Pharmacy-related syringe access barriers: an audit of Oregon community pharmacies.

IF 4 2区社会学 Q1 SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Harm Reduction Journal Pub Date : 2025-03-20 DOI:10.1186/s12954-025-01190-3

Victor Abreu, Marissa McGinnis, Savannah Justen, Phuong Y Duong, Natalea Suchy, Daniel M Hartung, Adriane N Irwin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Pharmacies often restrict access to over the counter (OTC) syringes. The objective of this study was to quantify the frequency that patients experience barriers when seeking to purchase a 10-pack of OTC syringes from community pharmacies in Oregon.

Methods: To ascertain the availability of a 10-pack of OTC syringes, we conducted a telephone audit ("secret shopper") study of Oregon community pharmacies. Descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regressions were then performed to identify factors associated with willingness to sell a syringe 10-pack OTC. Factors included in the analysis were related to pharmacy type (chain vs. independent) and county characteristics (rurality, syringe service program presence, overdose rate).

Results: We contacted 425 pharmacies (361 chain, 64 independent) between December 2023 and March 2024; of those, 62.8% were in urban counties. Staff at 184 (43.3%) pharmacies reported that they would not sell a syringe 10-pack OTC. Urban pharmacies were more likely to restrict OTC syringe sales compared to rural pharmacies (adjusted odds ratio [2.11]; 95% CI [1.22-3.65]). No significant differences existed between chain and independent pharmacies.

Conclusions: Community pharmacies are well positioned to ensure access to sterile syringes, but our findings show that they are unreliable access points as nearly half of Oregon community pharmacies restrict patient access to OTC syringes. Unwillingness to sell OTC syringes was most pronounced in urban counties. Pharmacy-directed efforts are needed to ensure access to sterile syringes and address unmet health needs for people who inject drugs.

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与药房有关的注射器使用障碍：俄勒冈州社区药房审计。

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来源期刊

Harm Reduction Journal Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

9.10%

发文量

126

审稿时长

26 weeks

期刊介绍： Harm Reduction Journal is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal whose focus is on the prevalent patterns of psychoactive drug use, the public policies meant to control them, and the search for effective methods of reducing the adverse medical, public health, and social consequences associated with both drugs and drug policies. We define "harm reduction" as "policies and programs which aim to reduce the health, social, and economic costs of legal and illegal psychoactive drug use without necessarily reducing drug consumption". We are especially interested in studies of the evolving patterns of drug use around the world, their implications for the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne pathogens.