Table 7 Pharmacist quotes regarding Opportunity

Importance of clear linkage to care plans

“If we provide this screening test and it came back positive, you know I think it’s important to know how we can collaborate with other healthcare professionals to follow up with the care, and obviously with this research project I think there was a really good system in place to ensure that had someone received the news that they might potentially be positive… that we can refer them to the designated nurse as well as the infectious disease specialist so that there is follow up.”

Usefulness of study tools and aids

“Yeah, I have [the flowchart] out every time in case I…sometimes the patient would start talking too and it would put you off track so then you’d just look to make sure you were going over everything.

Procedural challenges

“I just couldn’t get the blood to flow quickly enough [to fill the pipette] with one patient”

Pharmacy workflow considerations

“I think we were fortunate to be able to provide this service even though it did affect our operation a bit we had the luxury of having overlaps, that we were able to have pharmacist in the dispensary while one of us could step off for even half an hour, just to focus our time with the patient. I could see that being a huge challenge if it was a dispensary with one pharmacist.”

Need for remuneration

“I think for me that’s about the only disadvantage – being able to allocate resources properly as a business. To provide a service like this needs to be justifiable and as a result the remuneration model is imperative… it’s just how do you remove somebody from the workflow, justify whatever costs that incurs just in man hours in putting that pharmacist into that room for half an hour with the patient, the cost associated with removing them from workflow and the additional work that piles up as a result of that.”