Evaluating Pharmacist Level of Involvement in disease Prevention Activities in Nigeria

Abstract

Evidence exists in literature to support involvement of community pharmacists in a broad range of preventive health activities especially in developed countries. There is a need to explore extent of pharmacists’ involvement in resource limited countries. The objectives of this study were to describe community pharmacists’ involvement in disease prevention strategies and explore facilitators and barriers to involvement. A forty item pretested self- completion questionnaire with 0.944 reliability was administered to a convenient sample of 500 community pharmacists in 3 major cities in Nigeria. Self- reported involvement in preventive health strategies was evaluated on a 5 point response scale ranging from 1 (Not involved at all ) to 5 (very much involved). Response rate was 90.6% (453/500). Mean scores on face to face delivery of preventive health service was consistently higher than leaflet or text message. Pharmacists were mostly involved in preventive health services in the area of hypertension mean (4.38±0.91) followed by Diabetes (4.35±0.86) ST1 (4.27±0.84) and weight reduction (3.39±1.37). Areas of least involvement include osteoporosis (2.2±1.25), hyperlipidemia (2.9±1.43), travel health (2.33±1.33) and cancer risk assessment (1.67±0.96). Lack of adequate training was the most frequent reason for low level of involvement. Community pharmacists in Nigeria are involved to varying extent in a wide range of preventive health activities. Areas of low involvement in this study indicate a need for capacity building in order to increase level of community pharmacist involvement in preventive health activities.