Emory Addiction Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Subst Use Misuse. 2024;59(14):2055-2063. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2024.2392545. Epub 2024 Aug 18.
Patients continue to face challenges accessing medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) despite attempts to loosen prescribing restrictions and streamline service provision. Past research has mainly focused on potential barriers surrounding prescribing practices for buprenorphine, but has had limited investigation into the role of pharmacies.
This study investigates the role of both pharmacists and pharmacies in creating or circumventing barriers to accessing buprenorphine for individuals in Georgia seeking medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
Semi-structured interviews of pharmacists across 12 access and no access pharmacies were used to create a codebook of 179 discreet statements. The ( = 12) 20-35-minute phone interviews included questions addressing substance use, pharmacy practices, treatment, harm reduction, and psychoeducation.
Pharmacists widely agreed that opioid use has caused negative effects on community members ( = 11), that buprenorphine formulation stocking decisions are made based on patient needs ( = 11), and that buprenorphine is relatively easy to stock ( = 10). Additionally, respondents generally stated that buprenorphine is a helpful tool for treating opioid use disorder (OUD) ( = 12) but some reported positive experiences while others reported challenging or negative experiences with patients receiving buprenorphine ( = 7). Finally, few ( = 4) pharmacists agreed that they could benefit from extra training despite many asserting that training is important to inform their own practice ( = 8).
Results from respondents generally show that training may be beneficial for pharmacists to develop an enhanced understanding of addiction and treatment. Enhanced effort to stock different formulations or dosages of buprenorphine and develop relationships with prescribers may increase community access.
尽管为放宽处方限制和简化服务提供做出了种种努力，患者在获取阿片类药物使用障碍（MOUD）药物治疗方面仍面临挑战。过去的研究主要集中在丁丙诺啡处方实践方面的潜在障碍，但对药房的作用研究有限。
本研究调查了佐治亚州寻求阿片类药物使用障碍（MOUD）药物治疗的个人在获取丁丙诺啡方面，药剂师和药房在制造或规避障碍方面所扮演的角色。
对 12 家有准入和无准入的药房的药剂师进行半结构化访谈，创建了 179 条离散语句的代码本。（ = 12）20-35 分钟的电话访谈包括有关物质使用、药房实践、治疗、减少伤害和心理教育的问题。
药剂师普遍认为阿片类药物的使用对社区成员造成了负面影响（ = 11），丁丙诺啡制剂的库存决策是基于患者的需求做出的（ = 11），而且丁丙诺啡的库存相对容易（ = 10）。此外，受访者普遍表示丁丙诺啡是治疗阿片类药物使用障碍（OUD）的有效工具（ = 12），但一些人报告了积极的体验，而另一些人则报告了患者接受丁丙诺啡治疗时遇到的挑战或负面体验（ = 7）。最后，尽管许多药剂师认为培训很重要，可以为他们自己的实践提供信息，但很少（ = 4）药剂师认为他们可以从额外的培训中受益。
受访者的结果普遍表明，培训可能对药剂师增强对成瘾和治疗的理解有益。增加库存不同配方或丁丙诺啡剂量的努力，并与处方医生建立关系，可能会增加社区的获取机会。
