Pharmacists' readiness to assess consumers' over-the-counter product selections.

OBJECTIVE

To measure and explain pharmacists' readiness to adopt a proposed new standard for assessing consumers' over-the-counter product selections.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, descriptive study based on the theoretical underpinnings of the Transtheoretical Model of Change. A questionnaire was used for data collection. Sections included: (1) pharmacists' readiness to engage in a proposed standard of practice; (2) the positive and negative aspects of doing so; (3) pharmacists' agreement with current legislative status of pharmacist-only products; and (4) demographics.

SETTING

Community pharmacy.

PARTICIPANTS

Community pharmacists in one Canadian province.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Pharmacists' readiness to adopt a proposed new standard of care.

RESULTS

Response rate was 70.6%. Most respondents were staff pharmacists in independent pharmacies. The majority were not ready to adopt the proposed new behavior--57.6% were in the precontemplation stage. Age, sex, year of graduation, workload, and size of town/city had no significant effect on readiness for change. As expected, precontemplators showed less overall support for keeping pharmacist-only agents behind the counter. Positive and negative beliefs about the proposed standard varied across stages.

CONCLUSION

Any initiatives to increase pharmacist involvement in assessing consumer nonprescription product selections must acknowledge that pharmacists differ in their degree of readiness for change.