Women's Health Issues and Counseling Behaviors: A Pilot Survey of West Virginia Pharmacists

Abstract

Objective:

To assess the counseling behaviors of pharmacists concerning women's health issues.

Design:

A 14-item survey was mailed to 1,050 pharmacists. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency and cross-tabulation). An IBM-compatible microcomputer program, Epi Info Version 5, was used for data analysis. Stratified analysis of the data was conducted using chi-square testing. Correlation between selected variables was determined using statistical analysis software.

Setting:

West Virginia.

Participants:

Two hundred seven practicing West Virginia pharmacists who completed or partially completed the questionnaire.

Outcome Measures:

The degree and nature of counseling by West Virginia pharmacists pertaining to women's health issues.

Results:

Almost 77% of the pharmacists were engaged in community practice. Seventy-four percent (151/203) of pharmacists counsel women about healthcare issues at least sometimes during a typical week. Women most often initiate the interaction. Sixty-nine percent were somewhat comfortable counseling women. The most common topics discussed were vaginal infections and estrogen replacement therapy. The most common barriers to effective counseling were time constraints and lack of patient requests. Almost 33% of the pharmacists (n = 68) agreed that academic curricula inadequately prepared them to counsel women. If reimbursement mechanisms were available, 36% of pharmacists (n = 70) would charge up to $5 per session. Sixteen percent (n = 32) would charge no fee.

Conclusions:

The small sample size and design of the survey could affect interpretation of the study results. Future research should address the specific types of counseling performed and the methods used, the practice setting and its influence on counseling, curricular influences on counseling, and pharmacist reimbursement philosophy.