Pharmacy Continence Care - Bladder and Bowel Website

ased on either their customer population or business strategy. The pharmacy sample size
was determined on the basis of the sample size of consumers that was considered sufficient
to enable pre- and post-intervention assessment of the impact of the pharmacy intervention.
The NOVA expert panel considered the available information on the incidence of customer
identification of continence care issues in community pharmacies, and the age distribution
and family characteristics of the majority of community pharmacy customers. It proposed
that:
• recruitment of an average of 10 consumers by each pharmacy over a three-month period
would be feasible
• a consumer sample size of not less than 300 and preferably 500 was preferred, and that
a sample size of 500 surveyed at the point of intervention would enable a follow-up
randomised survey of 300 consumers to assess outcomes and effectiveness of the
intervention.
This design was to enable a substantial body of baseline information on consumer
characteristics and experiences, with a subsequent focussed assessment of change in
outcomes and experience on a randomly selected sub-sample.
Using Pharmacy Guild and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia usual communication avenues,
including an e-newsletter, more than 40 pharmacies volunteered to participate in the
Program. Cold-calling of pharmacies in under-represented areas achieved participation of 50
pharmacies.
The distribution of pharmacies by state is represented graphically in Figure 3, and the
regional distribution is presented in Table 1 and Figure 4.
Percentage
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
12.5
40
12.5
7.5
12.5
Final Report
14
NOVA Public Policy
Pharmacy Continence Care Project
27.5
ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA NT
State/Territory
Figure 3: Percentage distribution of pharmacies by state
5
2.5