(1261) Leadership Style and Emotional Intelligence Among Pharmacists and the Relationship to Prescription Expedited Partner Therapy (RxEPT) Approach

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to describe leadership styles and emotional intelligence (EI) among a group of pharmacists, and to assess the relationship with their practices, comfort, and confidence with prescription expedited partner therapy (RxEPT). Organizational behavior analyzes a person's leadership and EI to further develop their abilities to work as a member of a team as well as successfully complete tasks. In a recent systematic review, findings suggest that higher levels of EI are related to optimal pharmaceutical care in different pharmacy settings including empathetic behaviors and work productivity; the authors suggest that higher EI is important for both innovative and person-centered care. RxEPT is a public health initiative in which a medication can be prescribed to an individual and their sexual partner(s) for a sexually transmitted infection without the need of their partners to have their own examination. However, many challenges with RxEPT are noted, including pharmacies that may not have a processing method for RxEPT, a lack of continued education on RxEPT, and lack of understanding of RxEPT. Therefore, this underutilized area of patient care may benefit from more information on its relationship with leadership and emotional intelligence.

Methods: This study will include a subgroup of individuals participating in the second step of a 3-phase RxEPT initiative which has been approved by the St. John Fisher University’s institutional review board. Data from a pre-assessment focus group survey among pharmacists in Monroe County, NY will be collected and analyzed including demographic characteristics, pharmacy practice background, leadership and emotional intelligence, and RxEPT (focus group implementation: Nov/Dec 2023; qualitative focus group data will be reported elsewhere with the primary study). Leadership and emotional intelligence will be assessed using questions previously reported in the literature; questions include self-selection of statements and phrases that “best describes your behavior within your pharmacy department” (Emotional intelligence) and “that best describes you as a leader assigning a task” (resonance and dissonance). Experience with RxEPT will be obtained by self-report of EPT filling practices; comfort and confidence will be self-rated on a 5-point likert scale. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize demographics, leadership and emotional intelligence, and RxEPT factors. Leadership and emotional intelligence will be compared to demographic and RxEPT factors including the use of chi-square and fisher's exact test, as appropriate.

Results: Data collection and analysis are pending.

Conclusions: Findings from this study may provide new information about leadership and EI among pharmacists as well as indicate potential benefits that leadership and EI could provide in navigating underutilized areas of practice such as RxEPT.