Practice-based research: Lessons from community pharmacist participants

We designed this project to determine community pharmacists' opinions regar ding the challenges and motivations of their recent participation in a phar macy practice-based research study. At the conclusion of a randomized, mult icenter study, 87 community pharmacist-investigators were sent a questionna ire that explored four areas: motivating factors to participate, barriers t o participation, communication tools used by study coordinators, and design issues for future studies. Fifty-eight (67%) completed questionnaires were returned. Key factors motivating participation in the study were desire to improve the profession and opportunity to learn. Time was the greatest bar rier to participation. Pharmacy practice-based research has two distinct ad vantages. First, it translates clinical knowledge into direct application i n the community. Second, it provides needed data to demonstrate the value o f enhanced pharmacy practice. Thorough understanding of pharmacists' opinio ns is necessary to optimize the design of future studies.