Assessment of Knowledge and Competencies of Community Pharmacists for Differentiated HIV Care and Services in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Knowledge and competence of community pharmacists in HIV care, are essential for translating the goals of differentiated care into improved outcomes.
 Aims: To assess the knowledge and competence of community pharmacists in Jos, for differentiated HIV care and services.
 Study Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey.
 Place and Duration of Study: Community pharmacies in Jos North and Jos South local government areas of Plateau state, North-Central Nigeria, between September to November, 2018.
 Methodology: We included community pharmacists who responded to six items on knowledge of HIV therapeutics with each correct answer recording a score of 1 and zero for wrong answers. Respondents with a correct score of 5 or 6 represent good knowledge. We examined competence on a 36 item scale graded 1 for weak competence and 5 for strong competence. Factor analysis; reduce the 36 scale items down to competency domains. Frequencies and percentages for reported competencies were presented. In addition, aggregated scores for each of the competency domains were used to compare respondents based on years of experience, educational level and employment status in community pharmacy. All levels of significance were set at p≤ 0.05.
 Results: 73 out of 110 community pharmacists responded to the questionnaire. Of these, only 25% reported good level of knowledge in HIV therapeutics. 69% reported strong competency in identifying drug therapy problems, 31% inter-professional and patient communication. There was statistically significant difference in competency domains based on years of practice experience and employment status p<0.05. Respondents with 10 years or less of practice experience recorded higher mean ranked scores compared to those with 11 or more years. Similarly, employed pharmacists recorded higher mean ranked scores than those who owned their business.
 Conclusion: Overall, respondents reported low knowledge and weak competency in HIV care emphasizing the need for specialized training before implementation of differentiated care model.

Assessment of the Role of Community Pharmacists in Management of Hiv-Positive Individuals in the Southern Region of Nigeria

“…The result of this study showed that the average Likert scale value for respondents' perception towards community pharmacists' involvement in management of HIV infected patients was biased towards agreement, 3.89 (approximately 4). This finding agreed with previous studies 19,20 , where majority of community pharmacists showed positive disposition to use their practice site, and willingness to extend access for differentiated HIV care 21 . The result further confirmed the research reports that evaluated views of pharmacists and other stakeholders regarding integration of community pharmacies into primary care pathway 22 .…”

Assessing community pharmacists’ involvement and clients’ opinion on HIV/AIDS services in community pharmacies in Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey

“…Similarly, community pharmacists in Jos, Nigeria, reported low knowledge and weak competency in HIV care emphasizing the need for specialized training before the implementation of differentiated care model. 43 Community pharmacist respondents based on demographic characteristics showed that sex and qualifications of the respondents do not have effect on their involvement in HIV/AIDS services. This is in line with the study conducted among community pharmacists in southeast Nigeria.…”

“…Similarly, community pharmacists in Jos, Nigeria, reported low knowledge and weak competency in HIV care emphasizing the need for specialized training before the implementation of differentiated care model. 43…”

Community Pharmacy Based Model for HIV Care and Services: Attitudes and Perceptions of Practitioners in Jos, Nigeria

“…The final questionnaire consisted of four sections: Demographic characteristics of respondents, Competencies of community pharmacists for HIV care and services, Views and attitudes of community pharmacists regarding differentiated HIV care and services, Community pharmacists' knowledge of HIV pharmacotherapy. The sections on knowledge and competencies have been reported elsewhere along with details of the methods for the wider study for which this was a part [16]. The portion of the study reported in this paper consisted of 10 questions on a Likert scale, to assess attitudes and perceptions of community pharmacists on differentiated HIV care and services.…”

“…Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of community pharmacists in Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria. The portion of the study reported in this paper consisted of a 10 items Likert questions to assess attitudes and perceptions of community pharmacists on differentiated HIV care and Dapar et al; ISRR, 8(2): 1-10, 2019; Article no.ISRR.51502 2 services. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 was used to manage data.…”