title: Experiences of community pharmacists advising pregnant women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies have shown that pharmacists provide healthcare advice to pregnant women, and that they can play an important role in maternal care. However, pharmacists have faced challenges in advising mothers and coordinating with physicians.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the experiences of community pharmacists in advising pregnant women at Lithuanian community pharmacies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community pharmacies in Lithuania.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community pharmacists (n = 27) were recruited for semistructured face-to-face interviews from June 2012 to March 2013. A qualitative and descriptive study based on the content analysis approach was used for data collection and analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thematic coding of Lithuanian community pharmacist interview content.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three main areas emerged: topics of advice-giving, provision of information, and barriers to advice-giving. The question of whether to interact with the physician connected to all of these areas. Pharmacists described different practices about the advice they gave and how they gave it. Lack of knowledge and skills, both about pregnancy and about patient-physician-pharmacist interaction, were a clear barrier to care for pregnant women in community pharmacies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Respondents were comfortable giving advice in clear situations, and found it challenging to do so otherwise. Improving the physician-pharmacist-patient communication environment and providing education and training programmes for pharmacists is necessary to reduce stress and to overcome barriers in advising pregnant women.
authors: Department of Drug Technology and Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu str. 4, 50161, Kaunas, Lithuania, svitrigaile@gmail.com.
authors: Švitrigailė
authors: Š
authors: Grincevičienė
authors: Loreta
authors: L
authors: Kubilienė
authors: Kostas
authors: K
authors: Ivanauskas
authors: Gražina S
authors: GS
authors: Drąsutienė
authors: Diana
authors: D
authors: Ramašauskaitė
authors: Jonas
authors: J
authors: Grincevičius
authors: Jurga
authors: J
authors: Bernatonienė
authors: Arūnas
authors: A
authors: Savickas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008097:Lithuania; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010595:Pharmacists; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods; D024382:Professional Role; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D055815:Young Adult