A Comparative Study On The Pharmaceutical Care Provided By The Pharmacists Based On The Of Work Place

Abstract

Background: The patient care and Health care standard are very important with regard to the drug therapy and for improving quality of life of patients. Here the clinical pharmacist plays a vital role. When pharmacists first established clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical care, they recognized the need to increase the safety and efficacy of drug therapy.

Materials and Methods: An observational study was conducted among 869 patients who were visiting various pharmacies such as community pharmacy, pharmacies attached to private hospitals, Government medical college hospitals and government Primary Health Centers in the southern state of India for their medications. Utilizing self-administered and structured closed ended questionnaire, observations were collected and summarized. The data were categorized and analyzed.

Results: The impact of pharmaceutical care provided by the pharmacist based on their work places were studied by utilizing various parameters. The basic requirements like location of the pharmacy, facilities provided at the dispensing place, cleanness and hygiene were found to be satisfactory for majority of the patients. The educational level was not much impressed while their attitude and behavior were found satisfactory. There was no much dissatisfaction regarding the availability of the medications but most of them were not much aware of the quality of the medicines they received. The instructions provided on the medications and the attitude and knowledge of the pharmacists for counselling was impressive.

Conclusion:  The impact of the pharmacists on the pharmaceutical care plays an important role in healthcare.  The study pointed out that the location of the pharmacy, the facilities available, educational levels and attitude of all staff working in the pharmacy were found to be the basic parameters which a patient considered while taking their regular medications from a particular pharmacy. It was seen that all these were satisfactory for most of the patients. The availability of the drugs was satisfactory while most of them were doubtful about the quality of the medications they received especially from the government sector. Appropriate counselling by the pharmacists was found mandatory for the rational use of drugs. It was seen that the knowledge as well as the attitude of the pharmacists were very much important in appropriate use of medications. The study concluded that the physical conditions of the pharmacy as well as professional approach of the pharmacists were found to be equally important for effective implementation of pharmaceutical care.