Evaluation of Community Pharmacists’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Good Pharmacy Practice in Iran
Abstract
Background: The principles of pharmaceutical care are embedded in the concept of Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP). GPP is poorly applied in community pharmacies not only in Asian countries, but even in United States and Europe. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of the community pharmacists in Iran, regarding GPP.
Methods: A total of 794 pharmacists were evaluated with a reliable and validated KAP (Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice) questionnaire regarding GPP in September 2008.
Results: The most important finding in the present study was the pharmacists’ low knowledge (Mean= 13.42) and practice (Mean= 29.85) level about GPP, while their attitude towards this subject was at a high level (Mean= 74.83). Increase in their knowledge of good pharmacy practice aligned with an increase in their attitudes towards this issue. Also increase in our pharmacists’ knowledge and attitude aligned with an increase in quality of their practice.
Conclusion: The current practice of Iranian community pharmacists needs further improvement. National pharmaceutical organizations should organize educational programs for the community pharmacists to equip them for their main role in communitypractice: promoting rational drug use.
Adepu R, Nagavi BG. General practitioner’s perceptions about the extended roles of the community pharmacist in the state of Karnataka: A study. Indian J Pharm Sci. 2006; 68(1): 36-40.
Yegenoglu S, Ozcelikay G. Counseling of pharmacists to community on issues other than drug purchasing and drug related information: a survey in Ankara. Turkish J Pharm Sci. 2005; 2(2): 83-91.
Poudel A, Khanal S, Alam K, Palaian S. Perception of Nepalese community pharmacists towards patient counseling and continuing pharmacy education program: a multicentric study. J Clin Diagn Res. 2009; 3: 1408-13.
Kotecki JE. Factors related to pharmacists’over-the-counter recommendations. J Community Health. 2002; 27(4):291-306.
Erah PO, Nwazuoke JC. Identification of Standards for Pharmaceutical Care in Benin City. Trop J Pharm Res. 2002; 1(2):55-66.
Awad A, Al-Ebrahim Sh, Abahussain E. Pharmaceutical care services in hospitals of Kuwait. J Pharm Pharmaceut Sci. 2006; 9(2): 149- 157.
Cordina M, Safta V, Ciobanu A, Sautenkova N. An assessment of community pharmacists’ attitudes towards professional practice in the republic of Moldova. Pharm Pract. 2008; 6(1): 1-8.
Szeinbach S, Seoane-Vazquez E, Parekh A, Herderick M. Dispensing errors in community pharmacy: perceived influence of sociotechnical factors. Int J Qual Health Care. 2007; 19(4): 203-9.
Alkhawajah AM, Eferakeya AE. The role of pharmacists in patients’ education on medication. Public Health. 1992; 106(3): 231-37.
Chua SS, Wong IC, Edmondson H, Allen C, Chow J, Peacham J, et al. A feasibility study from recording of dispensing errors and ‘near misses’ in four UK primary care pharmacies. Drug Saf. 2003; 26: 803-13.
Ashcroft DM, Quinlan P, Blenkinsopp A. Prospective study of the incidence, nature and causes of dispensing errors in community pharmacies. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2005; 14: 327-32.
Good pharmacy practice (GPP) in community and hospital pharmacy settings. Geneva, WHO, 1996 (WHO/PHARM/DAP/96.1).
Mohanta GP, Manna PK, Valliappan K, Valliappan K, Manavalan R. Achieving good pharmacy practice in community pharmacies in India. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2001; 58: 809-10.
Goel P, Ross-Degnan D, Berman P, Soumerai S. Retail pharmacies in developing countries: a behavior and intervention framework. Soc Sci Med. 1996; 42(8): 1155-61.
Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) in developing countries, recommendations for step-wise implementation. International Pharmaceutical Federation; 1997. http://www.fip.org.
Albaum G. The Likert scale revisited: An alternate version . J Market Res Soc. 1997; 39(2): 331-48.
Likert R. A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology. 1932; 140(1): 44-53.
Hatcher L. A step-by-step approach to using the SAS (R) system for factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
George D, Mallery P. SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and references, 11.0 update. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon; 2003.
Kotecki JE, Elanjian SI, Torabi MR. Health promotion beliefs and practices among pharmacists. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2000; 40(6):773-79.
Palaian S, Prabhu M, Shankar PR. Patient counseling by pharmacist- A focus on chronic illness. Pak J Pharm Sci. 2006; 19(1): 62-65.
Oparah AC, Eferakeya AE. Attitudes of Nigerian pharmacists towards pharmaceutical care. Pharm World Sci. 2005; 27(3): 208-14.
Udeogaranya PO, Ukwe CV, Ekwunife OI. Assessment of attitudes of university of Nigeria pharmacy students toward pharmaceutical care. Pharm Pract. 2009; 7(3): 145-49.
Al-Arifi MN. Pharmacy students’ attitudes toward pharmaceutical care in Riyadh region Saudi Arabia. Pharm World Sci. 2009; 31: 677681.
Wijesinghe PR, Jayakody RL, De A Seneviratne R. An assessment of the compliance with good pharmacy practice in an urban and rural district in Sri Lanka .Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2007; 16: 197-206.
Toklu HZ, Akici A, Oktay S, Cali S, Sezen S, Keyer-Uysal M. The pharmacy practice of community pharmacists in Turkey. Marmara Pharm J. 2010; 14: 53-60.
Stenson Bo, Syhakhang L, Eriksson Bo, Tomson G. Real world pharmacy: assessing the quality of private pharmacy practice in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Soc Sci Med. 2001; 52: 393-404.
Chuc NTK, Larsson M, Do NT, Diwan VK, Tomson GB, Falkenberg T. Improving private pharmacy practice: A multi-intervention experiment in Hanoi, Vietnam. J Clin Epidemiol. 2002; 55: 1148-55.
Files | ||
Issue | Vol 1, No 1 (Winter 2013) | |
Section | Original Article(s) | |
Keywords | ||
Pharmacy Knowledge Attitude |
Rights and permissions | |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |