Background
Pharmacists are moving towards a service-based profession and this is likely to be evident within the new pharmacy contract. It has been recognised that there is a need for more research to be conducted into the services that community pharmacists currently provide (1), and it is becoming increasingly important for community pharmacists to collect evidence within their everyday practice. The Mant Report (2) suggests that 100% of practitioners should be research aware, with 10% being research active and 1% research experts. Previous studies (3) have shown that more community pharmacists want to be involved in research, but that a number of barriers exist. (4,5)This study builds on previous research and identifies techniques for targeting community pharmacies to help with research.

Aim
To effectively target a sample of pharmacies to recruit customers for research, following a brief intervention in asthma

Method
As part of a national pharmacy chain's healthcare campaign in asthma, a brief intervention was implemented in stores from March 2003. In each quarter, ten stores were asked to recruit customers to research, and feed into the overall service evaluation. Each store was sent an information pack and then followed up with a telephone call with the lead pharmacist. A variety of strategies were used throughout the year to target stores and pharmacists that would actively recruit customers to research. This paper discusses the recruitment methodology, and provides recommendations for future studies.

Results

*MCR – Mystery Customer Research (positive result in conducting asthma brief intervention)

Discussion
From mystery customer data, we know that the majority of stores have been performing the asthma brief intervention. Why is it then that when asked to recruit customers into research that pharmacists are not responding? This paper explores the recruitment methodology and discusses the factors that differentiate pharmacists who will recruit customers to research from those who won't.

1. Anderson C, Blenkinsopp A, Armstrong M. Evidence Relating to Pharmacy Involvement in Health Development. Report 1: A critical review of the literature 1990-2001. London: RPSGB, 2001.
2. Mant D. National Working Group on R&D in Primary Care: final report. London NHS Executive, 1997
3. Liddell H. Attitudes of community pharmacists regarding involvement in research. Pharm J 1996;56:905-7
4. Bateson C, Duggan C, Bates I. Evidence-based practice: barriers to undertaking research in practice. HSRPP conference Belfast 2003
5. Rosenbloom K, Taylor K, Harding G. Community pharmacists' attitudes towards research. Int J Pharm Pract 2000;8:103-10