The practice of counseling in pharmacy: patients’ perspectives

Abstract

Aim: The objective of the study was to assess pharmacists' counseling practices from the patient perspective using the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Medication Counseling Behavior Guidelines (MCBG) questionnaire. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted over 4 months in the outpatients section of the pharmacy department in two tertiary care hospitals: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, and King Fahad Medical City. Participants were randomly selected to complete the USP-MCBG questionnaire, and gave their full consent to the data collector. USP-MCBG questionnaire is an interactive approach between the patient and the pharmacist, which takes into account the patient's special needs, beliefs and perceptions about medication use .The questionnaire included 33 items with a two-point response scale. The questionnaire was divided into four sections corresponding to the four stages of the medication counseling process. Results: During the study period, 520 subjects were enrolled and of these, 486 responded to our questionnaire (response rate: 93%). The study population was gender balanced; most respondents (88%) were Saudi nationals, and 49% reported having at least high school education. There were no differences between the socio-demographic profiles of participants at the two study sites. The overall mean USP-MCBG score of satisfaction was 3.18±0.11 (highest score is 5). Within subsections of the questionnaire, 'Management of treatment' scored the highest (1.14±0.05) and 'Communication' scored the lowest (0.35±0.03). In terms of medication counseling, more than >80% of patients had a positive perception and were satisfied with the performance of outpatient pharmacists. At almost all stages of the counseling process, there was a slightly inversely proportional relationship between patient age and satisfaction with pharmacist performance. Conclusion: Using the USP-MCB guidelines, patients' perception of and satisfaction with pharmacists counseling in the outpatient setting was positive. Greater effort is needed to ensure effective counseling services in particular subpopulations, such as in the elderly. In general, patients were more satisfied with pharmacist counseling pertinent to "management of treatment", however, they were less satisfied regarding the pharmacists' way of communication

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Malay Satisfaction Questionnaire for Osteoporosis Prevention in Malaysia

“…Providing a private, consultation area or allocating a booth to the pharmacist for counselling purposes may result in improved patient satisfaction. [45][46][47] During administration of SQOP-M at both test and retest, patients expressed preference for discussing health issues with a doctor rather than a pharmacist which may indicate a need for pharmacists in Malaysia to embrace more patient-centered roles with a clinical focus at a primary care level in order to increase profile recognition amongst community-dwelling patients. 48,49 Patients may have been less satisfied with counselling on items 20 and 22, as the emphasis of the counselling session was on osteoporosis prevention.…”

Pengetahuan dan Ketepatan Apoteker dalam Pemusnahan Obat Sisa, Obat Rusak dan Obat Kadaluarsa di Apotek Malang Raya

“…Apabila seoarang Apoteker tidak tepat dalam menyampaikan konseling, hal ini dapat disebabkan karena kurangnya pengetahuan Apoteker tersebut. Apoteker tidak hanya memberikan konseling kepada pasien terkait obat dan pengobatannya, tetapi juga perlu memberikan konseling atau edukasi mengenai cara pengelolaan obat di mana termasuk penyimpanan dan pembuangan obat (Lutfiyati dkk., 2016, Layqah, 2018. Pada penelitian ini, terdapat 7 dari 9 item pertanyan dalam kuesioner pengetahuan dan 4 dari 6 item pertanyaan dalam kuesioner ketepatan yang terkait dengan konseling kepada pasien.…”

“…Semakin tinggi tingkat pengetahuan, semakin tepat pula konseling yang disampaikan. Sebuah penelitian menyatakan bahwa pengetahuan merupakan salah satu komponen penting dalam melakukan konseling serta dapat pula menjadi hambatan terkait keberhasilan konseling (Layqah, 2018). Terdapat hambatan yang dialami oleh Apoteker dalam melakukan konseling yakni berasal dari kurangnya pengetahuan.…”

Managing unused, damaged, and expired medications: Knowledge and attitudes among people of Malang, Indonesia

“…One of the roles of pharmacists in relation to the storage and disposal of medicines is to provide counseling, information, and education. In this way, pharmacists are expected to provide education on the proper ways of managing medications and the importance of doing so (Alfadl et al, 2018;Layqah, 2018). There should also be innovations from pharmacies, for example, by handing out leaflets containing management methods for leftover, damaged, and expired medications to the people, while medicines are being provided at the pharmacy or when conducting communication, information, and education service activities.…”