Work System Barriers to Providing Safe Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medication Recommendations for Older Adults

摘要

Background: Unsafe medication use represents a major public health concern, especially for older adults.OTC medications, those that can be purchased without a formal prescription or advice from a health careprofessional, are one contributor to unsafe use because of their perceived safety and accessibility. Despitethe recognition of pharmacists’ ability to help patients make safe OTC medication choices, the prevalenceof older adult misuse of OTC medications is well documented. Objective: To identify barriers to pharmacistsproviding safe OTC medication recommendations to older adults. Methods: Twenty-one retail pharmacistsin three focus groups with questions developed using the critical incident technique. Analysis wasguided by the Input-Performance-Output Model for Health Care Professional Performance. Results: Thematicanalysis revealed barriers within all of the input categories of the work system model, including provider,patient, work system, organizational factors, and external environment. The results provide supportthat any intervention to improve safe OTC medication use in older adults should take into consideration therole of individual and interacting components of the work system.