Development of an amiable, health-promoting community pharmacy: perspectives from pharmacists and customers

Objectives: This study was conducted to explore a viable model for establishing health-promoting community pharmacies in Taiwan, where pharmacists can provide amiable and professional health promotion services within a community environment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six licensed pharmacists and six customers hailing from chain, non-owner-managed, and independent community pharmacies in central Taiwan. Following these interviews, several expert meetings were scheduled to discuss the collected information. The obtained data were analyzed through deductive content analysis, utilizing descriptive, in vivo, and pattern coding techniques. Drawing upon the insights gleaned from our analysis, we formulated standard operating procedures and a self-assessment performance checklist for pharmacists, with the ultimate goal of enhancing health promotion in community settings. Results: The services, which primarily centered around dispensing medications, exhibited variation across the included community pharmacies. Independent pharmacies demonstrated the highest level of cooperation in delivering pharmaceutical care and other health promotion services. The primary hurdles in the pursuit of health promotion revolved around gaining public recognition, facilitating professional training for pharmacists, securing government funding, and developing pertinent standard operating procedures and self-assessment checklists. Conclusions: We recommend the incorporation of independent pharmacies and pharmacists who are enthusiastic about engaging in community pharmacy initiatives. The proposed model can seamlessly integrate into the current framework of smoking cessation services, provided it receives adequate government support. Given the challenges arising in the post-pandemic period, our study has the potential to advance the delivery of high-quality primary care to community-based patients in Taiwan, with a focus on health promotion and ensuring safe medication use.