**6. Limitations**

The results and our interpretation of them should be tempered with the limitations of the study. Slightly different methods were used to obtain the data in each of the three data collection years. These differences might account for some of the findings of the current analyses. The results were based on respondents' self-reports, raising questions regarding the extent to which respondents gave socially desirable responses. Non-response bias was another limitation. It is possible that responders were more interested in the topic we studied or had stronger opinions about the questions we asked than those who chose not to respond. For our analysis, usable data from respondents working in a pharmacy or a pharmacy-related field were used. While our findings were representative of pharmacists working in a pharmacy or a pharmacy-related field, it should be noted that our analysis did not include licensed pharmacists who were outside of these domains (retired, unemployed, or working outside of a pharmacy-related field). Finally, patient care services might vary widely among responders in terms of specific activities and various roles served. This variable should be viewed as a broadly defined one when interpreting the findings.
