(1) Background: pharmacy technicians are the largest group of staff at Danish community pharmacies and play a vital role in counselling customers on prescription medication, over-the-counter (OTC) medication and non-medical products. This is the first study carried out to specifically analyse how they contribute to counselling and identification of drug-related problems (DRPs) at Danish community pharmacies. (2) Methods: seventy-six pharmacy technicians from 38 community pharmacies registered data on all of their customer visits for five days, over a four-week period, between January and March 2019. Data were analysed in SPSS version 24. (3) Results: 58.9% of all registered customers (n = 10,417) received counselling. They identified DRPs for 15.8% of all registered customers (n = 2800). Counselling by pharmacy technicians solved, or partially solved, problems for 70.4% of customers with DRPs. Pharmacy technicians estimated that 25.2% of customers receiving counselling (n = 2621) were saved a visit to the general practitioner (GP). (4) Conclusions: as community pharmacists get more involved in complex services, it would be necessary to expand the roles of pharmacy technicians. Pharmacy technicians contribute to medication safety via counselling, and identifying and handling DRPs for all customers. This study documents the role of pharmacy technicians in customer counselling at Danish community pharmacies. It provides evidence to researchers and policy makers to support discussions on the future role of pharmacy technicians at community pharmacies.

Background: Diabetes is a demanding disease with a complex treatment regimen. Many persons with diabetes have difficulty managing their disease and taking medication as prescribed, possibly because they lack knowledge and sometimes misinterpret medical benefits. Community pharmacies continuously provide professional counselling to persons with diabetes. Objective: This study aimed to explore 1) which services adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes want from community pharmacies and 2) how pharmacies can meet these wishes. Methods: A qualitative, explorative study design using focus group interviews was chosen. Informants were recruited from Region Zealand in Denmark. Data were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed by means of thematic analysis. Results: Thirteen adults (11 female) with the mean age of 66.2 years (range 49–81 years) participated in one physical (n=6) or one online (n=7) focus group interview. Ten had type 2 diabetes, three had type 1 diabetes. The average duration of participants’ diabetes was 13.4 years (range 2.3–33.0 years). The analysis revealed three overall themes of the functions which the informants would like community pharmacies to fulfil: 1) raise awareness of pharmacies’ counselling service and competences; 2) act as a dialogue partner; 3) be a source of information and guidance about local activities and support. Conclusion: The informants did not regard community pharmacies as a natural part of the healthcare system or as a place where they would expect counselling. They would like the community pharmacy to make their medical competences and services obvious and the community pharmacy staff to act as a dialogue partner and provide competent counselling. The informants would like to have a contact person with diabetes competences with whom they can book an appointment to complement over-the-counter counselling. They experience a gap in their care between routine visits in the healthcare system and suggest that community pharmacies counselling services become a natural supplement and that healthcare professionals in the primary and secondary sectors inform patients about the services - especially for patients newly diagnosed with diabetes. Finally, they would like a formal collaboration between diabetes associations and community pharmacies to make their competences, services and information visible.

Background: Interprofessional education of healthcare professionals has been proposed as a strategy to enhance collaborative practice. This study is the first to explore interprofessional education involving pharmaconomist (PH) students. It aimed to identify the impact of an interprofessional course on PH and other health professions (KP) students. Methods: During the course, KP students cooperated in groups to solve a challenge from practice, where they practiced bringing their professional competencies into play. PH students participated by listening to their preliminary ideas and giving them feedback. All students were invited to answer electronic questionnaires, and at a workshop, teachers from both colleges shared their reflections on the results. The workshop was recorded and transcribed verbatim. All data was analysed in Excel and NVivo R1. Results: Five KP students (38%) and 27 PH students (63%) responded. Nine themes were derived, e.g., PH students’ professional confidence was boosted; KP students have underrated the competencies of PH students; it is important to know each other’s strengths and competencies. Conclusion: PH and KP students learned more about their competencies, those of other professions, and how they can complement each other in patient care.