Mental illness is common among the New Zealand population. Several roles have been
identified for community pharmacists in providing care to people with mental illness;
however, the specifics of these roles have not been studied in New Zealand.
To explore the services currently provided by community pharmacists, the barriers
that may be encountered, and possible solutions when providing care to people with
mental illness.
Community pharmacists across the North Island of New Zealand, who expressed a special
interest in mental health or had a clozapine-dispensing contract, were invited to
participate. Eleven participants were interviewed using a semistructured format guided
by principles of inductive analysis. Using a thematic approach, transcripts from the
interviews were analyzed with the assistance of NVivo 7® (QSR International Pty Ltd
2007).
Four major themes were identified: provision of care, relationships, challenges within
the health care system and resources, and future roles for pharmacists. Provision
of care was associated with the type of services pharmacists provided, patient-focused
care, family involvement, education, psychological support, referrals, and culturally
appropriate practice. Building effective relationships was described by participants
as adopting a nonjudgmental and culturally sensitive manner, respecting patient privacy,
spending more time with patients, and using varied communication techniques. Significant
challenges involved working at the end of the health care chain, inadequate patient
information and contact time, prescription and payment issues, and difficulties ensuring
compliance with medication. Participants identified education, support, and funding
as resources that needed to be improved. Their perspectives about future roles of
the pharmacists included providing more education and acting as medicine managers
for patients.
Pharmacists provided a variety of services to people with mental illness despite the
barriers they encountered. If the roles of community pharmacists within mental health
were to be expanded, solutions to these barriers would need to be identified and implemented.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.