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Research
Pharmacy staff characteristics associated with support for pharmacy-based HIV testing
Silvia Amesty, MD, MPH, MSEd; Shannon Blaney, MPH; Natalie D. Crawford, PhD; Alexis V. Rivera, MPH; Crystal Fuller, PhD
J Am Pharm Assoc. 2012;52:472-479. doi:10.1331/JAPhA.2012.10194

Abstract

Objectives  To determine support of in-pharmacy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing among pharmacy staff and the individual-level characteristics associated with in-pharmacy HIV testing support.

Design  Descriptive, nonexperimental, cross-sectional study.

Setting  New York City (NYC) from January 2008 to March 2009.

Participants  480 pharmacy staff, including pharmacists, owners/managers, and technicians/clerks.

Intervention  131 pharmacies registered in the Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP) completed a survey.

Main outcome measure  Support of in-pharmacy HIV testing.

Results  Support of in-pharmacy HIV testing is high among pharmacy staff (79.4%). Pharmacy staff who supported in-pharmacy vaccinations were significantly more likely to support in-pharmacy HIV testing. Pharmacy staff who thought that selling syringes to injection drug users (IDUs) caused the community to be littered with dirty syringes were significantly less likely to support in-pharmacy HIV testing.

Conclusion  Support for in-pharmacy HIV testing was high among our sample of ESAP pharmacy staff actively involved in nonprescription syringe sales. These findings suggest that active ESAP pharmacy staff may be amenable to providing HIV counseling and testing to IDUs and warrants further investigation.

Topics

hiv screen
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