Abstract
This study aimed to know the attitudes and practice of pharmacists regarding the management of minor ailments in Iraqi community pharmacies. A cross-sectional study for 320 community pharmacists was conducted during February 2020 using a newly developed and validated questionnaire. Only 4.4% of pharmacists prefer not to deal with minor ailment cases. Minority (15.6%) of participated pharmacists refer more than half of minor ailment cases they face to the physician. Regarding the assessment of minor ailments using WWHAM technique, what are the symptoms are the most commonly asked questions by pharmacists. Only 49.1% mentioned that they ask all WWHAM questions. On the other hand, most pharmacists (90%) educate their patients about the dosing regimen. Meanwhile, less than 10% of pharmacists provide their patients with all possible information about their medications. All demographic factors had no effect on the pharmacists' usage of WWHAM technique and in pharmacist's role in patient counseling or education. In conclusion minor ailment services that provided by community pharmacists' in Iraq was poor at which most pharmacists don't use WWHAM technique appropriately and also fail to provide their patients with the required medication counseling and education.
Highlights
The pharmacist's role in the community pharmacy has changed nowadays from just a dispenser of medication to provider of professional services such as reviewing the appropriateness of prescribed medications, and more commonly management of minor ailments [1]
Regarding the attitudes of Iraqi community pharmacists toward management of minor ailment cases, only 4.4% of pharmacists mentioned that they preferred not to deal with minor ailment cases, while others (56.6%) mentioned that they dealt with such cases and mainly focused on assessment of the case before managing it
The greatest percentage of participated pharmacists (40%) referred 10-30% of minor ailment cases they face to the physician
Summary
The pharmacist's role in the community pharmacy has changed nowadays from just a dispenser of medication to provider of professional services such as reviewing the appropriateness of prescribed medications, and more commonly management of minor ailments [1]. Providing minor ailments services by a community pharmacist can reduce the workload pressure on physicians in their clinics and in hospitals [4]. Besides that offering nonprescription medication to treat minor ailments enhances individual's confidence to manage their own health and wellbeing [5]. Despite all these benefits for management of minor ailments by community pharmacists, this job may be dangerous if inappropriately performed. In this regard, one study showed that approximately 20% of hospital admissions were due to OTC medications-related problems [6]. To provide minor ailment services appropriately by community pharmacists, the pharmacist must assess each case carefully and refer cases with alarming feature to a physician while manage minor cases only [7]
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