<p>Assessment of Undergraduate Pharmacy Students’ Attitude Towards Pharmaceutical Care in Pakistan: Practice Implications</p>

Abstract

Background and Purpose Over the past few decades, the focus of pharmacy practice has been shifted from the classical role of drug dispenser to pharmacotherapy expert. Pharmacists now are more often involved in the patient care process by addressing the drug-related needs of the patients and this patient-centered approach is known as pharmaceutical care (PC). The present study was conducted to assess the attitude of pharmacy undergraduate students toward PC and various contributing factors that influence their preference towards it. Method and Instrument A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 422 undergraduate pharmacy students by using a simple random sampling method. A pre-validated and self-reported Pharmaceutical Care Attitude Scale (PCAS) was used for assessing a student’s attitude towards PC. Results Amongst the 422 undergraduate students, the majority were males (68.2%) and 70.4% were between the age group of 20 and 25 years. The students studying in third, fourth, and fifth year (final year) were 140 (33.2%), 142 (33.6%), and 140 (33.2%), respectively. Overall participant showed a positive attitude toward the PC. Professional year showed significant influence on professional duties (PD) (p<0.001) and age was significantly associated with return on efforts (ROE) (p<0.001) and professional benefits (PB) (p<0.001). Conclusion Most of the participants showed a positive attitude toward PC and showed motivation to practice it. To promote PC practice in Pakistan, the government along with other professional bodies like Pakistan Pharmacists Association (PPA) should work together in collaboration with global health agencies to develop a well-structured advanced healthcare system in which there is a defined role of PC practice.

A Multi-Institutional Study of Yemeni Final Year Undergraduate Pharmacy Students’ Understanding, Attitudes, and Perceived Barriers Toward Provision of Pharmaceutical Care: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Most pharmacy students were self-motivated to undertake pharmacy education, and less than twenty percent were females; this was lower than reported studies in Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, and UEA. 14 , 17 , 19 , 25 Furthermore, their preferred career after graduation was in pharmaceutical marketing, followed by the pharmaceutical industry. The availability of 500 foreign pharmaceutical companies and more than 13,000 brand medicines registered in this country could have influenced their choice of pharmaceutical marketing.…”

“… 14–18 , 18 , 19 This instrument was selected since it has been widely used around the world, such as in USA, 13 Saudi Arabia, 16 Kuwait, 17 Qatar, 18 UAE, 19 Cuba, 15 Malaysia, 24 and Pakistan. 25 …”

“…[14][15][16][17][18]18,19 This instrument was selected since it has been widely used around the world, such as in USA, 13 Saudi Arabia, 16 Kuwait, 17 Qatar, 18 UAE, 19 Cuba, 15 Malaysia, 24 and Pakistan. 25 After the principal investigator was granted electronic permission to use the PCAS by Bradley C. Martin, forward translation from English into Arabic was performed. For validation, the Arabic-translated version of the structured tool was sent to two faculty members who are familiar with quantitative studies and have much expertise in crosssectional studies in the pharmacy field.…”

“…This is in line with similar studies in Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, USA, Nigeria, Nepal, Ethiopia, Cuba, Pakistan, and UAE. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]25,29,30 Even though many colleges' pharmacy curricula do not offer a separate course on PC, it did not appear necessary to foster the students' positive views. Our findings imply that existing pharmacy college courses in Yemen are beneficial in improving pharmacy students' positive attitudes regarding PC.…”

Pharmacy students’ perceptions of collaborations, barriers, and attitude towards patient-centred care in persons with mental disorder in south-west Nigeria

“…A positive attitude towards pharmaceutical care in mental illness was observed among the study participants. A previous study also reported a positive attitude towards the practice of pharmaceutical care among pharmacy students in Qatar (El Hajj et al, 2014) and Pakistan (Hussaine et al, 2020). A positive attitude towards pharmaceutical care services may likely result in the enhanced practice of the model, resulting in improved patient outcomes and reduced cost of treatment.…”