The Role of Community Pharmacists in Patient Counselling and Health Education: A Survey of Their Knowledge and Level of Involvement in Relation to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and student t-test were employed to examine different variables. Results: Community pharmacists were found to have poor knowledge and low level of involvement with an overall mean score of 11.54 and 2.06 respectively. A significant number of community pharmacists never practiced promoting smoking cessation (45.2%), counseling on good foot care techniques (33.7%) and counseling on the potential impact of over the counter and herbal drugs on diabetes management (34%). On the other hand, describing the right time to administer antidiabetic medications (46%) and counseling on suitable administration, handling and storage of insulin (33.7%) were done more frequently. The main reported barriers to the delivery of these services were lack of knowledge or clinical skills, lack of access to additional training programs and lack of personnel or resources. ConClusions: The present study revealed a poor knowledge and low level of involvement in counselling and health education services for patients with diabetes mellitus. Lack of knowledge or clinical skills was the most commonly reported barrier for providing such services. In order to better integrate community pharmacies into future public health programs and optimize the contribution of pharmacists, interventions should focus on overcoming the identified barriers.