Background
Community pharmacists in Alberta have a broad scope of practice and may conduct point-of-care (POC) tests for acute and chronic medical conditions. However, little is known about the provision and pharmacists' experiences in POC testing for respiratory infections.
Objectives
To explore the clinical services offered by community pharmacist to patients with acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) by describing the types of POC tests performed and differences in implementation factors and confidence between active and inactive URTI POC testing providers.
Methods
Anonymous, online, cross-sectional survey with email invitations sent to 4035 community pharmacists registered with the Alberta College of Pharmacy in February 2024. The survey collected information on demographics and provision of POC testing services. An adapted version of the Determinants of Implementation Behavior Questionnaire (DIBQ) was used to determine barriers and facilitators. The data were summarized descriptively and compared between groups using univariate statistical tests.
Results
A total of 370 responses were included in the final analysis (response rate: 9.2%, 45% < 40 years old, 65% female, 28% rural, 73% have additional prescribing authorization). Most respondents (87%) provide assessments to patients presenting with URTI symptoms. Three quarters (72.7%) provide POC testing, 65% currently provide URTI POC tests, with 59.79% offering strep throat, 26.5% COVID-19 and 5.9% influenza POC tests. Active providers were more likely to agree or strongly agree to 26 out of 30 of the adapted DIBQ items, indicating that these were facilitators of implementation. The largest differences were in having the necessary resources (relative risk: 5.23; 95%CI: 3.34, 8.18), training (RR: 3.89; 95%CI: 2.57, 5.88) and knowing how (RR: 3.16; 95%CI: 2.33, 4.28) to deliver the service. In both groups, areas with low confidence were performing a focused physical assessment, analyzing rapid molecular tests and performing a nasal swab.
Conclusion
Community pharmacists in our sample commonly provide POC testing for Strep pharyngitis. Our results suggest organizational factors, skills, and knowledge were facilitators of service provision.
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