Glasier, A;
Baraitser, P;
McDaid, L;
Norrie, J;
Radley, A;
Stephenson, JM;
Battison, C;
... Data Monitoring Committee; + view all
(2020)
Emergency contraception from the pharmacy 20 years on: a mystery shopper study.
BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health
10.1136/bmjsrh-2020-200648.
(In press).
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Emergency contraception (EC) was approved in the UK as a pharmacy medicine for purchase without prescription in 1991. Twenty years later we conducted a study to characterise routine practice pharmacy provision of EC. STUDY DESIGN: Mystery shopper study of 30 pharmacies in Edinburgh, Dundee and London participating in a clinical trial of contraception after EC. METHODS: Mystery shoppers, aged ≥16 years, followed a standard scenario requesting EC. After the pharmacy visit, they completed a proforma recording the duration of the consultation, where it took place, and whether advice was given to them about the importance of ongoing contraception after EC. RESULTS: Fifty-five mystery shopper visits were conducted. The median reported duration of the consultation with the pharmacist was 6 (range 1-18) min. Consultations took place in a private room in 34 cases (62%) and at the shop counter in the remainder. In 27 cases (49%) women received advice about ongoing contraception. Eleven women (20%) left the pharmacy without EC due to lack of supplies or of a trained pharmacist. Most women were generally positive about the consultation. CONCLUSIONS: While availability of EC from UK pharmacies has undoubtedly improved access, the necessity to have a consultation, however helpful, with a pharmacist introduces delays and around one in five of our mystery shoppers left without getting EC. Consultations in private are not always possible and little advice is given about ongoing contraception. It is time to make EC available without a pharmacy consultation.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Emergency contraception from the pharmacy 20 years on: a mystery shopper study |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/bmjsrh-2020-200648 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsrh-2020-200648 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health > Infection and Population Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10105191 |
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