Almost 70% desired greater inter-professional contact in the care of their patients with asthma. The strengths of this study include the high response rate, the high internal consistency

of responses, as indicated by the Cronbach’s signaling pathway alpha coefficient, and the high factor loadings for each of the identified factors. The sample was representative based on current national labour force data[33] (Table 2), and the sample size was adequate for factor analysis and reliability analysis. The limitations of the study were associated with the convenience sampling method, and the lack of qualitative research in the development of the questionnaire, which was based on current asthma management guidelines, the literature and expert opinion. Few published studies have explored pharmacists’ perceptions of their role in asthma management. Research in this area has primarily focused on structured community pharmacy-based asthma programmes;[11,15,17,21–23] however, for the average community pharmacist, neither national[26] nor international[27,28] asthma management guidelines articulate the optimal scope of their role in asthma care. Therefore, exploring the pharmacists’ own perceptions

was considered important for future programme implementation and sustainability. In so doing, this study showed that pharmacists viewed their role in TSA HDAC asthma management along three broad areas, consistent with current asthma management approaches outlined in national[26] and international guidelines:[27,28] medication use, patient self-management and asthma control. While 92% of participants indicated that their role was associated with counselling about ‘medication use’, far fewer believed in a role associated with patient self-management

and asthma control, and only 48% perceived an extended role encompassing all Ergoloid three areas of asthma management. These results are consistent with the more ‘recognised’ role of the pharmacist: that is, medication related in view of their therapeutic knowledge and expertise. Not surprisingly, regional pharmacists perceived a broader role for community pharmacists compared with their metropolitan counterparts. This could relate to the shortages of medical practitioners and large distances in regional areas necessitating all healthcare professionals to take on broader roles in healthcare.[34] This potentially suggests that regional pharmacists may present the ideal target group to implement new asthma management programmes in community pharmacy. When it comes to embracing a broader perspective of their role, a comprehensive study in the UK indicated that community pharmacists believed it was essential to extend their role.[35] This was driven by a dissatisfaction of a role restricted to dispensing medications and satisfaction with taking on a more patient-centred approach.