Johnstone Kristoffer, Cooper Joyce, Smithson John, Glass Beverley
James Cook University, Townsville City Campus, Townsville, Australia.
Pharmacy Department, Cairns Hospital, Cairns, QLD, Australia.
Int J Clin Pharm. 2025 Jun 16. doi: 10.1007/s11096-025-01945-9.
Vaccination rates for influenza and pneumococcal disease globally remain below targets for patients with cancer. Pharmacists already provide vaccinations in the community, highlighting an opportunity to bridge the gap by expanding hospital pharmacists scope of practice to deliver vaccinations in outpatient oncology settings.
To explore the perceptions of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals (HCPs) for the potential expansion of pharmacists' role to include a vaccination clinic for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses, doctors, and pharmacists who were purposively sampled. Data analysis used a deductive coding approach, with data themed against the constructs of Role Theory: ambiguity, conflict, overload, identity, overqualification and underqualification.
Nineteen HCPs (6 nurses, 6 doctors, 7 pharmacists) participated. Participants identified the need for improved vaccination delivery, but considered this service not currently part of core business in the outpatient oncology setting. Role ambiguity was identified regarding which clinicians are ultimately responsible, with medical specialists inferring this to be the responsibility of primary care. Pharmacists' identity was strongly linked to vaccination services in the community, but not in hospitals. HCPs thought oncology pharmacists had the knowledge to expand their role to deliver vaccination services. Pharmacists, while motivated, identified that adding responsibility could cause overload without appropriate resources.
HCPs supported the inclusion of vaccination administration into the pharmacist's role and highlighted that an appropriately vaccine-trained oncology pharmacist would improve access to vaccines for patients with cancer.
全球范围内，癌症患者的流感和肺炎球菌疾病疫苗接种率仍未达到目标。药剂师已在社区提供疫苗接种服务，这凸显了一个机会，即通过扩大医院药剂师的执业范围，在门诊肿瘤治疗环境中提供疫苗接种服务来弥合差距。
探讨多学科医疗保健专业人员（HCPs）对药剂师角色潜在扩展的看法，即将药剂师的角色扩展至为接受癌症治疗的患者设立疫苗接种诊所。
对经过目的性抽样的护士、医生和药剂师进行了半结构化访谈。数据分析采用演绎编码方法，数据根据角色理论的结构进行主题分类：模糊性、冲突、负荷过重、身份认同、资质过高和资质不足。
19名HCPs（6名护士、6名医生、7名药剂师）参与了研究。参与者认识到需要改进疫苗接种服务，但认为该服务目前并非门诊肿瘤治疗环境中的核心业务。在最终责任归属方面存在角色模糊性，医学专家认为这是初级保健的责任。药剂师的身份与社区疫苗接种服务紧密相连，但在医院并非如此。HCPs认为肿瘤专科药剂师具备扩展其角色以提供疫苗接种服务的知识。药剂师虽然有积极性，但也指出增加职责如果没有适当资源可能会导致负荷过重。
HCPs支持将疫苗接种管理纳入药剂师的角色，并强调经过适当疫苗培训的肿瘤专科药剂师将改善癌症患者获得疫苗的机会。
