Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of hospital pharmacists regarding quality of pharmaceutical care services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, Pakistan, through qualitative as well as quantitative approach. For qualitative study, snow ball sampling technique was used. In quantitative part, a cross-sectional study was conducted in 112 hospital pharmacists (out of 128 accessed ones) from both private and public hospitals in six major divisions (divisions are the third tier of government in Pakistan, between the provinces and districts) of KPK. The qualitative study yielded five major themes during thematic analysis: (a) patients reporting, (b) lack of patient counseling, (c) lack of participation in health awareness programs, (d) pharmacists reducing the prescribing errors, and (e) insufficient number of pharmacists. A great proportion (67.9%) of the pharmacists was unsatisfied with their participation in health awareness programs. Findings of both phases revealed that hospital pharmacists in Pakistan are not actively participating in the provision of pharmaceutical care services. They are facing various hurdles for their active participation in patient care; major obstacles include the unavailability of sufficient number of pharmacists, lack of appropriate time for patient counseling, and poor relationship between pharmacists and other health care providers.
Highlights
The pharmacy profession is undergoing a paradigm shift from product-oriented to patient-oriented practice
Several studies conducted in the developed countries have reported that pharmaceutical care practice has a considerable positive effect on health care cost and management [1] and pharmacists have worked a lot for implementation of pharmaceutical care practice
The objective of this study was to assess the hospital pharmacists views regarding the quality of pharmaceutical care services provided to patients in hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, Pakistan
Summary
The pharmacy profession is undergoing a paradigm shift from product-oriented to patient-oriented practice This patient-oriented practice is termed as pharmaceutical care. Pharmaceutical care means the responsible provision of drug therapy for achieving definite outcomes that improve the quality of patient’s life [2]. Pharmaceutical care practice involves a covenantal relationship between the pharmacist and the patient in which drug use is controlled by the pharmacist along with commitment and understanding of the patient’s interest [2]. It is perceived as pharmacy profession’s growth by accepting the social duty to diminish preventable drug-related morbidity and mortality [4]. Implementation of pharmaceutical care still encounters a number of hurdles, among which are time constraints, absence of recognized reimbursement system, unavailability of appropriate space, less access to patient medication record, insufficient number of competent pharmacists, and shortage
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