A qualitative analysis of pharmacists’ attitudes towards provision of medication abortion

BMC Health Services Research

Research

Sally Rafie¹  Sarah Averbach²  Selina Sandoval²  Sheila Mody²  Borsika Rabin³  Grace Chen⁴ 

[1] Department of Pharmacy, University of California San Diego Health, San Diego, CA, USA;Division of Complex Family Planning, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, 9300 Campus Point Dr. MC 7433, La Jolla, 92037, San Diego, CA, USA;Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA;UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute Dissemination and Implementation Science Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA;School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA;

关键词: Abortion;    Medication abortion;    No-test medication abortion;    Pharmacist;    Pharmacy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12913-023-09543-z

 received in 2022-09-06, accepted in 2023-05-13,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Background90% of United States’ counties do not have a single clinic offering abortion care, and barriers to care disproportionately affect low-income families. Novel models of abortion care delivery, including provision of medication abortion in pharmacies, with pharmacists prescribing medication, have the potential to expand access to abortion care. Pharmacists are well-positioned to independently provide abortion care and are highly accessible to patients, however medication abortion provision by pharmacists is not currently legal or available in the United States. To assess the potential acceptability of pharmacist provision of medication abortion and to identify anticipated barriers and facilitators to this model of care, we explored pharmacists’ attitudes towards providing medication abortion, inclusive of patient selection, counseling, and medication prescribing.MethodsFrom May to October 2021, we conducted 20 semi-structured qualitative interviews with pharmacists across the United States, guided by the domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Science Research.ResultsMajor themes included there is a need for pharmacist provision of medication abortion and pharmacists perceive provision of medication abortion to be potentially acceptable if anticipated barriers are addressed. Anticipated barriers identified included personal, religious, and political beliefs of pharmacists and lack of space and systems to support the model. Ensuring adequate staffing with pharmacists willing to participate, private space, time for counseling, safe follow-up, training, and reimbursement mechanisms were perceived strategies to facilitate successful implementation.ConclusionsPharmacist identified implementation strategies are needed to reduce anticipated barriers to pharmacist provision of medication abortion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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