It was suggested that the professional status of pharmacy versus medicine,[36] the shifting focus of healthcare and the concept of professional autonomy and integration[37] all impact on this perception. In this study, pharmacists identified important barriers to asthma counselling as including the pharmacist’s time, and patient factors relating to time, perceptions of Apoptosis inhibitor receiving adequate care from their doctor, perceptions of a more restricted role

of the pharmacist, health beliefs and lack of asthma knowledge. In fact, over 80% of pharmacists perceived that the above-mentioned were significant barriers to extension of their role in asthma counselling. In previous research focusing on structured community pharmacy-based

asthma programmes, pharmacists have consistently identified their own time constraints, lack of education and remuneration as the greatest barriers to the provision of asthma services.[8,17,38,39] Lumacaftor purchase In contrast to this, participants in our study perceived the patient as posing a number of significant barriers to the provision of optimal asthma management, which is consistent with other qualitative research findings.[40,41] Hence, appropriate tools and strategies, pragmatic in busy retail pharmacies, will be needed to help overcome barriers, as well as training and support for pharmacists involved in future delivery of pharmacy-based asthma care. This study also examined the expectations of pharmacists with regards to their inter-professional relationships, since national and international asthma management guidelines promote a team-based approach to asthma care. Although most pharmacists reported currently having contact with other health professionals about care of their

patients with asthma, almost 70% wanted GBA3 more such interactions. This has been suggested by others.[15] While the present study did not explore this issue further, the strength of the pharmacists’ response to this question, combined with the strong identification of barriers relating to the perceived roles of doctor and pharmacist in asthma management, indicate that future work is needed in the area of inter-professional relationships for management of asthma using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In conclusion, the main contribution of this research is in understanding the perceptions that pharmacists have of their role in asthma management. Community pharmacists perceived a three-dimensional role in asthma care with regional pharmacists more likely to embrace a broader role in asthma management compared to metropolitan counterparts. Pharmacists identified time and patient-related factors as major barriers to the provision of asthma services.