Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Namita Joshi

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science

First Advisor

Erin R. Holmes

Second Advisor

Donna West-Strum

Third Advisor

Benjamin F. Banahan

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

Factors affecting community pharmacy owners' attitudes toward and likelihood to adopt RxSync ServiceSM. Objective. There is an increased recognition of the role of pharmacists in the provision of patient care services. Therefore, understanding factors that affect pharmacists' attitudes and likelihood to implement pharmacy services is warranted. The objective of this study is to examine how community pharmacy owners' entrepreneurial and demographic characteristics, perceptions of pharmacy service characteristics (perceived benefit, perceived compatibility, and perceived complexity), workload perceptions, and the number of pharmacy services they already offer, affect their attitude toward and likelihood to adopt RxSync ServiceSM, a newly developed prescription management program that can improve patient medication adherence. Methods. This study employed a cross-sectional, descriptive design by means of an Internet survey distributed to a national convenience sample of independent community pharmacy owners. Respondents were provided with a vignette describing RxSync ServiceSM. Based on the information provided in the vignette, respondents were asked to indicate their perceptions of the characteristics of RxSync ServiceSM, their attitudes toward and likelihood to adopt RxSync ServiceSM. The sample description was described and descriptive statistics and scale reliabilities of study constructs were calculated. The study hypotheses were tested using multi-variable linear regression analysis. Results. Respondents' self-perceived entrepreneurial characteristics, perceptions of the characteristics of RxSync Service SM (perceived benefit, perceived compatibility and perceived complexity) and workload perceptions for their staff pharmacists were found to be significantly related to attitudes about implementation of RxSync ServiceSM. On the contrary, respondents' self-perceived entrepreneurial characteristics, perceived complexity of RxSync ServiceSM were not found to be significantly related to their likelihood to adopt RxSync Service SM. However, respondents' age was significantly and negatively related to their likelihood to adopt RxSync ServiceSM. Implications/Conclusions. The results of this study suggest that a pharmacy owner or partner's entrepreneurial characteristics, perceptions of a pharmacy service, and perceptions of their pharmacist's workload may be related to their attitudes toward implementing a new pharmacy service. Creators of new pharmacy service programs can improve diffusion of these programs among pharmacies by understanding the entrepreneurial characteristics of pharmacists, helping them manage workload during the implementation of the service, promoting the benefits of these services, and helping to overcome perceived barriers.

Concentration/Emphasis

Pharmaceutics

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