PhD student, Yasmin Abdul Aziz has been traveling New Zealand evaluating the unpaid services pharmacies provide. Yasmin has held focus groups in Invercargill, Christchurch, Wellington and Palmerston North, speaking to 23 pharmacists as part of these focus groups with the pharmacists representing a range of pharmacy backgrounds from retail-focused to dispensary focused, independent to chain pharmacies as well as small and large pharmacies.
The pharmacists sampled had a range of experiences, with early career pharmacists as well as pharmacists with over 30 years' experience.
“Thank you to all the pharmacists that have taken part in the focus groups so far, thank you for your time and for sharing your valuable experiences with us around providing unfunded pharmacy services,” says Yasmin.
“It is exciting to hear about the range of services being provided in pharmacies around the country including new and innovative services, the level of compassion and care that pharmacist's show towards their patients and the great contributions they have been making to help achieve better health outcomes for their patients.”
Yasmin will continue to speak to pharmacists about their experiences and will be holding focus groups in Auckland and Dunedin in the beginning of 2018.
“If you are a pharmacist in those areas, we would love to have you join us for the focus groups,” comments Yasmin.
Details on dates and locations of these focus groups will be finalised before the New Year.
For any questions or queries about the project, please contact Yasmin Abdul Aziz at yasmin.abdulaziz@postgrad.otago.ac.nz.
Dunedin Focus Group Flyer (3.6 MB PDF)