Adam Balazs, Keers Richard N
Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Pharmacy Department, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Leatherhead KT22 7AD, UK.
Pharmacy (Basel). 2022 Jul 12;10(4):80. doi: 10.3390/pharmacy10040080.
This qualitative research explored the views and attitudes of healthcare professionals towards the role of the mental health pharmacist, and whether this group should be enabled to become approved clinicians (ACs) in England and Wales under the Mental Health Act in future. Following ethical approval, recruitment based on systematic purposive sampling principles took place at one mental health trust in England. Six pharmacists, five medical ACs and two mental health nurses participated in one-to-one digitally audio-recorded semi-structured interviews between June and November 2020. The recordings were transcribed verbatim before being inductively coded and thematically analysed. Notwithstanding the wide recognition among participants of several key skills possessed by mental health pharmacists, various obstacles were identified to them becoming ACs in future, including prevalent conventional models of pharmacy services delivery restricting adequate patient access, as well as insufficient training opportunities to acquire advanced clinical skills, particularly in diagnosis and assessment. In addition to the inherent legislative hurdles, fundamental changes to the skill mix within multidisciplinary mental health teams and improvements to the training of pharmacists were reported by participants to be required to equip them with essential skills to facilitate their transition towards the AC role in future. Further research is needed to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing the clinical development and enhanced utilisation of mental health pharmacists and non-medical ACs across services.
这项定性研究探讨了医疗保健专业人员对心理健康药剂师角色的看法和态度，以及该群体未来在英格兰和威尔士是否应根据《精神健康法》成为认可临床医生（ACs）。在获得伦理批准后，根据系统的目的抽样原则，在英格兰的一家精神健康信托机构进行了招募。2020年6月至11月期间，六名药剂师、五名医学认可临床医生和两名精神健康护士参与了一对一的数字音频记录半结构化访谈。录音在进行归纳编码和主题分析之前逐字转录。尽管参与者广泛认可心理健康药剂师具备的几项关键技能，但也发现了他们未来成为认可临床医生的各种障碍，包括普遍存在的传统药房服务提供模式限制了患者的充分就医机会，以及获得高级临床技能（特别是诊断和评估技能）的培训机会不足。除了固有的立法障碍外，参与者报告称，多学科精神健康团队的技能组合需要进行根本性变革，药剂师的培训也需要改进，以使他们具备必要技能，便于未来向认可临床医生角色转变。需要进一步研究，以更好地了解心理健康药剂师和跨服务领域的非医学认可临床医生在临床发展和提高利用率方面面临的挑战。
