Evaluation of the
Perception of Community Pharmacists Regarding their Role
in Pakistan's Healthcare System: A Qualitative Approach
Saira Azhar1,
Mohamed A Hassali*2, Asia Taha3,
Shujaat Ali Khan1, Ghulam Murtaza1
and Izhar Hussain1
1Department of Pharmaceutical
Sciences COMSATS CIIT, Abbottabad, Pakistan. 2Discipline
of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences,Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Malaysia, 3Department of Biomedical Sciences,
College of Clinical Pharmacy, KFU, Saudi Arabia.
*For
correspondence:
Email:
azmihassali@gmail.com
Received: 17 November 2012
Revised accepted: 11 June 2013
Tropical Journal of
Pharmaceutical Research, August 2013; 12(4):
635-639
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v12i4.29
Abstract
Purpose:
To explore the perception
of community pharmacists regarding their role in
Pakistan's healthcare system.
Methods:
A qualitative study design
was adopted. A semi-structured interview guide was
developed and face to face interviews were conducted.
The participants were community pharmacists and were
recruited through one of the researcher’s personal
contacts in two cities of Pakistan (Islamabad and
Lahore) from April to June 2008. The interviews were
conducted at the pharmacists’ work-place. Arrangements
for the time and place of interview were made during
initial contacts. Written consent was obtained from the
participants prior to the interview.
Results: Among the respondents
interviewed, seven were male and three female community
pharmacists aged between 25 and 50 years. All the
participants regularly dispensed > 50 prescriptions
daily. Thematic content analysis yielded 5 major themes:
(a) provision of pharmacy services to consumers, (b)
counseling at pharmacy, (c) application of Good Pharmacy
Practice (GPP), (d) Pakistan Pharmacy Association (PPA)
contribution towards pharmacy profession, and (e)
strategies to improve community pharmacies.
Conclusion:
Community pharmacies in
Pakistan currently face shortage of pharmacists. This
has resulted in non-provision of patient counseling;
rather services are more focused more on the management
of pharmacies than clients. As a result, there is little
public awareness of the pharmacist’s role in health
care.
Keywords:
Perception,
Community pharmacist, Patient care, Pakistan,
Qualitative methodology
