Public’s attitudes towards community pharmacy in Qatar: a pilot study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo assess the public’s attitudes towards the community pharmacist’s role in Qatar, to investigate the public’s use of community pharmacy, and to determine the public’s views of and satisfaction with community pharmacy services currently provided in Qatar.Materials and methodsThree community pharmacies in Qatar were randomly selected as study sites. Patients 16 years of age and over who were able to communicate in English or Arabic were randomly approached and anonymously interviewed using a multipart pretested survey.ResultsOver 5 weeks, 58 patients were interviewed (60% response rate). A total of 45% of respondents perceived community pharmacists as having a good balance between health and business matters. The physician was considered the first person to contact to answer drug- related questions by 50% of respondents. Most patients agreed that the community pharmacist should provide them with the medication directions of use (93%) and advise them about the treatment of minor ailments (79%); however, more than 70% didn’t expect the community pharmacist to monitor their health progress or to perform any health screening. Half of the participants (52%) reported visiting the pharmacy at least monthly. The top factor that affected a patient’s choice of any pharmacy was pharmacy location (90%). When asked about their views about community pharmacy services in Qatar, only 37% agreed that the pharmacist gave them sufficient time to discuss their problem and was knowledgeable enough to answer their questions.ConclusionThis pilot study suggested that the public has a poor understanding of the community pharmacist’s role in monitoring drug therapy, performing health screening, and providing drug information. Several issues of concern were raised including insufficient pharmacist– patient contact time and unsatisfactory pharmacist knowledge. To advance pharmacy practice in Qatar, efforts may be warranted to address identified issues and to promote the community pharmacist’s role in drug therapy monitoring, drug information provision, and health screening.

Attitudes of Iraqi society towards the role of community pharmacists

“…This is in line with other studies that have investigated public's attitudes towards community pharmacies in Middle East countries. 7,15,17 Therefore, it can be inferred that access to community pharmacies in these countries did not appear to be an important barrier for utilizing the given services as has been identified for other populations. 18,19 Efficient public-pharmacist contact is essential to improve the use of medication and ensure optimal therapy outcomes.…”

“…Previous research has shown that these services are important for the development of pharmacist-primary care collaboration. 11,17,20 Overall, findings from this study describe the current use of community pharmacies and the general image towards the role of pharmacists in Iraq.…”

“…Understanding what pharmacist-skills that are most important to the society is of paramount importance in monitoring drug therapy and serving as a drug information provider. 17 Positive opinions about introducing future pharmacy-services like diagnostic and screening services, direct contact with the physician, and automatic processing of prescriptions have created sufficient demand to bring these services into practice. Previous research has shown that these services are important for the development of pharmacist-primary care collaboration.…”

Preceptors’ Self-Assessment of Their Ability to Perform the Learning Objectives of an Experiential Program

“…A study looking at the public's view of community pharmacies in Qatar found 50% of the public rated their physician as the primary source of drug information and 45% trusted the drug information provided by the physician over the pharmacist. 7 In addition, many community pharmacy preceptors graduated from countries where the focus is predominately on the business of pharmacy rather than the practice of pharmacy. This may have influenced these pharmacists' responses.…”

Pharmacists perceptions of community pharmacy practice in UAE: An Overview

“…Many studies have been performed around the world to evaluate practice and the application of pharmaceutical care in community pharmacy setting [5,6,7,8]. A study done in Canada concluded that many pharmacists in community settings have not yet been able to implement pharmaceutical care as part of their routine work activities, a small number of pharmacists appeared to be introducing pharmaceutical care into the practice setting [5].…”