The pharmacy screening project - An evaluation of pharmacy-based screeningprogrammes

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to establish the proportion of ph armacies providing screening tests in the areas of Pretoria, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp, the types of tests used and their cost to patients, the cri teria employed to select high-prevalence groups, the attitudes of pharmacis ts towards screening and their knowledge of test characteristics. Setting. Ln Pretoria, 155 pharmacies were randomly selected and ail 43 phar macies in Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp were included. Methods. The pharmacies included in the study sample were first contacted b y telephone to identify those providing screening tests. Pharmacies that pr ovided screening tests and agreed to participate in this study were then vi sited and a questionnaire was administered. Results. 57% of the pharmacies provided at least one type of screening test . Blood pressure measurement, serum cholesterol, capillary glucose and preg nancy testing were the most common screening tests available. With the exce ption of blood pressure measurement, the screening tests were conducted les s than 5 times per week. All respondents referred clients with abnormal res ults to general practitioners but only 35% of pharmacies kept records of th e patients tested and the test results. The knowledge of pharmacists concer ning the important features of screening tests, such as false-positive and false-negative rates, was poor. No quality control procedures for the scree ning tests were employed. Conclusions. Providing pharmacists with specific training in the applicatio n and interpretation of screening procedures, and implementing quality cont rol measures will reduce the number of false referrals or non-referrals, an d will improve the quality of the service. If pharmacies are to play a mean ingful role in screening for disease, coverage of the population will need to be increased substantially.