Community pharmacies across the United States are forming clinically integrated networks (CINs) to facilitate the provision of patient-centered care. These networks need to continually innovate and demonstrate how their patient care services positively impact health outcomes. One way to do this is to develop a practice-based research network (PBRN) in partnership with existing CINs to perform robust outcome evaluations. The objective of this study was to learn pharmacists' opinions on participating in research to facilitate the formation of a community pharmacy PBRN in Pennsylvania. A 20-item survey gathered information on pharmacists' research interests, perceived benefits of research participation, and preferences on communication and patient engagement. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze quantitative data. Seventy-three participants completed the survey, with 47% representing independent pharmacies. The majority (96%) were interested in research opportunities and 86% believed improving workflow and patient care was the most valuable benefit. Eighty percent of pharmacists reported it is very important to demonstrate that pharmacists care about making patients' health better. Connecting pharmacists with other health care providers was reported as very important by 75% of respondents. Pharmacists reported face-to-face communication (76%) as their preferred way to approach patients about research and 72% supported using student pharmacists to assist with patient engagement. The results from this study can inform others who are structuring processes and developing communication strategies for community pharmacy PBRNs, particularly in partnership with CINs.
Keywords: clinically-integrated network; community pharmacy; community pharmacy research networks; patient-centered outcomes research; pharmacists; practice-based research networks; research.