Abstract
Objectives
To describe the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of Quebec’s pharmacists towards immunization and determine their perceived barriers to pharmacist-led immunization.
Methods
The current study was a descriptive survey of pharmacists working in a community setting in Quebec. Pharmacists were randomly chosen from a list of Quebec’s community pharmacies and were contacted by phone from January 17 to 25, 2013. Participating pharmacists were given a web link to the online questionnaire. An e-mail reminder was sent 5–7 days after the first contact.
Results
A total of 201 community pharmacists were contacted during the study period, and 115 answered the survey, generating a 57% response rate. The vast majority of respondents answered that vaccines have more benefits than adverse effects. Approximately 52% answered that pharmacists should be able to prescribe and administer vaccines, pending a legislative change. These pharmacists were more interested in administering travel (92%), flu (88%) and pandemic (85%) vaccines than regularly scheduled vaccines for adults (65%) or children (18%). Leading barriers to pharmacist-led immunization were lack of time (90%) and training (92%), and the most common factors that would help its implementation were increased immunization training (95%) and adequate remuneration (92%).
Conclusion
These findings should push for a renewed discussion about the role of pharmacists as immunization agents in Canadian provinces where pharmacists do not have the right to administer vaccines.
Key words: Immunization, vaccination, pharmacists, Quebec
Résumé
Objectifs
Décrire les connaissances, croyances et attitudes des pharmaciens québécois envers l’immunisation et déterminer les barrières perçues à la vaccination par le pharmacien.
Méthode
La présente étude est un sondage descriptif des pharmaciens québécois pratiquant en milieu communautaire. Les pharmaciens étaient choisis aléatoirement à partir d’une liste des pharmacies du Québec et contactés au téléphone du 17 au 25 janvier 2013. Les pharmaciens participant recevaient un lien vers le site du questionnaire en ligne. Un courriel de rappel était envoyé 5–7 jours après.
Résultats
Un total de 201 pharmaciens communautaires ont été contactés pendant la période à l’étude et 115 ont répondu au sondage (taux de réponse 57 %). La grande majorité des répondants a répondu que les vaccins ont plus de bénéfices que d’effets indésirables. Environ 52 % ont répondu que les pharmaciens devraient pouvoir prescrire et administrer les vaccins, advenant une modification législative. Ces pharmaciens étaient plus intéressés à administrer les vaccins de santé des voyageurs (92 %), contre la grippe saisonnière (88 %) et pandémiques (85 %) plutôt que les vaccins des calendriers vaccinaux réguliers adultes (65 %) ou pédiatriques (18 %). Les principales barrières à la vaccination par le pharmacien étaient le manque de temps (90 %) et de formation (92 %), alors qu’une formation sur l’immunisation (95 %) et une rémunération adéquate (92 %) étaient les facteurs aidants les plus courants.
Conclusion
Ces données devraient renouveler la discussion du rôle du pharmacien en immunisation dans les provinces canadiennes où le pharmacien n’a pas le droit de vacciner.
Mots Clés: immunisation, vaccination, pharmaciens, Québec
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
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