A survey was conducted among college students to determine their assessment of the potential of the pharmacist as a family planning counselor. Pharmacists were seen as an appropriate source of contraceptive information for many contraceptive methods, but few respondents had actually consulted a pharmacist. Pharmacists were viewed as competent to provide contraceptive information by a slight majority of the respondents, but only half indicated they would use the pharmacist as a source of this kind of information.

The Role of the Pharmacist in the Delivery of Family Planning Services to College Students

A Canadian government health committee recommended that pharmacists should be allowed to prescribe oral contraceptives because of their pharmaceutical and medical knowledge about drugs; their active roles in counseling patients about prescribed medication and because of their visibility and accessibility to the public. Several surveys on the attitudes of pharmacists about family planning were conducted in Washington Hawaii Pennsylvania Utah Maryland and Mississippi. The results suggested that pharmacists recognized family planning as part of their practice although some were constrained by religious moral and legal factors. The studies also revealed however that the public do not regard pharmacists as sources of family planning services and the pharmacists themselves do not feel that they have adequate training for such a role. The Mississippi study did confirm that the pharmacists are involved to a certain degree in providing family planning services to the public. The need for inexpensive and effective family planning counseling in the United States had been well documented. By all standards with the exception of formal training the community pharmacist is the best choice for meeting this need. Professional pharmaceutical institutions social and government agencies should utilize pharmacists for family planning services.

T R Sharpe

Papers

The pharmacist and family planning: review and report of a study.