK pharmacists are also increasingly prescribing the influenza vaccine [ 39 ] and in 2018, pharmacists in Canada also delivered 34% of adult influenza doses [ 40 ]. The current uptake of NZ pharmacist prescribers for preventative agents demonstrates that they could be further utilised to prescribe preventative agents, including a wider range of funded immunisations in NZ.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining non-medical prescribing trends in New Zealand: 2016–2020

Raghunandan

Marra

Tordoff

et al. 2021

BMC Health Serv Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Population growth and general practitioner workforce constraints are creating increasing demand for health services in New Zealand (NZ) and internationally. Non-medical prescribing (NMP) is one strategy that has been introduced to help manage this. Little is known about the NMP practice trends in NZ. The aim of this study was to provide a current overview of the scale, scope, and trends of NMP practice in NZ. Methods All claims for community dispensed medicines prescribed by a non-medical prescriber were extracted from the NZ Pharmaceutical Collection for the period 2016–2020. Patient demographics were retrieved from the Primary Health Organisation enrolment collection. These national databases contain prescription information for all subsidised community pharmacy medicines dispensed and healthcare enrolment data for 96% of New Zealanders. Results The proportion of prescriptions written by all NMP providers and patients receiving NMP prescriptions increased each year from 1.8% (2016) to 3.6% (2019) and 8.4% (2016) to 14.4% (2019) respectively. From 2016 to 2019, the proportion of NMP patients who had at least one NMP prescription increased from 26% to 39% for nurse prescribers, from 1% to 9% for pharmacist prescribers, from 2% to 3% for dietitian prescribers, and decreased from 47% to 22% for dentists, and from 20% to 12% for midwives. The most commonly prescribed medicines were antibiotics (amoxicillin, amoxicillin with clavulanic acid, and metronidazole), and analgesics (paracetamol, and codeine phosphate). While some NMP providers were prescribing for patients with greater health needs, all NMP providers could be better utilised to reach more of these patients. Conclusions This study highlights that although the NMP service has been implemented in NZ, it has yet to become mainstream healthcare practice. This work provides a baseline to evaluate the NMP service moving forward and enable policy development. Improved implementation and integration of primary care NMP services can ensure continued access to prescribing services and medicines for our communities.

show abstract

“…Globally, several opportunities for pharmacists to recommend and administer routine vaccines were documented. 27 In particular, pharmacists have consistently been shown to increase pneumococcal vaccination rates in the United States. 27 Among the elderly, a positive perception toward the acceptance of pneumococcal vaccines following pharmacist recommendation was shown in small-scale studies in the United States.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of pharmacist-led educational intervention on pneumococcal vaccine awareness and acceptance among elderly in Jordan

Abu-rish

Barakat

2020

Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Limited data exist regarding pneumococcal vaccination coverage among the elderly in Middle Eastern countries including Jordan. The pharmacists' role in improving vaccine acceptance has become increasingly evident. Yet, large-scale studies of the assessment of the pharmacists' role on pneumococcal vaccines acceptance among the elderly are scarce. Hence, we assessed for the first time the current state of knowledge and pneumococcal vaccination coverage among the elderly and the role of pharmacist-led educational intervention on the attitude, awareness, vaccine acceptance, and prompts for physician consultation regarding pneumococcal vaccines in Jordan. This interventional study enrolled 916 randomly selected adults aged ≥ 65 years in Amman, Jordan. We showed that only 3.9% of the participants have ever heard about pneumococcal disease with 0.5% vaccination coverage. Immediately after educational intervention, 21.7% of the participants perceived pneumococcal disease as a threat, 52.1% of them believed in the importance of the vaccine, and 93.9% of them were willing to consult a physician in this regard. At a two-month follow-up, 30.5% had a positive attitude toward the vaccine and 36% consulted their physician regarding the vaccine. Vaccination coverage was significantly increased to 1.9% (P value = 0.008). The main obstacles against vaccination were a negative attitude and that physicians had not recommended the vaccine. Vaccine uptake was significantly associated with physician consultation (P value = 0.011). Insurance, employment, attitude, and reading the booklet significantly predicted physician consultation. In conclusion, very low pneumococcal vaccination coverage was observed among the elderly in Jordan. Enrollment of pharmacists in immunization education and recommendation is suggested to improve pneumococcal vaccine coverage among the elderly in Jordan.

show abstract

Opportunities for pharmacists to recommend and administer routine vaccines

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Readiness and Willingness to Provide Immunization Services after Pilot Vaccination Training: A Survey among Community Pharmacists Trained and Not Trained in Immunization during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Readiness and Willingness to Provide Immunization Services after Pilot Vaccination Training: A Survey among Community Pharmacists Trained and Not Trained in Immunization during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Examining non-medical prescribing trends in New Zealand: 2016–2020

The impact of pharmacist-led educational intervention on pneumococcal vaccine awareness and acceptance among elderly in Jordan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About