Year:
2017
Program:
Students:
Yaqeen Shanti
Supervisor:
Prof. Ansam Sawalha
Abstract:
Introduction:Pharmacist role has evolved over the years to include dispensing of medications, and also patient counseling. It is an important process by which pharmacists provide valuable information to the patients about their medications, diseases, or other related issues. This study was designed to assess the magnitude of patient counseling practice in Palestine.
Methods:this is a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. It included a convenient sample of 500 participant of those attending community pharmacies. After obtaining participants approval, they were handed the questionnaire to fill. It is composed of four sections: demographics, issues that participants wanted to be counseled about regarding their medications, issues to be counseled about regarding the diseases, and reasons why counseling was not done if that was the case. Results were analyzed via SPSS version 21.
Results: a total of 500 participants filled the questionnaire, with a response rate of 86%. Most (41.2%) were in the age group of 20-29 years old, 55.6% were females, and about half (48.4%) had an income between 2000-5000 New Israeli Shekel (NIS) (approximately 540-1351$). More than half (58.2%) of participants lived in villages, were mainly healthy with only 17.4% having chronic diseases, and 69.4% had a bachelor degree.
Conclusion and recommendations: based on this study, most participants were eager to receive counseling from the pharmacists in issues related to their medications or diseases. Pharmacists are encouraged to provide the required counseling, and a private area to do so in the community pharmacies. Colleges of pharmacy in Palestine are encouraged to offer courses that teach counseling and communications skills to its students.
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