Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2021
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2021
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
Letters

An opportunity for pharmacists and physicians to collaborate to prevent violence

Andrea L. Murphy
CMAJ May 01, 2017 189 (17) E644; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.732952
Andrea L. Murphy
Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Barbara Sibbald’s article highlights important deficiencies in our understanding of the effectiveness and appropriateness of interventions for workplace violence.1 Sibbald points out circumstances through which, “violence becomes part of the job.” The research in this area is limited for community pharmacists2 and pharmacy students3 but many experience verbal abuse as “part of the job.” A survey sample of Australian community pharmacists (n = 248) revealed that about one-third had experienced verbal abuse monthly and 15% had experienced it weekly.2 Bullying and intimidation was reported as occurring once per month by 15.7% of community pharmacists and robberies were reported by 6.5%. The impact of violence was also substantial, with 19% reporting reluctance to return to work and more than half reporting that they returned from work feeling anxious, angry, depressed or irritable.2

The rise in opioid use and related harms experienced by Canadians over the past 10 to 20 years has been well documented and extensively discussed.4,5 Pharmacists are inextricably linked to prescribers (i.e., physicians and nurse practitioners) because of their role as stewards of the medication supply, including controlled drugs and substances. Clinical circumstances (e.g., patient safety) and regulatory considerations (e.g., rules surrounding quantities, part-fills and refills) can result in the pharmacist appearing to act in conflict with the patient’s or the prescriber’s (or both) intentions. We have found that substantial tensions can exist among patients, physicians and pharmacists within this complex phenomenon of opioid treatment and that issues such as verbal abuse, bullying and intimidation may arise.6

Although forms of violence (e.g., robbery7,8) toward pharmacists in retail environments may differ from those experienced by other health care professionals, shared similarities with practice characteristics and roles (e.g., working as sole practitioners or with few staff) may allow for the development of interventions that are transferrable among groups and settings. The opioid crisis presents us with an opportunity to more comprehensively understand violence and look at shared solutions in prevention.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.

References

  1. ↵
    1. Sibbald B
    . Workplace violence is not part of a doctor’s job. CMAJ 2017;189:E184.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  2. ↵
    1. Peterson GM,
    2. Tan SI,
    3. Jackson SL,
    4. et al
    . Violence in community pharmacy in Australia: incidence and implications. Int J Clin Pharm 2011;33:264–72.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  3. ↵
    1. Rahim H,
    2. Shah B
    . Pharmacy students’ perceptions and emotional responses to aggressive incidents in pharmacy practice. Am J Pharm Educ 2010;74:61.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  4. ↵
    1. Dhalla IA,
    2. Persaud N,
    3. Juurlink DN
    . Facing up to the prescription opioid crisis. BMJ 2011;343:d5142.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  5. ↵
    Prescription drugs. Ottawa: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. Available: www.ccsa.ca/Eng/topics/Prescription-Drugs/Pages/default.aspx (accessed 2017 Feb. 28).
  6. ↵
    1. Murphy AL,
    2. Phelan H,
    3. Haslam S,
    4. et al
    . Community pharmacists’ experiences in mental illness and addictions care: a qualitative study. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy 2016;11:6.
    OpenUrl
  7. ↵
    The Canadian Press. 2 men wearing disguises allegedly rob 6 Toronto pharmacies over 2 weeks. CBC News 2017 Jan. 19. Available: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/2-men-wearing-disguises-allegedlyrob-6-toronto-pharmacies-over-2-weeks-1.3943856 (accessed 2017 Feb. 28).
  8. ↵
    1. Woo A
    . All B.C. pharmacies must now store drugs in time-delay safes. Globe and Mail [Toronto]. Available: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/all-bc-pharmacies-must-now-store-drugs-in-time-delay-safes/article26375550/ (accessed 2017 Feb. 28).
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 189 (17)
CMAJ
Vol. 189, Issue 17
1 May 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
An opportunity for pharmacists and physicians to collaborate to prevent violence
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
An opportunity for pharmacists and physicians to collaborate to prevent violence
Andrea L. Murphy
CMAJ May 2017, 189 (17) E644; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.732952

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
An opportunity for pharmacists and physicians to collaborate to prevent violence
Andrea L. Murphy
CMAJ May 2017, 189 (17) E644; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.732952
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Workplace violence is not part of a doctor’s job
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • A safe return to sport and the right to play during COVID-19
  • Simple-language tool to guide patients in recovery after prolonged treatment in the intensive care unit
  • The authors respond to: “Delayed discharge and frailty, delirium and functional decline”
Show more Letters

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions

Copyright 2021, Joule Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of the resources on this site in an accessible format, please contact us at cmajgroup@cmaj.ca.

Powered by HighWire