A self-reported work sampling study in community pharmacy practice

Lack of time to implement pharmaceutical care has been cited as a barrier t o the routine provision of this extended patient-care service. Using self-r eported work sampling methodology, this study investigated how community ph armacists utilise their time. Pharmacists working in community pharmacies i n the Greater Belfast area were found to spend approximately 49% of their t ime engaged in professional activities, 29% in semi-professional activities and 22% involved in non-professional activities. The activity to which pha rmacists devoted the majority of their time was product assembly and labell ing, this being a task which can be performed by trained technical staff. O nly 9.5% of community pharmacists' time was devoted to counselling patients on their prescription medicines. Wide variation in the amount of time appo rtioned to each activity was observed between the participating community p harmacists (n=30). Staffing levels within the community pharmacy were found to significantly influence pharmacists' involvement in a number of activit ies, with pharmacists who worked in pharmacies employing multiple pharmacis ts devoting more time to the assembly and labelling of products and less ti me to administrative tasks, non-professional encounters and to miscellaneou s professional activities. Pharmacists working in pharmacies with a high pr escription turnover were found to devote significantly less time to counsel ling patients regarding OTC products and in responding to patient symptoms.