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。

背景：药店通常限制非处方（OTC）注射器的使用。本研究的目的是量化患者在俄勒冈州社区药房购买10包OTC注射器时遇到障碍的频率。方法：为了确定10包OTC注射器的可用性，我们对俄勒冈州社区药房进行了电话审计（“秘密购物者”）研究。然后进行描述性统计和二项逻辑回归，以确定与愿意出售注射器10包OTC相关的因素。分析中包括的因素与药房类型（连锁与独立）和县特征（农村性、注射器服务项目存在、用药过量率）有关。结果：2023年12月至2024年3月，共联系药店425家，其中连锁药店361家，独立药店64家；其中，62.8%在城市县。184家（43.3%）药店的工作人员报告称，他们不会销售10包非处方药注射器。与农村药店相比，城市药店更有可能限制OTC注射器的销售(调整后优势比[2.11]；95% ci[1.22-3.65])。连锁药店与独立药店之间无显著差异。结论：社区药房可以很好地确保无菌注射器的使用，但我们的研究结果表明，他们是不可靠的接入点，因为近一半的俄勒冈州社区药房限制患者使用OTC注射器。不愿出售OTC注射器的情况在城市县最为明显。需要开展以药学为指导的努力，以确保获得无菌注射器，并解决注射吸毒者未得到满足的健康需求。

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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.