Abstract
Several states in the United States (U.S.) have laws permitting stock inhalers, including short-acting beta-agonist inhalers, such as albuterol, and spacers to be prescribed to, dispensed to, and stocked in schools for use in students in respiratory distress, based on a protocol. This survey study assessed Arizona pharmacists’ (1) levels of comfort for dispensing a short-acting beta-agonist inhaler to an individual child versus a stock inhaler to a school, and (2) awareness of the related Arizona state law. Researchers surveyed pharmacists licensed in Arizona who self-reported practicing in an outpatient pharmacy setting. Among 251 pharmacist participants, 62% practiced in a chain community pharmacy. About 80.8% felt comfortable filling a prescription for an albuterol inhaler in a pediatric patient case, whereas only 26.7% felt comfortable filling a prescription for albuterol inhalers to be used as stock inhalers for a given school. Among those who would not fill the stock inhaler prescription, only 5.5% reported awareness of the state law compared to 42.6% of those who would fill it (p < 0.0001). This survey identified a lack of pharmacist awareness of state laws pertaining to stock inhalers for schools.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 464-476 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Public Health Policy |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2023 |
Keywords
- Asthma
- Children
- Community pharmacy
- Law
- School
- Stock inhaler
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Policy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health