Abstract

EVALUATION OF DRUG DISPENSING PRACTICES BY PHARMACEUTICAL DRUG RETAILERS IN PAKISTAN

Atta Abbas,*, Farrukh Rafiq Ahmed, Mehwish Rizvi, Muhammad Hassan Khan, Bharti Kachela

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the dispensing practices of pharmaceutical retailers in Pakistan and compare them with their qualification and workload. Methods: A quantitative cross sectional survey was carried out for 4 months which targeted the pharmaceutical retailers. The target population consisted of pharmaceutical retailers involved in pharmaceutical drug retail sales in Pakistan. The survey questionnaire was sent to 2021 pharmaceutical retailers all over Pakistan. Cross tabulation and chi square X2 test for association was used. The data was analyzed using SPSS v 20 (Statistical Package for social sciences version 20). Results: The majority of the pharmacy retailers belonged to the age group between 26 years to 35 years (N = 540, 34.4%) and almost half were graduates (N = 920, 58.6%). Most of them had experience of more than 10 years in the field (N = 480, 30.6%). Majority observed dispensed a prescription in between average 1 to 5 minutes (N = 1220, 77.7%) and bulk of pharmacy retailers employed persons with pharmacy certificate course or a non pharmacy qualification as pharmacists (N = 1380, 87.9%). Conclusion: The work experience of drug retailers is associated with increasing tendency of many drug dispensing practices but the community pharmacy sector necessitates serious measures to be taken to ensure the steady improvement by implementing the policies and regulations where drug retailing practices may be monitored by a pharmacist only instead of non qualified personnel in every community pharmacy.

Keywords: Knowledge; Drug; Dispensing; Pharmaceutical; Retailers; Pakistan