Separation of prescribing and dispensing in Malaysia: public perception of pharmacists’ roles and agreement towards a separation policy

Abstract

Background Full separation of prescribing and dispensing remains a subject of heated debate in Malaysia. Understanding public perception on the issue in order to garner public support is crucial in efforts to enact a change in policy. Aim This study assessed public perception of the separation of prescribing and dispensing in Malaysia within the context of the public's knowledge of the professional roles of pharmacists, awareness of the issue and the current healthcare system. Methods This cross‐sectional study used a validated self‐administered questionnaire, which was administered to random members of the public. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results In all, 495 respondents participated in the study (response rate 61.9%). Most respondents were aware of pharmacists’ roles in educating patients (84.6%), checking prescriptions (65.9%) and dispensing medicines (85.1%). Most respondents (86.7%) agreed that pharmacists were more knowledgeable than physicians regarding medications and were aware that separation of prescribing and dispensing occurs in other developed countries (67.5%) and the public sector (70.9%). Approximately half of all respondents (52.5%) agreed that full separation of prescribing and dispensing should be implemented, with a higher level of agreement observed among respondents who were younger (68.0%), had tertiary education (69.8%), had a background in health sciences (71.7%) or were aware of the policy being practiced elsewhere (76.3%). However, only 28.5% of all respondents agreed that Malaysia was ready to implement a separation policy. This low level of agreement was consistent across all respondent groups except pharmacists, of which a slight majority (53.7%) agreed. Conclusions Approximately half the respondents agreed that full separation of prescribing should be implemented, but a significantly smaller proportion agreed that the country is ready to implement a separation system.

Awareness and Perception Towards Implementation of Dispensing Separation in Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Most of the participants accept pharmacists as medicine experts and a majority of them have given their support for future implementation of DS in Malaysia. This finding is in line with what has been reported earlier ( 7 , 8 , 9 ).…”

“…After reviewing similar studies, which assessed the public perceptions on DS, ( 7 , 8 , 9 ), a questionnaire containing 15 statements was created. The first section was a demographic tool to collect the socio-demographic information of the respondents.…”

“…Several studies have attempted to look at the issue of DS, focusing mainly on knowledge and perception ( 7 , 8 , 9 ). However, awareness of DS among the Malaysian population has not been explored yet.…”

Findings from afar and translation closer to home

“…In the last issue of the last decade, I commented on the importance of continuing to strengthen the pharmacy and medicine partnership for better patient care, suggesting that we must be encouraged by the opportunities for collaboration and engagement . This was very much a focus on professional discipline relationships, and the work by Loo et al in this issue reminds us of the importance of engaging with the general public when trying to reform long‐established practices . Their work examines the separation of dispensing and prescribing in Malaysia and explores the views of members of the public in a setting where general practitioners continue to dispense medication.…”

“…1 This was very much a focus on professional discipline relationships, and the work by Loo et al in this issue reminds us of the importance of engaging with the general public when trying to reform long-established practices. 2 Their work examines the separation of dispensing and prescribing in Malaysia and explores the views of members of the public in a setting where general practitioners continue to dispense medication. Not only did this study examine the public's perceptions on this specific aspect of practice, but alsoand more importantlyit examined their perceptions on the pharmacists' role and the consequent need for the public to be engaged on initiatives that require significant governmental policy review.…”