Objective: To measure the effects of a Pharmaceutical Care Certificate Program (PCCP) in community pharmacists.
Design: This study compared the effects of the PCCP over time using a repeated measures design.
Setting: Retail, independent, and managed care pharmacy.
Participants: 36 pharmacists who participated in the PCCP.
Interventions: PCCP, which was developed to train pharmacists in (1) practice re-engineering, (2) components of pharmaceutical care, and (3) drug therapy management of disease states.
Main outcome measures: (1) pharmacist job functions, (2) pharmaceutical care job functions, (3) pharmaceutical care components, (4) pharmacist-perceived barriers to providing pharmaceutical care, and (5) proposed solutions for overcoming barriers.
Results: When comparing pharmacists at baseline and after 1 year, pharmacists after 1 year felt significantly better prepared to perform all pharmaceutical care components.
Conclusion: Although the PCCP was successful in preparing pharmacists to perform the pharmaceutical care components covered in the program, time seems to be one of the major barriers for their actual implementation into practice. One proposed solution is the development of partnerships between pharmacists and schools of pharmacy.