Do Australian pharmacists feel prepared to respond to local disasters and emergencies?

Introduction. During disasters local communities are the first to respond, often working for days before reinforcements from outside agencies can arrive. Health professionals provide essential roles and services during these events. Despite the important role pharmacists play within the healthcare team, their preparedness to respond to disasters is unknown. Additionally, little is known about what supports pharmacists need to feel more prepared to respond to a disaster. Aims. To determine how prepared Australian pharmacists feel to fulfil roles in local disasters and what supports they require to become more prepared. Methods. A collection of semi-structured interviews led to the development of a mixed-methods survey. This survey will be launched at APSA-ASCEPT 2017 with registered pharmacists invited to participate. Contributors will be asked to self-assess their preparedness for playing a variety of roles that may affect their local community in a disaster. Additionally, this project will explore how pharmacists believe they could improve their preparedness, or how they could be supported in disasters. Results. Results from this survey will feed into a larger research project examining disaster preparedness for pharmacists. The main objective of this research project is to determine how pharmacists can be better prepared to fulfil roles in disasters in Australia. Potential outcomes include competency development, legislative change, and/or short training courses for pharmacists. Discussion. Pharmacists are essential health professionals during disasters. Unfortunately, little is known about how prepared pharmacists feel to assist in disasters and how they can be supported to play a role. The ultimate goal of this research is to improve local preparedness and professional resilience in Australian disasters and emergencies