Further to a post on this subject in September, Tony Goodall (Leeds Alcohol Strategy Lead) reports he is running a series of studies in community pharmacies to examine the role of pharmacists in identifying and intervening opportunistically in hazardous drinking.
The research questions are:
- Can a Pharmacist, as a part of their working day, opportunistically identify hazardous drinkers using FAST Questionnaires?
- Similarly, can a Pharmacist conduct BRIEF interventions?
- If so, how is alcohol consumption affected?
Six Community Pharmacists have agreed to take part. The Pharmacists have counselling experience with smoking cessation work, and will be trained in delivering screening and brief interventions for hazardous drinking. The Pharmacies are in different parts of Leeds, W Yorkshire, serving populations which differ in social class and ethnic background. Each Pharmacy has a consultation room – which is to become a mandatory feature for the provision of advanced services under the new pharmacy contract. The selection of such pharmacists and the types of premises will make the results applicable across all community pharmacies.
The study population is patients, particulalry women, who present with prescriptions for chronic treatment with a potential alcohol interaction, over a three month period.
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