QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT BY COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS - AN EXPLORATORY-STUDY

Implicit in the evolving role of pharmacy is that its practitioners em brace the concept of quality of life (QoL). In recent years there has been an increased interest in incorporating health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures into clinical practice, primarily focusing on th e physician as the user of this information. Pharmacists may be able t o use these instruments in their practices to provide better pharmaceu tical care. To explore the feasibility of such an undertaking, questio nnaires were mailed to a national sample of community pharmacies. In a ddition to the questionnaire, the respondents were provided with examp les of two instruments: the Duke Health Profile and the QOLIE-10. A de finition of HRQoL was provided to the respondents. After two mailings and a reminder postcard, a usable response rate of 27.2% was achieved. The results revealed that over 80% of the respondents currently discu ss HRQoL issues with their patients. In addition, 66% reported that th ey attempt to assess the HRQoL of their patients, albeit usually on a subjective, informal basis. After viewing examples of HRQoL instrument s, over three-quarters of the respondents reported a willingness to us e HRQoL assessment tools in their practices. However, only 53.7% of th e respondents were familiar with the concept of HRQoL. Less than 5% re ported familiarity with formal instruments. The self-reported knowledg e of pharmacists concerning HRQoL was low and the respondents recogniz ed a significant gap between their current knowledge and the level of knowledge needed to assess the HRQoL of their patients formally. The r esults suggest a possible role for the pharmacist in HRQoL assessment. However, the use of HRQoL instruments in community pharmacies will re quire further training and education on the part of pharmacists concer ning the concept of HRQoL, the issues involved in its measurement and how they can use HRQoL information in their practices. In addition, a number of unanswered questions must be addressed through the research process in order for HRQoL questionnaires to become clinical tools in the practice of pharmacy.