Impact of medicine shortages on Australian pharmacists' professional practice and patient care: a nationwide survey

Recent medicine shortages in Australia have significantly impacted pharmacists' professional practice. The inability to provide essential medicines to consumers in a timely manner has increased pharmacist workload whilst attempting to maintain quality patient care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the impact of medicine shortages on the operational responsibilities of community pharmacists, their ability to deliver health care, and the personal impact on community pharmacists. A nationwide anonymous survey was distributed to Australian community pharmacists via the Qualtrics survey platform between April – September 2023. Of the 142 pharmacists who responded to this survey, 89.5% (n = 127) reported having to purchase medicines from sources other than their regular wholesaler on at least a weekly basis in the last 3 months. The same number reported that they frequently needed to substitute medicines because of ongoing shortages. Most pharmacists (n = 128, 90.1%) reported that their workload had been affected by medicine shortages and that their motivation and engagement with work were frequently affected (n = 79, 55.7%). Pharmacists reported taking on additional administrative responsibilities to ensure access to treatment and health care. Current regulatory restrictions regarding the substitution of medicine dosage forms are often implemented only after community pharmacists are affected by medicine shortages. This survey highlights the need for improved awareness of medicine shortages and timely actions to be taken to ensure pharmacist wellbeing and patient access to health care in the face of medicine shortages. Ethics approval was granted by the University of South Australia Human Research Ethics Committee (Reference no.: 205399) and the study conforms with the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.