Abstract
BackgroundThe major goals of pharmaceutical care (PC) are to improve the patient’s quality of life and ensure safety of pharmacotherapy. Inclusion of a pharmacist in the multidisciplinary team caring for the patient and integration of state-of-the-art pharmaceutical services with medical care and nursing are some of the most important challenges that the health care system in Poland is facing.ObjectivesTo evaluate the pharmacists attitudes towards practice in, and knowledge of PC in Poland and to identify the barriers in PC provision.MethodsThe study was designed as a multicenter study, conducted among Polish pharmacists. Random sampling technique was employed to select the study group. Face-to-face questionnaire method was used to interview the pharmacists, upon obtaining their prior verbal consent to participate in the study. The study was conducted between January 2017 and September 2019.ResultsOnly 15% of the pharmacists have ever attended a training on PC. 72% believed PC provision was necessary to ensure pharmacotherapy safety. Only 63% of the pharmacists believed that preventing and solving health-related and drug therapy problems for patients were their responsibilities. The main reason for non-provision of PC by the pharmacists was the lack of time for such activities, lack of legal regulations, lack of organizational facilities.ConclusionThis study indicates that implementation of PC is expected in Poland. Educational programs in this respect are urgently needed. PC provision should be included in the curricula of academic pharmaceutical courses.
Highlights
The concept of pharmaceutical care (PC) has affected pharmacy practice
PC provision should be included in the curricula of academic pharmaceutical courses
Knowledge Most of the pharmacists were familiar with the definition of pharmaceutical care (PC) (76%) (Table 2)
Summary
The concept of pharmaceutical care (PC) has affected pharmacy practice. In many countries, pharmacies are places where individuals may receive health advice and assistance in managing their disease with medications [1]. Lack of time was the main barrier to non-provision of PC in Australia, Argentina, China, New Zealand, Portugal, and Thailand where pharmacists claimed that dispensing takes too much time and, they are reluctant to be involved in other activities [21, 32,33,34,35] Further barriers, such as the lack of organizational facilities (e.g. lack of privacy and lack of space), were a problem among pharmacists from Qatar and Spain [36] where pharmacists claimed that incorporation of a private or semi-private counseling area and of a patient waiting area at their pharmacies would facilitate the pharmacist-patient encounter, enhancing the privacy of conversations, and improving the counselling atmosphere [37]. Inclusion of a pharmacist in the multidisciplinary team caring for the patient and integration of state-of-the-art pharmaceutical services with medical care and nursing are some of the most important challenges that the health care system in Poland is facing
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