Identification of acceptable standards for pharmaceutical care practice among hospital pharmacists in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Involvement of Pharmacists in designing practice standards for pharmaceutical care and effective implementation of agreed practice standards will assure optimal and proper outcomes in pharmacy practice. The purpose of this study was to identify standards of pharmaceutical care that are practicable and applicable in the hospital settings. A crosssectional survey was carried out between March and June 2008 among Hospital pharmacists working in 2 cities in South-Western Nigeria. Using a questionnaire modified from fifty –two standards suggested by the Delphi Panel of Pharmaceutical care experts, information was obtained on feasibility, relevance, current application and intention to apply standards of pharmaceutical care. Response rate was 47.93%. Average positive response +standard deviation for the parameters were; Feasibility 62.23%+8.89%, Relevance 62.76%+7.25%, currently applied 41.6%+19.69% and intention to apply 11.32%+6.67%. Twenty seven and 47 standards were found to be both feasible and relevant based on 60% and 50% average positive responses respectively and there was no significant difference between the average positive responses of being feasible and relevant(P=0.1028). The most accepted standard based on feasibility was „the pharmacist should be prepared to re evaluate and modify therapeutic plans on subsequent patient visit and consult with necessary physician(s)‟ 46(79.3%). Thus pharmaceutical care standards that can be implemented in hospital settings were identified. However there is still a suboptimal level of intention to practice these standards. Keywords: Pharmaceutical care; Practice standards; Hospital settings; South-Western Nigeria.