(1238) Survey of Community-based and Ambulatory Care Pharmacists Regarding Pharmacist Administration of Long-acting Injectable Medications

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate comfort, knowledge, and skills of community-based and ambulatory care pharmacists in the state of North Carolina with administering long-acting injectables to patients. The development of long-acting injectable medications has improved adherence rates, reduced hospitalizations, and reduced mortality for patients with serious mental illness and other disease states. Legislation exists allowing pharmacists to administer long-acting injectables in 48 states in the United States. The accessibility and availability of community-based and ambulatory care pharmacists make them uniquely positioned to provide this beneficial service to patients. Effective October 1, 2021, pharmacists in the state of North Carolina are authorized to administer long-acting injectables to patients aged 18 years or older with a prescription from their provider. While some pharmacists in North Carolina have begun providing long-acting injections to their patients, much remains unknown regarding their experience providing this service.

Methods: This cross-sectional study will be conducted via an electronic questionnaire sent using Qualtrics, an online survey platform. The 40-item survey will be distributed electronically via a listserv to pharmacists in the state of North Carolina. Individuals are eligible for inclusion if they hold a valid pharmacist license in the state of North Carolina, work in a community-based pharmacy or ambulatory care pharmacy and have begun participating in the administration of long-acting injectables. Participants will be excluded if they practice pharmacy in an inpatient setting, in a non-direct patient care setting, or do not currently provide long-acting injection services. Using the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy’s database, an email with a link to the survey will be sent to actively licensed pharmacists with a functional email address on file. The email will include a brief background and introduction to the survey. Questions will be written based on background research of pharmacist-led administration of long-acting injectable medications and will consist of Likert scale questions and free-text reflection questions. Data collected will include pharmacist self-reported comfort level with administering long-acting injections, counseling patients on long-acting injectables, and managing adverse reactions due to a long-acting injection. They survey will also assess knowledge of long-acting injectable medications and administration technique. The survey is estimated to take 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey will be pilot tested using a convenience sample of pharmacists and student pharmacists to obtain feedback regarding question interpretation, structure, and validity. The survey will be open for 30 days with a reminder sent on day 15. Survey responses will be voluntary and confidential. To improve survey response, participants will have the option to enroll in a separate drawing to win one of six $50 gift cards. Descriptive statistics will be used to evaluate data.

Results: Institutional Review Board approval is expected in November 2023. The survey will be distributed from November 2023 to December 2023 with data analysis occurring from January 2024 to February 2024.

Conclusions: This research will seek to evaluate the opinions of North Carolina pharmacists regarding administration, counseling, and monitoring of long-acting injectable medications. Once data is collected and analyzed, it can be used to create solutions and strategies for improving utilization of the legislation, which can ultimately result in improved access to care and health outcomes.