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Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records

BACKGROUND: An NHS-funded sore throat test and treat (STTT) service was introduced in selected community pharmacies in Wales. Service users were screened using FeverPAIN/Centor scores, offered rapid antigen detection testing (RADT) to detect group A Streptococcus if appropriate, and supplied with an...

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Autores principales: Mantzourani, Efi, Wasag, Diana, Cannings-John, Rebecca, Ahmed, Haroon, Evans, Andrew
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9780525/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36272134
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkac358
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author Mantzourani, Efi
Wasag, Diana
Cannings-John, Rebecca
Ahmed, Haroon
Evans, Andrew
author_facet Mantzourani, Efi
Wasag, Diana
Cannings-John, Rebecca
Ahmed, Haroon
Evans, Andrew
author_sort Mantzourani, Efi
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: An NHS-funded sore throat test and treat (STTT) service was introduced in selected community pharmacies in Wales. Service users were screened using FeverPAIN/Centor scores, offered rapid antigen detection testing (RADT) to detect group A Streptococcus if appropriate, and supplied with antibiotics (by the pharmacist) if indicated. Following an initial evaluation, the service was rolled out nationally. OBJECTIVES: This study forms part of the long-term STTT evaluation. The aim was to describe characteristics of the service and service users, the delivery, service outcomes, patient safety and antibiotic prescribing. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive study using anonymized individual-level data from electronic pharmacy records of all eligible STTT service users between November 2018 and February 2020. RESULTS: We identified 11 304 pharmacy STTT consultations in service users aged 6 years and over, with a median age of 25 years (IQR: 12 to 44). RADT was undertaken in 8666 (76.7%) consultations with 2503 (28.9% of RADT) positive tests. In total, 2406 (21.3%) service users were supplied with antibiotics. Pharmacists managed 91% of consultations in the pharmacy and referred only 937 (9.3%) service users to a GP and 27 (0.2%) to the Emergency Department. Higher rates of antibiotic supply were observed in out-of-hours consultations when compared with in-hours (24.9% versus 20.9%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest description of a pharmacy-led STTT service to date and suggests it can be delivered at scale to align with a pre-specified pathway that promotes appropriate use of RADT and antibiotics. The service could substantially reduce workload from a common illness in other heavily pressurized areas of primary and emergency care.
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spelling pubmed-97805252022-12-23 Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records Mantzourani, Efi Wasag, Diana Cannings-John, Rebecca Ahmed, Haroon Evans, Andrew J Antimicrob Chemother Original Research BACKGROUND: An NHS-funded sore throat test and treat (STTT) service was introduced in selected community pharmacies in Wales. Service users were screened using FeverPAIN/Centor scores, offered rapid antigen detection testing (RADT) to detect group A Streptococcus if appropriate, and supplied with antibiotics (by the pharmacist) if indicated. Following an initial evaluation, the service was rolled out nationally. OBJECTIVES: This study forms part of the long-term STTT evaluation. The aim was to describe characteristics of the service and service users, the delivery, service outcomes, patient safety and antibiotic prescribing. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive study using anonymized individual-level data from electronic pharmacy records of all eligible STTT service users between November 2018 and February 2020. RESULTS: We identified 11 304 pharmacy STTT consultations in service users aged 6 years and over, with a median age of 25 years (IQR: 12 to 44). RADT was undertaken in 8666 (76.7%) consultations with 2503 (28.9% of RADT) positive tests. In total, 2406 (21.3%) service users were supplied with antibiotics. Pharmacists managed 91% of consultations in the pharmacy and referred only 937 (9.3%) service users to a GP and 27 (0.2%) to the Emergency Department. Higher rates of antibiotic supply were observed in out-of-hours consultations when compared with in-hours (24.9% versus 20.9%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest description of a pharmacy-led STTT service to date and suggests it can be delivered at scale to align with a pre-specified pathway that promotes appropriate use of RADT and antibiotics. The service could substantially reduce workload from a common illness in other heavily pressurized areas of primary and emergency care. Oxford University Press 2022-10-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9780525/ /pubmed/36272134 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkac358 Text en © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Original Research
Mantzourani, Efi
Wasag, Diana
Cannings-John, Rebecca
Ahmed, Haroon
Evans, Andrew
Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
title Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
title_full Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
title_fullStr Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
title_full_unstemmed Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
title_short Characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (STREP) in Wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
title_sort characteristics of the sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies (strep) in wales: cross-sectional analysis of 11 304 consultations using anonymized electronic pharmacy records
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9780525/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36272134
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkac358
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