Community pharmacists have a duty to contribute to medication risk management in outpatient care. This study aimed to investigate the actions taken by pharmacists in routine dispensing to manage medication risks. The study was conducted as a national cross-sectional online survey targeted at all community pharmacies in Finland (n = 576) in October 2015. One pharmacist from each pharmacy was recommended to be the spokesperson for the outlet to describe their practices. Responses were received from 169 pharmacies (response rate of 29%). Pharmacists were oriented to solving poor adherence and technical problems in prescriptions, whereas responsibility for therapeutic risks was transferred to the patient to resolve them with the physician. Pharmacists have access to a wide range of electronic medication risk management tools, but they are rarely utilized in daily dispensing. Attention was paid to drug-drug interactions and the frequency of dispensing with regard to high-risk medicines. Pharmacies rarely had local agreements with other healthcare providers to solve medication-related risks. In routine dispensing, more attention needs to be given to the identification and solving of therapeutic risks in medications, especially those of older adults. Better participation of community pharmacists in medication risk management requires stronger integration and an explicit mandate to solve the therapeutic risks.
Keywords: adherence; community pharmacy; medication management; medication risk management; medication safety; optimizing prescribing; polypharmacy; potentially inappropriate prescribing.