Current Status and Issues of Pharmacy Function Related to Community Collaborative Pharmacy in Chiba Prefecture

Abstract

The governor’s recognition system for Community Collaborative Pharmacy and Specialized Medical Institution Cooperating Pharmacy has launched in August 2021. The objective of this study was to analyze the data regarding functions of each pharmacy and explore how much pharmacies satisfied the requested functions as a Community Collaborative Pharmacy by each medical district in Chiba Prefecture. The analysis utilized the pharmacy function information of pharmacies in Chiba Prefecture, covering 2,405 pharmacies in 2019 and 2,430 pharmacies in 2020. Items being subjects for the analysis were referred to the certification standards for Community Collaborative Pharmacy. Of all the items, the certification standard with the lowest achievement rate was “results of reporting to and communicating with pharmacists working at medical institutions in the region,” which was achieved by only 2.3% (57 pharmacies) of all the pharmacies in Chiba Prefecture in 2020. There are also few pharmacies that have a system for dispensing sterile products, and only 87 pharmacies (3.6%) of all the pharmacies in Chiba Prefecture had their own sterile dispensing rooms in 2020. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine factors associated with the implementation of home-visited pharmacy services. The results showed that the four factors were associated with the implementation of home services: “having a system for dispensing narcotics”, “having a system for dispensing sterile products”, “being a health support pharmacy”, and “being able to use an electronic version of the medication handbook”.