Motivation, Identification Play Critical Role in Pharmacy Service Implementation

Motivation and personal identification with the organization were critical factors in helping—and hindering—implementation of a community pharmacy medication review service, according to a network analysis published online in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. 

“Network analysis has proven to be a useful technique to explore networks of factors moderating the implementation of a pharmacy service,” researchers wrote. “Relationships were complex with most implementation factors being interrelated.” 

The study focused on the 12-month implementation of a medication review with follow-up service in community pharmacies. 

Factors that hindered service implementation with the highest centrality scores were time, motivation, recruitment, individual identification with the organization, and personal characteristics of the pharmacists, researchers reported. On the other hand, factors that facilitated implementation with the highest centrality scores were motivation, individual identification with the organization, beliefs, adaptability, recruitment, external support, and leadership.

In hindering implementation, key causal relationships between factors included workflow-time, pharmacy characteristics-time, and pharmacist characteristics-motivation. Meanwhile, the most important causal relationships in facilitating implementation were motivation-external support, structure-pharmacy characteristics, and demographics-pharmacy location, according to the study. 

“The [study] results can inform the design of implementation programs and tailored strategies to promote faster implementation of innovations in pharmacy,” researchers advised. 

—Jolynn Tumolo

Reference:

Pérez-Escamillla B, Benrimoj SI, Martínez-Martínez F, et al. Using network analysis to explore factors moderating the implementation of a medication review service in community pharmacy [published online ahead of print, 2020 Dec 19]. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2020;S1551-7411(20)31212-2. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.12.007