Understanding Characteristics and Risk Factors for Pharmacist Misconduct in New Zealand

In New Zealand, pharmacists are subject to complaints and disciplinary action, but little is known about the characteristics, prevalence, and risk factors contributing to these incidents. Without this knowledge, remedial and preventative actions could end up being more ad-hoc than targeted and systematic. This thesis seeks to identify characteristics of pharmacist misconduct and provide systematic insights into risk factors, extending beyond individual practices to include broader aspects of systems, organisation, and environmental influences. A convergent mixed-method study design was employed, comprising four specific studies: 1) A scoping review that maps existing literature on risk identification, prediction and taxonomy of complaints and misconduct against health practitioners; 2) A qualitative content analysis of published Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) opinions on pharmacists complaints; 3) A mixed-methods analysis of published decisions from the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (HPDT) on pharmacist disciplinary cases; and 4) A deductive qualitative content analysis of reports and evidence by the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) on pharmacist disciplinary cases. The scoping review identified 89 studies on risk identification, prediction and taxonomy of complaints and misconduct against health practitioners. It summarised three main categories of risk factors, the developed taxonomy, and practical predictive tools for analysing complaints and misconduct. The findings emphasised a limited exploration of this area within the pharmacist profession in New Zealand. The subsequent three Pharmacist Studies explored risk factors using data from three sources: HDC, HPDT, and PCC. These factors were integrated into four groups: 1) Social, regulatory, and external environmental factors; 2) Practical, systematic, and organisational factors in the pharmacy; 3) Pharmacist individual factors; and 4) Medication-specific factors. The results also reveal patterns of misconduct, the distribution of risk factors across misconduct issues, and the interactions among these risk factors. The findings highlight the breadth and complexity of risk factors influencing pharmacist misconduct, identifying important gaps and setting directions for future research and practice. Addressing these issues extends beyond individual responsibility, requiring collaborative action from multiple stakeholders. Responsible authorities/regulators, health funders and planners, professional leadership organisations, education/training bodies, pharmacy/employers, pharmacists, and manufacturers play essential roles in addressing the factors collectively influencing such cases.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Pharmacy

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Yufeng

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Scahill, Shane
• Ram, Sanya

• Pharmacy

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/72851

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/72851