The views of pharmacists who participated in a community pharmacy randomised controlled trial: Pharmacists's views of a randomised controlled trial

Objective: Examining case studies of research projects can prove useful to determine what design aspects can be changed to improve the robustness and feasibility of future projects.

Methods: Pharmacists who took part as research partners in a feasibility study of an eczema support service that failed to achieve its recruitment objectives were asked to attend a focus group to determine their views about factors that may have affected pharmacist recruitment rate.

Key findings: Pharmacists expressed positive opinions about being involved in research in principle and remaining engaged for further projects. However, they identified problems in their relationship with the medical practices, their unfamiliarity with this particular study design and the challenges this brought. They also experienced frustration from delays to the research timetable holding back their contribution to the research.

Conclusion: In this case study, pharmacists described how and why they wanted a study process to be made as simple and easy as possible for the participants and themselves to engage in, so as to maintain their own and participants’ engagement in studies.