Hays Catherine A, Taylor Selina M, Glass Beverley D
Centre for Rural and Remote Health, James Cook University, Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia.
Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
J Multidiscip Healthc. 2020 Mar 2;13:227-234. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S236488. eCollection 2020.
Health outcome delivery for rural and remote Australian communities is challenged by the maldistribution of the pharmacy workforce. High staff turnover rates, reduced pharmacist numbers, and reliance on temporary staff have placed great strain on both state health services and rural community pharmacies. However, recent changes to the demographic profile of the rural pharmacist including a lower average age and increased time spent in rural practice highlights a more positive future for the delivery of better health outcomes for rural communities. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that motivate and challenge pharmacists' choice to practice rurally.
Rural pharmacists were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews using purposive non-probability sampling. Twelve pharmacists were interviewed with early-, middle- and late-career pharmacists represented. Participants described their experiences of working and living in rural and remote locations. Three themes emerged: workforce, practice environment and social factors, which were examined to determine the underlying challenges and motivators impacting rural and remote pharmacy practice.
Lack of staff presented a workforce challenge, while motivators included potential for expanded scope of practice and working as part of a multidisciplinary team. While social isolation has often been presented as a challenge, an emerging theme highlighted that this may no longer be true, and that notions of "rural and remote communities as socially isolated was a stigma that needed to be stopped".
This study highlights that despite the challenges rural pharmacists face, there is a shift happening that could deliver better health outcomes for isolated communities. However, for this to gain momentum, it is important to examine both the challenges and motivators of rural pharmacy practice to provide a platform for the development and implementation of appropriate frameworks and programs to better support the rural pharmacy workforce.
澳大利亚农村和偏远社区的医疗服务提供受到药房劳动力分布不均的挑战。高员工流动率、药剂师数量减少以及对临时员工的依赖给州卫生服务机构和农村社区药房都带来了巨大压力。然而，农村药剂师人口结构最近的变化，包括平均年龄降低和在农村执业时间增加，为农村社区提供更好的健康结果预示了一个更积极的未来。本研究的目的是调查促使药剂师选择在农村执业的因素以及他们面临的挑战。
采用目的非概率抽样邀请农村药剂师参与半结构化访谈。采访了12名药剂师，代表了职业生涯早期、中期和晚期的药剂师。参与者描述了他们在农村和偏远地区工作和生活的经历。出现了三个主题：劳动力、执业环境和社会因素，对这些主题进行了研究，以确定影响农村和偏远地区药房执业的潜在挑战和激励因素。
人员短缺构成了劳动力方面的挑战，而激励因素包括扩大执业范围的潜力以及作为多学科团队一员工作。虽然社会孤立常常被视为一项挑战，但一个新出现的主题强调情况可能不再如此，“农村和偏远社区是社会孤立的这种观念是一种需要消除的耻辱”。
本研究强调，尽管农村药剂师面临挑战，但正在发生的转变可能为孤立社区带来更好的健康结果。然而，要使这种转变形成势头，重要的是审视农村药房执业的挑战和激励因素，为制定和实施适当的框架及计划提供一个平台，以更好地支持农村药房劳动力。
Zotero 插件