Abstract
Purpose: To closely examine the questions community pharmacists receive from type-2 diabetes patients, and research the issues regarding drug administration guidance that meets patient needs.
Method: We conducted a descriptive study using community pharmacists who participated in the Community Pharmacists for Diabetes Intervention Study in Japan (COMPASS Project) in May and November 2011. Main survey items were respondent attributes (age, sex, and job classification) and the questions type-2 diabetes patients frequently asked at the pharmacy (hereinafter “the questions”). We asked the participants to respond with free-style descriptions of a maximum of the three most frequently asked questions. We then conducted text analysis of the questions collected using SPSS Text Analysis For Survey 3.0J. For visualization we adopted Web graphs.
Results: We received responses from 139 pharmacists (48 males, 83 females, and 8 non-specified) (collection rate 100%). As for the age of the respondents, those in their twenties accounted for the majority (44.7%), followed by those in their thirties (37.1%), and in their forties (12.9%). A total of 366 items of response were received. Our text analysis extracted 16 categories, including “how,” “diet,” “test values,” “drugs,” and “will it continue?” These categories covered 75.1% of the descriptions collected from the respondents. Additionally, the Web graphs confirmed correlations between these categories, including “diet-how-good,” “drugs-dosage-how,” and “drugs-for the rest of my life-will it continue?”
Conclusion: The questions type-2 diabetes patients asked community pharmacists were roughly divided into three: “treatment,” “lifestyle,” and “anxiety.” This indicates that pharmacists need to provide type-2 diabetes patients with comprehensive support that includes psychological support and lifestyle guidance.
