Pharmacist prescriber in Italy and possible changes to current legislation: survey of attitudes among pharmacists, family doctors and users.

Abstract

Background: In many countries in Europe and in the world, pharmacists are allowed to prescribe or modify therapies. In Italy, the only healthcare professions authorised to prescribe are medical doctors and veterinary surgeons. The extension of the duties of the Italian pharmacist to include prescribing would be extremely important considering the challenges the National health system is facing regarding the shortage of healthcare workers.

Methods: In this article, we report the findings of a survey on the role of the pharmacist prescriber conducted among pharmacists, family doctors, and pharmacy users in the North-West of Italy. The investigation was conducted by means of interviews carried out, using category-specific questionnaires.

Results: Interviews were conducted with 234 pharmacists, 926 users and 9 family doctors. The majority of pharmacists and users would agree to the introduction of the prescribing pharmacist. In return for taking on the increased responsibility, the pharmacists stressed the need for appropriate legal status and additional training. The reasons most commonly indicated by pharmacists for introducing such a service are the ability to respond immediately to a pathology or minor condition, and the prevention of inappropriate self-medication by patients. More than three-quarters of pharmacists and family doctors feel that the most suitable pharmacist prescribing procedure would be that within a clinical management plan. The family doctors, expressed reservations regarding the pharmacist prescriber: the cases in which they were really open to a change were the renewal of a prescription.

Conclusions: This study highlights the fact that both pharmacists and pharmacy users tend to be favourable to the introduction of the figure of the pharmacist prescriber in Italy. Many obstacles remain to be overcome but, based on the procedures already experimented in other European countries and worldwide, a route leading to the introduction of the pharmacy prescriber role may be hypothesised.