title: Pharmaceutical care for patients with COPD in Belgium and views on protocol implementation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A protocol-based pharmaceutical care program (the PHARMACOP-protocol) focusing on patient counselling during prescription filling has shown to be effective in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, implementation of this protocol in daily practice has not yet been studied.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe current implementation level of the items included in the PHARMACOP-protocol in Belgian community pharmacies and to evaluate pharmacists' perspectives on the implementation of this protocol in daily practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2012, in randomly selected community pharmacies in Flanders. Pharmacists were questionned using structured interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  125 pharmacies were contacted and 80 managing pharmacists (64 %) participated. In >70 % of pharmacies, 4/7 protocol items for first prescriptions and 3/5 protocol items for follow-up prescriptions were already routinely implemented. For first and follow-up prescriptions, respectively 39 (49 %) and 34 pharmacists (43 %) stated they would need to spend at least 5 min extra to offer optimal patient counselling. Most mentioned barriers preventing protocol implementation included lack of time (80 %), no integration in pharmacy software (61 %) and too much administrative burden (58 %).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Approximately 50 % of the PHARMACOP-protocol items are currently routinely provided in Belgian community pharmacies. Nearly all interviewed pharmacists are willing to implement the protocol fully or partially in daily practice.
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Care Unit, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Harelbekestraat 72, 9000, Ghent, Belgium, Eline.Tommelein@UGent.be.
authors.forename: Eline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tommelein
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tollenaere
authors.forename: Els
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mehuys
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boussery
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001530:Belgium; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy; D012984:Software; D000078329:Workforce