A study to investigate the extent of delivery of an intervention in asthma, in a UK national community pharmacy chain, using mystery customers

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to implement a brief intervention in asthma within a UK national pharmacy chain, and through the use of mystery customers, measure the extent of delivery of the intervention over a 4-month period.MethodsMystery customers gathered information on which of the asthma intervention questions were asked, and any lifestyle advice that was given. Additional information was collected on the type of store they visited and the personnel who served them.ResultsMystery customer results indicate delivery rates of the intervention between 48.1 and 84.3% across the 4-month assessment period. This intervention was delivered by both pharmacists and healthcare staff, although the extent and content of delivery varied across the 4 months.ConclusionThe use of mystery customers has helped to assess the successful take up and delivery of this intervention. Based on the learning points gained throughout this study, future services can be designed for other condition areas.Practice implicationsEach service that is designed needs to be simple to implement and deliver, and have the flexibility for pharmacists and staff to adapt the services to meet local requirements.