Background Community pharmacists potentially have an important role to play in identification of frailty and delivery of interventions to optimise medicines use for frail older adults. However, little is known about their knowledge or views about this role. Aim To explore community pharmacists’ knowledge of frailty and assessment, experiences and contact with frail older adults, and perceptions of their role in optimising medicines use for this population. Methods Semi-structured interviews conducted between March and December 2020 with 15 community pharmacists in Northern Ireland. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Results Three broad themes were generated from the data. The first, ‘awareness and understanding of frailty’, highlighted gaps in community pharmacists’ knowledge regarding presentation and identification of frailty and their reluctance to broach potentially challenging conversations with frail older patients. Within the second theme, ‘problem-solving and supporting medication use’, community pharmacists felt a large part of their role was to resolve medicines-related issues for frail older adults through collaboration with other primary healthcare professionals but feedback on the outcome was often not provided upon issue resolution. The third theme, ‘seizing opportunities in primary care to enhance pharmaceutical care provision for frail older adults’, identified areas for further development of the community pharmacist role. Conclusions This study has provided an understanding of the views and experiences of community pharmacists about frailty. Community pharmacists’ knowledge deficits about frailty must be addressed and their communication skills enhanced so they may confidently initiate conversations about frailty and medicines use with older adults.

中文翻译：

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“我认为我们可能可以做得更多”：一项访谈研究，旨在探索社区药剂师对虚弱的经验和观点，并优化虚弱老年人的药物使用


背景 社区药剂师在识别虚弱和提供干预措施以优化虚弱老年人的药物使用方面可能发挥重要作用。然而，人们对他们对这个角色的了解或看法知之甚少。目的 探讨社区药剂师对衰弱和评估的知识、与衰弱老年人的经验和接触，以及他们在优化该人群药物使用方面的作用的看法。方法 2020 年 3 月至 12 月期间对北爱尔兰 15 名社区药剂师进行半结构化访谈。采访内容逐字记录并按主题进行分析。结果 从数据中产生了三大主题。第一个是“对虚弱的认识和理解”，强调了社区药剂师在虚弱的呈现和识别方面的知识差距，以及他们不愿与虚弱的老年患者进行可能具有挑战性的对话。在第二个主题“解决问题和支持药物使用”中，社区药剂师认为他们的很大一部分作用是通过与其他初级卫生保健专业人员合作来解决体弱老年人的药物相关问题，但对结果的反馈往往不是问题解决后提供。第三个主题是“抓住初级保健机会，加强为体弱老年人提供药物服务”，确定了社区药剂师角色进一步发展的领域。结论 这项研究提供了对社区药剂师对衰弱的看法和经验的了解。 必须解决社区药剂师关于衰弱的知识缺陷，并提高他们的沟通技巧，以便他们可以自信地与老年人展开有关衰弱和药物使用的对话。