Importance of pharmacists’ activity in the area of public health and barriers for expanding

Abstract

Abstract In many countries pharmacists are actively involved in implementing public health services. The objective of this work was to study pharmacists' perspective on value of their services for improving population health and existing barriers to expand the scopes of these services in Armenia. Survey was conducted at community pharmacies in different regions of Armenia. Pharmacy staff was asked to complete pre-tested questionnaire that includes questions about their opinion on importance of developing public health services in community pharmacy, the current involvement and existing barriers. Data were analysed with SPSS statistical software, version 22.0. The great majority of 242 responders consider that providing public health services at community pharmacies is able to provide valuable input in preventing chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCD) in Armenia (73.6%) and in improving population health in general (82.6%). However, only a part of professionals is engaged (13.6%) or sometimes engaged (36.0%) in assessment of NCD risk factors. Only 17.8% of respondents participate in public health campaigns and only 30.6% are interested to be involved in vaccination. Respondents indicate following barriers for providing public health services: poor collaboration with other health care professionals (75.6%), lack of knowledge and clinical skills (74.0%), poor access to additional training (70.7%), lack of resources (70.2%), absence of financial stimuli (69.0%), lack of information about patients (68.2%), lack of patients' motivation (64.9%), lack of clinical tools (61.6%), lack of time (55.0%), lack of space (42.1%). 68.5% of respondents suppose that introducing financial stimulus can be effective. Most of pharmacy professionals believe that offering public health services at community pharmacies can lead to improving population health in the country. There are numerous barriers for engagement; however certain interventions can be helpful in overcoming barriers. Key messages Community pharmacy staff is an important resource for activity aimed to improve population health. There are numerous barriers for community pharmacists to provide public health services; appropriate strategies aimed to overcoming barriers can be developed and introduced.