Abstract
Objective To assess knowledge and attitudes toward pharmaceutical care service among hospital and community pharmacists working in Harar and Dire Dawa town, Eastern Ethiopia. Method A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacists working in hospital and community pharmacies, 2018. A total of 43 health settings (6 hospital and 37 community pharmacies) were involved in this study. All pharmacists who met the inclusion criteria were selected using a purposive sampling technique to take part in the study. The pretested structured self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. The collected data was coded, entered, and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. The findings were presented by frequencies and percentages, and summary measures were displayed using tables. Chi-Square test and Fisher's exact test were performed to determine the association between sociodemographic characteristics and the level of knowledge and attitude about pharmaceutical care. The study protocol was approved by the Harar Health Sciences College Research Ethics Review Committee. Results A total of seventy-eight pharmacists were included in the study with a response rate of 97.5%. The mean age (±Standard Deviation (SD)) of the study participants was 32.47 ± 7.42 years, and the majority (88.3%) of the respondents were males. 56.4% of the respondents were working in the hospitals while 43.6% were working in community pharmacy. Overall, 85.9% of the respondents had good knowledge of pharmaceutical care. The types of training curriculum of the participants showed an association with the attitude of pharmacists (P value = 0.022). Similarly, pharmacists' knowledge was associated with their practice setting (P value = 0.022). Similarly, pharmacists' knowledge was associated with their practice setting (Conclusion The majority of pharmacists are knowledgeable about PC. However, nearly half of the pharmacists had an unfavorable attitude toward pharmaceutical care. Harari Regional and Dire Dawa City Health Bureaus should organize and provide in-service training on pharmaceutical care to pharmacists working in community and hospital pharmacies. Furthermore, the bureaus should advocate pharmaceutical care as one area in a continuous professional development program.
Highlights
Over the past four decades, there has been a trend for pharmacy practice to move away from its original focus on medicine supply to a more inclusive focus on patient care.e role of the pharmacist has evolved from that of a compounder and supplier of pharmaceutical products to that of a provider of services and information and, that of a provider of patient care. is new approach has been known as pharmaceutical care (PC) [1].PC is a multifactorial and structured process that is defined per International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)BioMed Research International as “the responsible provision of pharmacotherapy to achieve definite outcomes that improve or maintain a patient’s quality of life” [2]
As far as the knowledge of authors concerned, there is no published study about PC in the study area. us, this study aimed at assessing knowledge and attitudes toward PC service among hospital and community pharmacists working in Harar and Dire Dawa town, Eastern Ethiopia
Our study showed the association between the practice setting of pharmacy professionals and knowledge of PC (P value 0.008). is is consistent with a study reported by Haji et al [24] that evaluated Qatar pharmacists’ understanding and attitudes and perceived barriers related to providing PC
Summary
To assess knowledge and attitudes toward pharmaceutical care service among hospital and community pharmacists working in Harar and Dire Dawa town, Eastern Ethiopia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacists working in hospital and community pharmacies, 2018. A total of 43 health settings (6 hospital and 37 community pharmacies) were involved in this study. 56.4% of the respondents were working in the hospitals while 43.6% were working in community pharmacy. 85.9% of the respondents had good knowledge of pharmaceutical care. E types of training curriculum of the participants showed an association with the attitude of pharmacists (P value 0.022). Nearly half of the pharmacists had an unfavorable attitude toward pharmaceutical care. Harari Regional and Dire Dawa City Health Bureaus should organize and provide in-service training on pharmaceutical care to pharmacists working in community and hospital pharmacies. The bureaus should advocate pharmaceutical care as one area in a continuous professional development program
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