TITLE:
The Japanese Community Pharmacists’ Perceptions of the Health Support Pharmacy System
AUTHORS:
Noritake Hirota, Noboru Okamura
KEYWORDS:
Health Support Pharmacy, Health Support Function, Primary Care Function
JOURNAL NAME:
Pharmacology & Pharmacy,
Vol.11 No.4,
April
30,
2020
ABSTRACT: A
questionnaire survey was conducted employing pharmacists at 350 Japanese Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions
(Min-Iren) member pharmacies, evaluating the challenges related to registering
as a Health Support Pharmacy (HSP). Completed responses were received from 193
pharmacies (55.1%). Fifty-five (28.5%) of these pharmacies were approved as
meeting the HSP criteria. Some difficulties encountered in registering as an
HSP included the preparation of the numerous required documents and placing a
health support pharmacist. The obstacles that prevented pharmacists from
registering were physical, including
“placement of two or more health support pharmacists” and “placement of
the required over-the-counter drugs (OTCs).” Based on these, 51.8% of supervising pharmacists
stated the opinion that the government should “loosen current criteria.”
However, a survey conducted among the 724 participant pharmacists, working in a
pharmacy, showed no significant difference in their answering tendencies
depending on whether or not they worked at an HSP. This could be attributed to
the effort that Min- Iren
pharmacies have been putting into health support and primary care functions.
Overall, 64.5% of pharmacists working at HSPs were proud that the pharmacy they worked had HSP status. The present
survey revealed the physical obstacles of HSP registration. Conformity
to the criteria of HSP is essential for performing their fundamental functions
as pharmacies. The relaxation of the criteria is anticipated.