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Med Humanities 2009;35:110-117 doi:10.1136/jmh.2009.002105
  • Original article

Challenges to UK community pharmacy: a bio-photographic study of workspace in relation to professional pharmacy practice

  1. F L Rapport1,
  2. M A Doel2,
  3. G S Jerzembek3
  1. 1
    Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL), School of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
  2. 2
    School of the Environment and Society, Department of Geography, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
  3. 3
    Cardiff Institute of Society, Health and Ethics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
  1. Correspondence to Professor Frances Rapport, Professor of Qualitative Health Research, Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL), School of Medicine, Swansea University, Grove Building, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK; f.l.rapport{at}swansea.ac.uk
  • Received 4 June 2009

Abstract

This paper presents a novel, qualitative, bio-photographic study with intertextual analysis highlighting the relationship between community pharmacy workspace and practice. Sixteen pharmacists working across pharmacy types such as independent shops, large and small pharmacy chains and multiple pharmacies such as those in supermarkets participated in data capture and feedback consultation. Findings disclosed workspaces unfit for purpose and a workforce ill at ease with their new professional identity, involving increasingly complex tasks in health provision and retail. There was conflict between delegating to others and taking personal responsibility, and there were pressures from a demanding public within the context of a target-driven, litigious society. The study highlights that innovative, mixed methods in this context reveal nuanced, rich data.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • In this study the terms customer, patient, public and client are used interchangeably.

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