Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Students perceptions of the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system in Lahore, Pakistan

Imran Hameed Khaliq¹ , Farhan Hameed Khaliq², Yaseen Abdullah¹, Hafiz Zahid Mahmood³, Muhammad Danish Sarfraz⁴, Saeed Ahmad⁵, Shakila Zaman¹

¹Department of Public Health, University of Health Sciences; ²Hussain College of Health Sciences; ³Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore; ⁴Department of Radiology, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad; ⁵Faculty of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicine, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

For correspondence:- Imran Khaliq Email: imranham90@gmail.com Tel:+923227171089

Accepted: 20 March 2018 Published: 30 April 2018

Citation: Khaliq IH, Khaliq FH, Abdullah Y, Mahmood HZ, Sarfraz MD, Ahmad S, et al. Students perceptions of the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system in Lahore, Pakistan. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(4):687-693 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i4.18

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system of Lahore, Pakistan; and to determine association between students’ socio-demographic indicators and the likelihood of consulting with a pharmacist.

Methods: In this exploratory study, data were collected from 589 students at a private sector university in Lahore, Pakistan, using a convenient sampling design. Information was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard deviation, percentages) and chi square were employed.

Results: Of 621 questionnaires, a total of 589 were returned, giving a response rate of 94.85 %. The results showed that 289 students (49.06 %) have interacted with pharmacists; however, the majority of the students (98.64 %) agreed there is a strong need for pharmacists who can provide guidance on medication safety. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant association between family system (x² (1) = 4.046, p = 0.004), age of family head (x² (1) = 11.755, p = 0.001), education level of family head (x² (1) = 10.473, p = 0.001), and consulting a pharmacist.

Conclusion: There are important roles for pharmacists to play in order to improve the healthcare system of Lahore, Pakistan. Some social demographics affect the likelihood that a person will seek professional counseling from a pharmacist.

Keywords: Medication safety, Healthcare system, Pharmacist consultation, Studentsâ€™ perception