Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice of community pharmacists towards allergic rhinitis and its management in Khartoum state: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Allergic rhinitis is a very common disorder that in recent decades has increased in prevalence. Pharmacists are typically the first-line contact since many drugs are available over the counter. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of community pharmacists towards allergic rhinitis and its management in Khartoum state.A cross-sectional study was conducted applying a validated self-administered questionnaire. The awareness and attitude were assessed statistically, and the association between those and different demographic characteristics was calculated. A total of 330 participants have enrolled in the study. The response rate was 100%, with the majority of the respondents were females 200 (60.6%). More than half 196(59.4%) were in the age group 25–30 years. A great percentage of the pharmacists (40%) were not aware of the definition and concept of AR, and some of them (6.7%) confuse it with the definition of asthma. Pharmacists show a poor level of knowledge in terms of symptoms of AR, classification, properties of different classifications of AR, pregnancy categories of medications used in the management of AR, appropriate inhaler technique usage, and different classes of medications. More than half of pharmacists show a poor attitude about their role in the counseling, management of AR, and inhalation device education. The findings of the study reflect that attention and concentrated efforts are required on the education and increasing knowledge of pharmacists towards AR.