Knowledge, attitudes, and practice of community pharmacists towards providing counseling on vitamins, and nutritional supplements in Saudi Arabia

Community pharmacy professionals' knowledge, attitude, and practice toward nutrition and lifestyle counseling in Gondar City, Ethiopia

Background

Community pharmacy professionals play a vital role in health care, have a greater impact on public health programs, and play a critical role in patient counseling for both non-pharmacological and pharmacological management. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of community pharmacy professionals toward nutrition and lifestyle counseling in Gondar City, Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in Northwestern Ethiopia from May to June 2021. Face-to-face structured interviews were performed to collect data using a specially created questionnaire. Descriptive, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA analyses were used. A significant difference was defined as a p-value of less than 0.05.

Results

This survey drew 100 community pharmacy professional from a pool of 105 participants, with a 95.2% response rate. More than a third of the participants (n = 43, 43%) defined medical nutrition therapy as the use of food to prevent disease, and almost half of the participants (n = 51, 51%) viewed therapeutic nutrition to be part of their job responsibilities. More than half (64%) believe that patients should be provided a combination of nutritional and pharmacological treatments in the majority of cases. The majority of participants (75%) gave patients counseling on drug-food interactions.

Conclusion

The majority of community pharmacy professionals said they knew a lot about medical nutrition therapy and were enthusiastic about nutrition evaluation and medical nutrition therapy, they see these tasks as part of their job, and they practiced dietary counseling that was limited to pregnancy and chronic diseases.

Community pharmacists' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding counselling on vitamins and dietary supplements in Malaysia: A study on complementary medicines

Background

The utilization of vitamins and dietary supplements (DSs) among consumers in Malaysia has seen a notable increase. However, there is limited research available on how pharmacists in Eastern countries manage the provision of these products.

Objective

This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of community pharmacists in Malaysia regarding the provision of counselling services on vitamins and DSs. The findings will inform education strategies in this area.

Methods

A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted from February to April 2022 using a validated online-based questionnaire. The survey was distributed to community pharmacists across Malaysia through social media channels. t-test and ANOVA test were used for data analysis.

Results

Among the 260 participants, 73.5% were categorized as having average product knowledge. Key concerns included a lack of knowledge about the indications of new products and when to discontinue their use. Regarding dosing in specific patient groups, 33.5% of pharmacists only occasionally consulted references and primarily relied on product labels. Furthermore, 29% of pharmacists believed it was unnecessary to refer patients to doctors when they experienced ongoing symptoms while taking vitamins or DSs. Interestingly, 44.6% of pharmacists believed there was a correlation between the efficacy of vitamins and their price, often recommending more expensive brands despite similar content.

Conclusion

There is an opportunity to enhance the knowledge of pharmacists in Malaysia regarding vitamins and DSs. Education interventions should focus on areas such as dosing for specific patient groups, when to discontinue products, understanding new products, evidence-based efficacy of products for specific conditions, and providing a framework for appropriate referral to support pharmacists in their practice.

Evaluating the competency of community pharmacists in identifying and managing malnourished patients: A cross sectional survey

Background

Malnutrition is a global health issue that affects all age groups and regions. The integration of malnutrition screening into community pharmacy practices help address malnutrition. Community pharmacies, with their accessibility and reach, are well-suited to provide essential malnutrition screening services, contributing to improved public health outcomes.

Objective

The research objectives encompass evaluating community pharmacists' knowledge, screening proficiency, range of malnutrition services provided, and competence in identifying patients at risk of malnutrition.

Method

The study used a cross-sectional design to gather data from CPs in Kaduna State, Nigeria, using an online, self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire. Convenience sampling was used, and the data were evaluated using descriptive statistics.

Results

Eighty five percent of the 80 CPs who took the survey and provided responses practiced in urban areas. Approximately 37% and 18% of pharmacists, respectively, had a good and fair understanding of therapeutic nutrition. Additionally, while 33% of pharmacists provided nutritional advice in response to a prescription, 41% of them did so based on specific observations. Patients with severe dehydration (28%), infants and children with growth impairment (25%), and neonates with low birth weight (20%) were identified as high-risk. A little over 30% of survey participants thought patients should have both dietary and medical treatment. Additionally, 34% of pharmacists reported nutritional supplements had a positive impact on public health, while 28% believed they should be sold in pharmacies under pharmacist supervision.

Conclusion

Study findings revealed knowledge gaps in addressing malnutrition among CPs. While they play a significant role, improvements are needed in understanding therapeutic nutrition and providing advice. Identifying high-risk patients and recognizing the value of nutritional supplements can enhance public healthcare services and patient well-being.

Attitudes, behaviours, and self-reported confidence of Australian pharmacy students and interns towards nutritional counselling

INTRODUCTION

Pharmacists play a prominent role in the counselling and education of patients complementary to provision of medicines. The increase in non-communicable diseases associated with poor quality diets has placed a greater demand on pharmacists to play a role in the provision of nutritional education to patients. This study aimed to investigate pharmacy students' and interns' attitudes, behaviours, and self-reported confidence towards nutritional counselling and to examine factors associated with their intention to counsel patients in nutrition.

METHODS

An online survey was designed using the theory of planned behaviour and was distributed to final-year pharmacy students and interns enrolled at the University of Sydney. Data analysis was conducted to test for correlations between behavioural intentions, attitudes, confidence, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.

RESULTS

Sixty-six surveys were completed, representing an average response rate of 19.6%. Half of all participants reportedly were providing nutritional advice to patients at least once per week or more often when working in a pharmacy. Participants' intention to counsel patients about nutrition was influenced by preceptors' encouragement. The participants' average level of confidence in having the knowledge and skills to provide nutritional counselling, reported over 13 medical conditions, showed that they were on average "somewhat confident" in providing nutritional counselling, with the level of confidence differing depending upon the specific topic areas.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants acknowledged the role of pharmacists in the provision of nutritional counselling, but a more comprehensive nutrition curriculum integrated within existing pharmacy curricula is warranted to increase pharmacy students' and interns' confidence.

Study of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding patient education in hypertension among community pharmacists in China

Background

In the prevention and treatment of hypertension, patient education is an important measure to improve the awareness rate and control rate of patients. The professional and geographical advantages of community pharmacists enable them to play an important role in the patient education in hypertension. The purpose of this study was to understand the situation of patient education in hypertension conducted in Chinese community pharmacies, and put forward measures according to the problems.

Methods

A multi-stage competitive sampling by convenience was used to select community pharmacists working in community pharmacies in China for the study. Based on KAP theory, the first draft of the questionnaire was designed and the Delphi method was used to improve the questionnaire and a pre-study was conducted to test the reliability of the questionnaire. In January 2020, electronic questionnaires were distributed to 143 community pharmacists in Chinese community pharmacies. SPSS24 software was used for descriptive statistics and subgroup analysis of data.

Results

One hundred and eight valid questionnaires were collected, and the efficiency rate was 75.5%. Most of the respondents were younger than 30 years old (98.1%), and had bachelor’s degree (95.4%). In terms of knowledge, only 15.7% considered themselves "very good" and even 10.2% considered themselves "very bad". Only 35%-55% of respondents answered correctly for patient education content that requires more specialized knowledge, such as treatment and medication. Respondents generally had a positive attitude on the effect of hypertension patient education, but slightly less recognition of their role in patient education. In terms of practice, programs related to patient education have been conducted to different degrees. More than 30% of the community pharmacists interviewed implemented them occasionally or never.

Conclusions

Despite a positive attitude, most of the respondents did not have a high level of knowledge or practice. In China, more research evidence and new guidelines are needed to emphasize the importance and responsibilities of community pharmacists. Continuing education should be certificated at the national level and meet the various needs of community pharmacists. And salary incentives can be tried to motivate them.