Dispensing practice in the community pharmacies in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Abstract

The dispensing practice in the community pharmacies in the Turkish part of Cyprus seems inadequate in terms of GPP.

Pharmaceutical Services in Primary Health Care: are pharmacists and users on the same page?

“…We found that 39 was the mean number of individuals assisted by dispenser per day [min = 32; max = 44] and 7.6 min was the average dispensing time [min = 6.9; max = 9.5 min]. Authors studying the average dispensing time in several settings in Brazil and worldwide have found figures varying from less than one minute to almost 9 minutes 27,[45][46][47][48] . Nevertheless, WHO recommends at least 3 minutes for the orientation of each patient 49 , less than half the estimated time in our study.…”

Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Counseling Practices With Simulated Patients Who Have Minor Illness

“…43,44 However, studies show that in addition to training issues, there are other aspects that influence the quality of services, such as working conditions (heavy commitment to the logistics process), the new culture of providing quick services, and preexisting patient expectations. 45,46 We acknowledge that some pharmacists in this study provided some good advice to the SPs; for example, most of the pharmacists referred the pregnant SP to a physician. This behavior was in keeping with the guidelines on expected outcomes provided by the expert panel in the present study.…”

“…Patients form positive or negative attitudes about health care professionals by drawing on their experience with the disease, treatment, and services provided. 46 Taking these experiences into consideration is critical to meeting patients' needs. 62,63 Thus, the role of the pharmacists should change from that of a paternalistic counselor to a counselor who supports the patient emotionally and helps them to combine actions, knowledge, and feelings.…”

“…54 Furthermore, patients can use the expertise of pharmacists as a value-added information resource on the use of nonprescription medicine and management of minor ailments. 46,55 The MCBG suggested by the USP 56 introduces practitioners to the principles of 2-way communication and selfassessment of performance. As confirmed by Kansanaho et al, 55 this instrument proved to be a very practical tool to illustrate differences between the counseling stages.…”

The evaluation of prescription dispensing scores of the pharmacy students beforeand after the problem-based "rational drug use" course: Results of the two years experience

“…As in many developing countries, in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) pharmacists have a distinct role in pharmaceutical care and patient education since many patients attend pharmacies as a primary care in the health system (10). The need for qualified pharmacy services enforce for the improvement of teaching methods in pharmacy education.…”