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Background: Disasters affect health services, health professionals and the health of individuals. During disasters, pharmacists are essential in maintaining the health of their communities. Despite the important roles pharmacists undertake in disasters, little is known about their preparedness to respond to disasters that may affect their communities. Aim: To qualitatively explore the factors that affect Australian pharmacists’ preparedness for disasters. Methods: Semistructured interviews aimed at exploring disaster preparedness were conducted with 13 pharmacists in Australia. Participants were recruited using purposive, snowball, and convenience sampling methods. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Open and axial coding methods were used to determine the factors associated with preparedness. Ethical approval was obtained from Queensland University of Technology (no. 1700000626). Results: Almost half of the participants (46%) did not feel that they were prepared for a disaster likely to affect their primary place of practice. Two overarching themes contributing to participants’ preparedness were identified: ‘individual factors’ and ‘external factors’. Pharmacists believed that their preparedness was affected by the individual factors of experience, soft skills, knowledge and training. They also noted that external factors such as available resources, administrative support, multisector support and actions by supports were required for them to be prepared. Conclusion: This research is the first of its kind to explore the factors affecting pharmacists’ disaster preparedness. The results indicate that Australian pharmacists feel underprepared for disasters; however, improving this preparedness is complex and will require more than a single intervention. Interventions for improving preparedness need to target individual and environmental factors and involve the whole healthcare team.

Introduction: In a disaster aftermath, pharmacists have the potential to provide essential health services and contribute to the maintenance of the health and well-being of their community. Despite their importance in the health care system, little is known about the factors that affect pharmacists' disaster preparedness and associated behaviors. Study Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the factors that influence disaster preparedness behaviors and disaster preparedness of Australian pharmacists. Methods: A 70-question survey was developed from previous research findings. This survey was released online and registered Australian pharmacists were invited to participate. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the factors that influenced preparedness and preparedness behaviors among pharmacists. Results: The final model of disaster preparedness indicated that 86.0% of variation in preparedness was explained by disaster experience, perceived knowledge and skills, colleague preparedness, perceived self-efficacy, previous preparedness behaviors, perceived potential disaster severity, and trust of external information sources. The final model of preparedness behaviors indicated that 71.1% of variation in previous preparedness behaviors can be explained by disaster experience, perceived institution responsibility, colleague preparedness, perceived likelihood of disaster, perceived professional responsibility, and years of practice as a pharmacist. Conclusion: This research is the first to explore the significant factors affecting preparedness behaviors and preparedness of Australian pharmacists for disasters. It begins to provide insight into potential critical gaps in current disaster preparedness behaviors and preparedness among pharmacists.

Chandramouli Radhakrishnan,1 Aida Sefidani Forough,2 Julie AY Cichero,1,2 Heather E Smyth,3 Aisha Raidhan,4 Lisa M Nissen,1,2 Kathryn J Steadman1,2 1 School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 2 School of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 3 Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 4Department of Pharmacy, King’s College London, London, UKCorrespondence: Kathryn J Steadman Tel +61 7 334 61886Fax +61 7 3346 1999Email k.steadman@uq.edu.auBackground: Many medications are available as solid oral dosage forms such as tablets and capsules; however, some people find these medications difficult to swallow.Aim: To identify whether certain psychological, oral sensory, and oral motor characteristics contribute to medication swallowing difficulties.Methods: A sample of healthy adults from two academic institutions in Brisbane were assessed for their experiences with swallowing solid oral dosage forms, food preferences, and food neophobia. The gag reflex, oral cavity size, fungiform papillae count, and chewing efficacy were also evaluated followed by a capsule-swallowing task. Primary outcome was the incidence of medication swallowing difficulties. Secondary outcomes were the association of medication swallowing difficulties with psychological, oral sensory, and oral motor factors.Results: Of 152 subjects, 32% reported difficulty swallowing tablets or capsules whole. This group was significantly more likely to have had a memory of choking on medications compared to those without medication swallowing difficulties (OR = 7.25, p < 0.05). Current medication swallowing difficulties were significantly associated with a smaller mouth cavity size (OR = 2.98, p < 0.05), a higher density of taste receptors on the tongue (OR = 3.27, p < 0.05)

Swallowing difficulties are common in older people and can complicate the administration of oral medications. The aim of this study was to explore factors affecting healthcare workers in their practices of oral medication administration to aged care residents with swallowing difficulties. A purposeful sample of 17 healthcare workers composed of clinical/care managers, registered nurses (RNs), enrolled nurses (ENs), and assistants in nursing (AINs) from three aged care facilities in Queensland, Australia participated in semi-structured interviews. Leximancer was used for quantitative content analysis. The responses centered on three main factors. Participants discussed workprocess-related factors including time, workload, and stress and frustrations resulting from work processes. Medication-related factors included strategies to facilitate medication administration, uncertainties around modifying medications, availability/cost of alternatives, multidisciplinary medication management, prescribing considerations, and polypharmacy. Resident-related factors were discussed around individualized needs of residents especially those with dementia-associated swallowing difficulties. Ideas differed among the four groups of participants. Managers discussed workprocess-related factors pertaining to staff and facility. RNs focused on how clinical aspects of the medication practices were affected by work processes. ENs were task-oriented and their responses focused on work processes. AIN responses centered on reliance on RNs in performing medication tasks. The findings suggest that healthcare workers' practices of medication administration to residents with swallowing difficulties are affected by various factors associated with work processes, medications, and resident characteristics. Although these factors affect all levels of healthcare workers, the needs of each group vary depending on their level of training and responsibilities.

Objectives: Pharmacist personality traits may explain the incomplete uptake of extended scope pharmacy practice roles. The objective of this study was to explore the personality traits of Australian pharmacists using the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Methods: A cross-sectional survey of Australian pharmacists was undertaken. Pharmacists were asked to complete a short demographic survey and the BFI, a 44-item survey that measures the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Each trait can be scored out of a maximum of 5. The BFI and multivariate linear regression were used to assess associations between personality traits and demographic variables. Key findings: A total of 122 responses were available for analysis. The majority of study participants were female (79.5%), were aged between 30 and 39 years (32.0%) and worked in hospital pharmacy (46.7%). Pharmacists scored (mean (standard deviation)) 3.4 (0.7) for extraversion, 3.9 (0.5) for agreeableness, 4.2 (0.5) for conscientiousness, 2.5 (0.8) for neuroticism and 3.5 (0.6) for openness. Associations were found between agreeableness and qualifications and location of pharmacy practice, neuroticism and working in a practice location (rural versus metropolitan) and age, and openness and practice location (rural versus metropolitan) and principle role in pharmacy. Conclusions: Pharmacists displayed high scores on the traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness and scored moderately on the trait of openness. Confirmation with a larger sample size and evaluation in the context of pharmacy practice change may assist in overcoming barriers to change in the pharmacy profession.