Pharmacy in transition: A work sampling study of community pharmacists using smartphone technology

Jeroen M van de Pol, Jurjen G Geljon, Svetlana V Belitser, Geert W J Frederix, Anke M Hövels, Marcel L Bouvy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The nature of community pharmacy is changing, shifting from the preparation and distribution of medicines to the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS); however, often the provision of traditional services leaves little time for innovative services. This study investigated the time community pharmacists spend on the tasks and activities of daily practice and to what extent they are able to implement CPS-related services in daily practice.

METHODS: Self-reporting work sampling was used to register the activities of community pharmacists. A smartphone application, designed specifically for this purpose, alerted participants to register their current activity five times per working day for 6 weeks. Participants also completed an online survey about baseline characteristics.

RESULTS: Ninety-one Dutch community pharmacists provided work-sampling data (7848 registered activities). Overall, 51.5% of their time was spent on professional activities, 35.4% on semi-professional activities, and 13.1% on non-professional activities. The proportion of time devoted to CPS decreased during the workweek, whereas the time spent on traditional task increased.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study shows it is feasible to collect work-sampling data using smartphone technology. Community pharmacists spent almost half of their time on semi-professional and non-professional activities, activities that could be delegated to other staff members. In practice, the transition to CPS is hampered by competing traditional tasks, which prevents community pharmacists from profiling themselves as pharmaceutical experts in daily practice.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)70-76
Number of pages7
JournalResearch in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2019

Keywords

  • Work sampling
  • Community pharmacy
  • Pharmacy research
  • Smartphone
  • Cognitive pharmaceutical services

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