Dispensing opioid substitution treatment: practices, attitudes and intentions of community-based pharmacists.

Introduction And Aims: Community-based pharmacists (CPs) play a pivotal role in the provision of opioid substitution treatment (OST). This study examined practices, experiences, attitudes and intentions of a sample of South Australian pharmacists involved with the provision of OST.

Design And Methods: A random sample, stratified by geographic location, of 50 SA CPs were administered a telephone survey. The survey included pharmacist and pharmacy details, current practices, problems experienced, attitudes towards and future intentions in relation to the provision of OST.

Results: Pharmacists indicated high levels of support for the OST programme and most (98%) intended to continue providing OST. Sixty-four per cent of all pharmacists, and significantly more rural pharmacists (90%), indicated that they were willing to take on additional clients. Metropolitan pharmacists dosed greater numbers of OST clients (median = 7) than rural pharmacists (median = 4). There was a strong positive correlation between number of regular clients seen and problems experienced by pharmacists. Seventy per cent of pharmacists reported detecting no diversion of pharmacotherapy medication.

Discussion And Conclusions: Despite reports to the contrary, pharmacists appear to be generally positively predisposed to providing OST. Policies aimed at retaining pharmacists, particularly in resource poor rural areas, could consider embracing a shared-care approach between general practitioners and pharmacists.