Supplementary Material for: Pharmacy Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Healthcare Needs Amenable to Pharmacists’ Care: Insights from a Qualitative Study

Introduction: Healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, are facing evolving healthcare needs worldwide. To meet these demands, pharmacists must continuously develop their competencies to remain responsive to the needs of the societies they serve. In Saudi Arabia, however, there is limited information regarding healthcare and pharmaceutical service needs. Therefore, this study aimed to explore societal healthcare needs that could benefit from pharmacists’ contributions within the Saudi context.

Methods: Face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups, was conducted between September and November 2019 in Saudi Arabia. Individual interviews were held with 25 policymakers and practising pharmacists from different practice settings, and eight focus groups were conducted with a total of 53 participants from the public. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed using NVivo 12.

Results: Two overarching themes were common to both professional and public respondents: health system-related and pharmacy profession-related issues. Professionals’ perspectives were captured in six themes, including healthcare-seeking behaviour, health system challenges, pharmacist roles, and pharmaceutical service needs, while public participants’ views were grouped into four themes, including healthcare access, service preferences, and trust and satisfaction. Both groups agreed that, while medication dispensing is currently the key role of community pharmacists, there is a need to focus on more patient-centred services. The findings also highlighted perceptions of current pharmacy education and graduates’ readiness to meet labour market needs.

Conclusion: Respondents perceived a need for pharmacists to expand their roles in community pharmacies to optimise health system capacity and increase access to primary care services. A mismatch between initial education and practice expectations was also highlighted. Strengthening pharmacy education and professional development to ensure needs-based competencies is essential to align pharmacists’ roles with national healthcare priorities and improve population health outcomes.

引言：全球范围内，包括药剂师（pharmacist）在内的医疗保健从业者正面临不断演变的医疗需求。为满足这些需求，药剂师必须持续提升自身能力，以响应所服务社会的实际需求。然而在沙特阿拉伯，有关医疗保健与药学服务（pharmaceutical service）需求的公开信息十分有限。因此，本研究旨在探究沙特阿拉伯背景下可从药剂师专业贡献中获益的社会医疗保健需求。
方法：2019年9月至11月间，研究团队在沙特阿拉伯开展了面对面半结构化个人访谈与焦点小组讨论。研究共对来自不同执业场景的25名政策制定者与执业药剂师进行了个人访谈，同时针对普通公众开展了8场焦点小组讨论，累计共有53名参与者。所有访谈均进行了音频录制，随后逐字转录，并采用NVivo 12软件进行主题分析。
结果：两大核心主题为专业人士与公众受访者所共有，即与医疗系统相关的议题以及与药学专业相关的议题。专业人士的观点可归纳为六大主题，涵盖就医行为、医疗系统挑战、药剂师角色以及药学服务需求等维度；而公众参与者的观点则被划分为四大主题，包括医疗可及性、服务偏好以及信任与满意度。两组受访者均认同，尽管药品调剂目前是社区药剂师的核心职责，但仍需聚焦于更以患者为中心的服务。研究结果还凸显了学界对当前药学教育现状及毕业生满足劳动力市场需求的准备程度的看法。
结论：受访者普遍认为，药剂师有必要拓展其在社区药房的职责范畴，以优化医疗系统整体能力并提升初级保健服务的可及性。研究同时指出了初始药学教育与执业期望之间存在的不匹配问题。加强药学教育与专业发展，确保培养以需求为导向的核心能力，是使药剂师角色契合国家医疗优先事项并改善人群健康结局的关键所在。