Patient perceptions of a tuberculosis testing program provided in the community pharmacy setting.
OBJECTIVES
This study sought to describe patient experiences and perceptions of a public health initiative designed to improve tuberculosis (TB) testing access using the tuberculin skin test (TST) in a community pharmacy setting.


STUDY DESIGN
This was a cross-sectional study.


METHODS
A telephonic survey of patients who had received a TST at one of twelve participating community pharmacies between August 2014 and July 2016 was conducted. The 26-question survey was developed by two pharmacists with expertise in TB management and one pharmacy student. Before administration the survey was peer-reviewed for clarity. Potential study patients were identified through TST records at the study pharmacies. English-speaking patients older than 18 years were eligible for study inclusion. Statistical differences in responses based on location were identified using chi-squared test for frequency comparisons with a P-value of <0.05 to determine statistical significance.


RESULTS
A total of 1709 patients received a TST during the study period, of whom 431 were contacted and 325 participated, meeting the predetermined representative sample needed of 314 patients. The majority of study patients were female (67.1%) and white (81%). The mean age was 36 years (standard deviation = 14.1). A majority (68.3%) lived <5 miles from the TST pharmacy, while 45.2% of those with a primary care provider (PCP) (61.6% of respondents) lived within 5 miles of the PCP's office. Care was accessible and met patients' testing needs. For most patients (84.6%), the initial and follow-up appointments took < 20 min. Follow-up TST reading rate was 98.5%; 4.3% of tests were positive. Positive TST results were associated with use of a small city pharmacy (P = 0.003). Perception differences based on location were identified.


CONCLUSIONS
Uptake of the TST service in the community pharmacy setting was high and patients reported positive experiences.
['Jakeman|B|B|', 'Logothetis|S J|SJ|', 'Saba|M|M|', 'Anderson|D|D|', 'Acosta|J M|JM|', 'Borrego|M E|ME|', 'Roberts|M H|MH|', 'Bachyrycz|A|A|', 'Fortune|D|D|', 'Burgos|M|M|']
D000328:Adult D003157:Community Pharmacy Services D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D017060:Patient Satisfaction D010594:Pharmacies D010595:Pharmacists D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D013689:Telephone D014374:Tuberculin Test D014376:Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis Testing Community pharmacy Public health TST Pharmacist