TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Community pharmacy services for drug misuse: attitudes and practices of Finnish pharmacists
JO  - International journal on drug policy
A1  - Uosukainen, Hanna
A1  - Turunen, Juha H. O.
A1  - Ilomäki, Jenni
A1  - Bell, J. Simon
SP  - 1139
EP  - 1142
VL  - 25
IS  - 6
N2  - BACKGROUND: Clients perceive pharmacists' attitudes as an important aspect of community pharmacy services for drug misuse. This study explored Finnish pharmacists' attitudes in relation to community pharmacy services for drug misuse. <br><br>METHODS: A cross-sectional mail survey of Finnish community pharmacies was conducted in October 2012. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to compare the attitudes of pharmacists who worked in pharmacies which dispensed buprenorphine-naloxone (n=77) to those of pharmacists who worked in matched comparison pharmacies which did not dispense buprenorphine-naloxone (n=236). <br><br>RESULTS: Pharmacists who worked in pharmacies which dispensed buprenorphine-naloxone were more likely to perceive that dispensing opioid substitution treatment (OST) is part of pharmacists' professional role (62% vs. 27%, p<0.001) and less likely to be concerned about safety (39% vs. 73%, p<0.001), the public image of the pharmacy as a result of dispensing OST (17% vs. 34%, p<0.001) and diversion (56% vs. 73%, p=0.011) than pharmacists who worked in comparison pharmacies. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Negative attitudes towards community pharmacy services for drug misuse still exist, especially among pharmacists who do not dispense buprenorphine-naloxone. Further research is needed into mechanisms to improve attitudes as provision of community pharmacy services is expanded.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0955-3959
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.05.009
ID  - ref1
ER  -