Head office commitment to quality-related event reporting in community pharmacy.

BACKGROUND: This research explores how perceptions of head office commitment to quality-related event (QRE) reporting differ between pharmacy staff type and between pharmacies with high and low QRE reporting and learning performance. QREs include known, alleged or suspected medication errors that reach the patient as well as medication errors that are intercepted prior to dispensing.

METHODS: A survey questionnaire was mailed in the spring of 2010 to 427 pharmacy managers, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Nova Scotia. Nonparametric statistics were used to determine differences based on pharmacy staff type and pharmacy performance. Content analysis was used to analyze the responses to open-ended survey questions.

RESULTS: A total of 210 surveys were returned, for a response rate of 49.2%. However, the current study used only the subgroup of pharmacy staff who self-reported working at a chain pharmacy, for a total of 124 usable questionnaires. The results showed that community pharmacies viewed head office commitment to QRE reporting as an area to improve. In general, high-performing pharmacies ranked head office commitment higher than low-performing pharmacies.

DISCUSSION: One possible reason why high-performing pharmacies ranked the variables higher may be that increased levels of head office support for QRE processes have led these pharmacies to adopt and commit to QRE processes and thus increase their performance.

CONCLUSION: Demonstrated commitment to QRE reporting, ongoing encouragement and targeted messages to staff could be important steps for head office to increase QRE reporting and learning in community pharmacies.