A qualitative study exploring community pharmacists' perceptions and experiences with information transfer from Queensland health hospitals during patients' transitions of care.

Abstract

Objective: This study explored community pharmacists' experiences and perceptions of information transfer from Queensland health hospitals for patients during transitions of care and the current utilization of electronic medical records for accessing patient information.

Methods: Qualitative methodology was used involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with community pharmacists to explore their experiences and perceptions with information transfer during patients' transitions of care. Purposive sampling was used to ensure the participation of community pharmacists who had experience with the medication management of patients discharged from Queensland health hospitals. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Reporting was undertaken in accordance with the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ) guidelines.

Key findings: Thirteen community pharmacists were interviewed between September 2023 and January 2024, one-on-one interviews were a mean of 23 minutes (SD +/- 3.22). Community pharmacists believed their role to include medication management, counselling, and ensuring patients follow-up with their general practitioners. Barriers included a lack of information transfer from the hospital, medication errors on discharge medication records and prescriptions, time constraints in the community pharmacy setting, and a lack of patient health literacy. The main modes of information transfer were phone calls, with emails containing discharge medication lists and prescriptions. Electronic medical records were not utilized by the community pharmacists; however, pharmacists were in support of their future use for patient medical information during transitions of care.

Conclusions: Future studies should address the challenges to patient and health practitioner uptake of electronic medical records, the possibility of training and support to mitigate the barriers of integrating platforms into existing software, how to ensure a consistent upload of patient data, and to address concerns with patient privacy and confidentiality.