title: Prevalence of compounding in independent community pharmacy practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the extent of prescription compounding in independent community pharmacies and identify factors that influence the decision of independent pharmacists whether to provide compounding services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa.
  
  
  METHODS
  370 pharmacists in charge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anonymous questionnaire mailed in January 2005.
  
  
  METHODS
  Percentage of pharmacies that provide compounding; percentage of dispensed prescriptions that require compounding; factors contributing to decisions whether to provide compounding service.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 94% of respondent pharmacies provided compounding services at the time of this survey. Prescriptions that required compounding represented less than 1% of total prescriptions for the majority (58.3%) of respondents. The main reasons for the decision to provide compounding service were wanting to provide full pharmaceutical care to patients (73.8% of compounders) and responding to requests by prescribers (48.7%). Pharmacies that did not provide compounding service cited the main reason as not receiving prescriptions that required compounding (63.6% of noncompounders).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compounding remains a component of pharmacy practice in the independent community setting. Prescriptions that required compounding represented 2.3% of all prescriptions dispensed by compounding pharmacies.
authors.affiliation: St. Louis College of Pharmacy, St. Louis, Mo, USA. tmcpher@siue.edu
authors.forename: Timothy B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: McPherson
authors.forename: Patrick E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Fontane
authors.forename: Kelsey D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Kathleen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Tricia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.forename: Rasma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chereson
authors.forename: Rhonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bilger
mesh_terms: D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male