Patients’
perception of the benefits of pharmaceutical
care services in the management of
hypertension in a tertiary health care
facility in Benin City
PO Erah* and NA Chuks-Eboka
Pharmacotherapy Group, Faculty of
Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose: Measuring the perceptions of
patients is essential in evaluating the success of
therapy and needs of patients. The objective of this
study was to investigate
patients' perceptions of the benefits of regular
participation in pharmaceutical care services in the
management of hypertension.
Method:
In a cross sectional study,
285 systematically selected hypertensive patients
attending consultant outpatient clinic in University of
Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City (UBTH) were
interviewed on the benefits of pharmaceutical care
services they received from pharmacists, susceptibility
to health-related problems and threat reduction
associated with regularly meeting with the pharmacists,
using a validated structured interview format with
reliability coefficient in the range of 0.79 to
0.87.
Results:
The patients rated
medications supply and medication cost information
provision as beneficial but rated patient
education/counseling as fairly beneficial. However,
patient monitoring, provision of non-medication
information and other specific information such as side
effects, exercises, weight and blood pressure control
were rated as “not beneficial”. The services provided by
the pharmacists in preventing/reducing health-related
problems were poorly rated. While the
perceived benefits and thread reduction were not
associated with age, sex and education of the patients
or the type of medication taken, patients perceived a
significantly lower chance of developing health-related
problem when they met with the pharmacists as compared
to when they did not (P<0.001).
Conclusion:
Although the hypertensive patients studied perceived
that pharmacists contribute to the reduction in
hypertension-related problems, they do not currently
benefit much from the level of services offered by the
pharmacists. Therefore,
pharmacists working in UBTH needs to develop and fully
implement comprehensive pharmaceutical care and the
Health Ministries should work in collaboration with the
relevant professional bodies to ensure that there is
effective pharmaceutical care services in all health
care facilities.
Keywords: Pharmaceutical care,
perceived benefits, threat reduction, perceived
susceptibility, hypertension.
