Public Perceptions, Expectations, and Views of Community Pharmacy Practice in Kuwait

Abstract

Objectives: This study was designed to determine public patterns for use of community pharmacies, perceptions of pharmacists, confidence and trust in pharmacists, and expectations about the pharmacist's roles, and to explore the public views and satisfaction with the current pharmacy services. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was performed using a pretested self-administered questionnaire on a sample of 481 individuals selected using a 2-stage stratified cluster sampling design. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The most common reasons for visiting a pharmacy were to purchase medications (prescription: n = 338 [78.1%] and nonprescription: n = 296 [68.4%]). Of the 433 respondents, 87 believed that pharmacists had a good balance between health and business matters; regarding any drug-related problem, 229 (52.9%) identified the physician as the first person to contact, followed by the pharmacist (n = 140; 32.3%); 255 (58.9%) agreed that they trust pharmacists, while 237 (54.8%) agreed that pharmacists have the ability to answer drug- or disease-related questions. Of the 433 respondents, 236 (54.5%) did not expect the pharmacist's role to include monitoring health progress to ensure safe and effective use of medications, and 258 (59.6%) were satisfied with the current pharmacy services. Conclusion: The current study indicated that respondents had overall negative perceptions of community pharmacists, expressed moderate expectations of their role, and viewed the current pharmacy services as slightly positive. These findings highlight the need for designing multifaceted interventions targeting specific areas to advance the community pharmacy practice in Kuwait.

Perception of Community Pharmacists in Malaysia About Mental Healthcare and Barriers to Providing Pharmaceutical Care Services to Patients with Mental Disorders

“…A large number of respondents agreed that patients do not understand the concept of PC, mirroring findings from the Middle-East, Asia, and rural areas in the UK, which found that the majority of consumers have a negative view of CPs, perceiving them to be more business-centric, and declaring that their primary role is to dispense medication (Awad et al 2017;Merks et al 2016). Indeed very few are aware of the expanded roles of CPs such as in providing PC services and managing chronic diseases (Hasan et al 2015;Merks et al 2016;Erah and Chuks-Eboka 2008;You et al 2011), and still defer to doctors as the primary expert on drug-related matters (Awad et al 2017;Hallak 2012). It is postulated that in these countries, similar with Malaysia, consumers are more comfortable with the traditionally-defined roles of healthcare professionals in the healthcare system, where doctors are held in high-esteem on all health-related matters.…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted that CPs should provide PC services to patients (World Health Organization 1994). CPs are the most accessible healthcare professionals due to their proximity to patients, and subsequently the high volume of customers who frequent their pharmacies (Awad et al 2017;Rubio-Valera et al 2014;World Health Organization 1994). Pharmacists have also expressed a desire to expand their roles beyond dispensing, and have made the move to engage in more clinically-oriented roles (Luetsch 2017;Murphy et al 2016a), while patients have expressed that they find pharmacists more approachable and accessible than doctors (Deslandes et al 2015).…”

Determinants of community pharmacy utilization in Ghana

“…The use of the CAPI meant that data collected by enumerators was received electronically on real‐time and thereby eliminating potential errors and delays associated with manual collection of data. The questionnaire used for the study was adapted from previous literature sources …”

“…Several studies carried out on utilization of community pharmacies in developed countries explored reasons for the use of pharmacies and experience encountered; attitudes and perceptions towards pharmacy services and also use of pharmacy and GPs in primary healthcare settings . Evidence from these studies suggests that many people prefer to use GPs for primary care services (such as advice and treatment of minor ailments, advice on general health conditions and management and use of medications) that are also provided in community pharmacies.…”

Patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care services provided at primary-level and secondary-level health facilities in Indonesia’s health coverage system

“…This finding is slightly different from the study conducted by Awad and Al-Rasheedi on the evaluation of public expectations of community pharmaceutical practice in Kuwait. They reported that the patients being surveyed expressed a moderate expectation of the pharmacists involved in the community [18]. The patients' expectations were only based on their experiences of services which fulfilled their perceived needs [19]…”