An assessment of community pharmacists’ attitudes towards professional practice in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

Pharmacy in Moldova is undergoing a period of transition. The professional practice is adjusting to a market-oriented economy from the previous Soviet system. The pharmaceutical sector has been liberalised giving rise to a significant increase in the number of community pharmacies. This has led to some adverse effects on the profession of pharmacy with pharmacists having considerable difficulties fulfilling their professional aspirations and possibly losing confidence in further developing their professional role.ObjectiveTo assess community pharmacists’ attitudes towards their professional practice and to determine their perceived competence in various pharmaceutical activities.MethodsA questionnaire which addressed managerial activities, dispensing activities, pharmaceutical care activities, inter-professional relationships, public health and competence was mailed to 600 community pharmacists who were asked to score the importance and perceived competence for each activity on a scale ranging from 0-5. In the case of pharmaceutical care activities, pharmacists were asked to score their degree of agreement or disagreement as to whether it is the responsibility of the pharmacist to engage in specific pharmaceutical care activities.ResultsA total of 370 valid questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 61.7%. Managerial and dispensing activities were scored the highest both in terms of perceived importance and competence. The more innovative pharmaceutical care activities scored relatively low. Overall scores relating to the importance of pharmacists engaging in public health activities appear to be the lowest of the entire questionnaire. Younger pharmacists between the ages of 22-30 obtained significantly higher scores with regards to the perceived pharmacist’s responsibility in engaging in various pharmaceutical care activities. Respondents who practiced in an accredited pharmacy scored higher in the majority of questions.ConclusionPharmacists in Moldova appear to be deeply rooted in the traditional approach to the practice of pharmacy pertaining mainly to distributive practice model and are somewhat distant from the other models of practice such as pharmaceutical care, drug information and self-care.

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“…Predominant pharmacist in Saudi Arabia disagree with the practice to provide medicine for the ADR and recommending to stop the drug suspected of the ADR 15 , which was the second dominating option preferred in Perinthalmanna (Fig.7 Pharmacist's Behaviour: Majority of the pharmacist need training for ADR reporting. This was supported by the statements made by Maria Cordina et al, who pointed out both education and infrastructure should be given to pharmacists to take on increased responsibility in this area 17 . Naif N Al-Hazmi et al depicted, half of pharmacists in the study had the opinion that ADR is reported to find safe drugs 19 for better patient care which superimposes with those obtained from ours.…”

“…Similar studies conducted in India had a poor response rate i.e.53% from Hyderabad 16 , 37.4% from Karnataka 13 . Although, healthier rate of response were observed from Riyadh (70.7%) 15 , Oman (72.3%) 18 , Makkah (77.27%) 19 and Republic of Moldova (61.7%) 17 .…”

“…The interaction between pharmacists and doctors varies and is dependent on the individuals involved. The concept that a team based approach to patient care is necessary for better patient outcomes, in general health care management 17 . According to him, descriptive detailing of the reaction specified by the patient can improve the health care professionals reporting 22 .…”

Medication counselling and dispensing practices at community pharmacies: a comparative cross sectional study from Pakistan

“…All of the dispensers working at community pharmacies were males, this can be linked to cultural and social barriers in Pakistan where females are not encouraged to work in the premises where they have to interact directly with the males, same is the cases with the community pharmacies. However, this might not be similar in other courtiers where females are also encouraged to work at community pharmacies [28,29]. Dispensers are advised to promote positive relationships with customers during the medication counselling session to promote trust and adherence to drug therapy with special emphasis on the opening and closing session of interaction [30].…”

Community Pharmacists Attitude Towards Professional Practice in Penang, Malaysia

“…The study in the Republic of Moldova concluded that there was a significantly higher score with regards to the perceived pharmacist's responsibility in engaging in various pharmaceutical care activities. [16] However, the pharmacists approach deeply rooted in the traditional practice of pharmacy pertaining mainly to distributive practice model and is somewhat distant from the other models of practice such as pharmaceutical care, drug information and self-care. [17] In answering questions relating to pharmaceutical care, refer the patient to the doctor when necessary scored the highest whereas, keeping records about patients' medical condition(s), medication and progress and communicate patient's progress on their drug therapy to their doctor scored the lowest score.…”