Exploration of the perceptions, barriers and drivers of pharmacogenomics practice among hospital pharmacists in Adelaide, South Australia

• Published in: The pharmacogenomics journal Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 235 - 240
• Main Authors: Dias, M M, Ward, H M, Sorich, M J, McKinnon, R A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/208/212/1728; 706/648; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Drug stores; Forecasts and trends; Gene Expression; Hospitals, Public; Human Genetics; Humans; Medicine; Oncology; original-article; Pharmacists; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacogenomics; Pharmacotherapy; Pharmacy Service, Hospital - manpower; Practice; Psychopharmacology; South Australia; Vocational guidance; South Australia; Australia; South Australia Australia; pharmacist; practice; barriers; pharmacogenomics; Australia; drivers
• ISSN: 1470-269X; 1473-1150
• DOI: 10.1038/tpj.2013.31

There is little literature regarding the barriers to the uptake of pharmacogenomics (PG) in pharmacy practice, especially with respect to Australia. To date, pharmacists have seldom been engaged in discussions of these issues. This study aimed to obtain an in-depth understanding of these barriers by interviewing pharmacists in Adelaide, South Australia. Ethics approved semistructured interviews were carried out with 21 public hospital pharmacists. Analysis of the data identified themes including: confidence to engage in PG, clinician acceptance of a pharmacist PG role, and the importance of timely and relevant PG education. Interviewees thought that pharmacists could have a greater participation in PG in the future, but they questioned whether this would be possible at the moment given, among other factors, existing time and work constraints.