Pharmaceutical care and the use of routine diagnostic tools by community pharmacists in Ibadan, Nigeria

Purpose: To evaluate the use of routine diagnostic tools among community  pharmacists in Ibadan, Nigeria.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with pre-tested questionnaire  administered to 94 pharmacists in community pharmacies in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. Descriptive statistics was used to summarise data and categorical variables were compared with Chi-square at a significance level of p <0.05.Results: With a response rate of 94.7 %, the study showed that 78 (87.6 %) of the respondents use routine diagnostic tools, 48 (53.9 %) document results of routine diagnostic tests, 72 (80.9 %) make interventions on the results but only 37 (41.6 %) document the interventions made. Although all the respondents were aware of the concept of pharmaceutical care (PC), only 55.1 % of them had adequate knowledge of PC, while 93.3% were willing to undergo training to improve their knowledge on PC implementation.Conclusion: Most community pharmacists routinely use diagnostic tools in Ibadan. However, there is need for improvement on documentation practices.Keywords: Routine diagnostic tools, Community pharmacists, Pharmaceutical car

Missed medical appointment among hypertensive and diabetic outpatients in a tertiary healthcare facility in Ibadan, Nigeria

Purpose: To explore the reasons for missed medical appointment, patients’ awareness on its consequences; and to find strategies to reduce it among the study population.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey among 300 hypertensive and 200 diabetic outpatients assessing care at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data and categorical variables were compared with Chi-square at a level of significance set at p ≤ 0.05.Results: For hypertensive respondents, 16.7 % missed > 30 % of scheduled medical appointments while for diabetic respondents, it was 13.0 %; 59.7 % of the hypertensive respondents and 63.5 % of the diabetic respondents adhered to their medications. The reasons for missed medical appointments include forgetfulness, lack of funds for transport, conflicting commitments, etc. The level of awareness on the possible impact of missed medical appointments is low. Most of the respondents were of the opinion that those who missed appointments should be penalized, although a majority of them disagreed with the option of introducing financial penalties.Conclusion: The findings indicate that the reasons for missed medical appointment is mainly due to delay in attending to un-booked patients until all the scheduled patients are seen in order to reduce appointment non-adherence.Keywords: Missed medical appointments, Hypertensive, Diabetic outpatients, Medication adherence, Patient awarenes

Knowledge, attitude and perception on PharmD program among penultimate and final-year undergraduate pharmacy students in a Nigerian university – An intervention study

Purpose: To carry out an interventional study on the knowledge, attitude and perception of penultimate and final year undergraduate pharmacy students of the University of Ibadan on Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among penultimate and final-year undergraduate students of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan using semi-structured questionnaire. A seminar was organized for the intervention group. The data were summarized using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Pre-intervention PharmD knowledge assessment of majority, 63 (94.0 %) control group and 63 (87.5 %) intervention group participants was below average. Post-intervention, 38 (52.8 %) intervention group participants had satisfactory scores, while 54 (80.6 %) of control group had below average scores. Generally, the participants had good PharmD attitude and perception. There was a significant difference (p < 0.001) between pre- and post-intervention PharmD knowledge assessment among the intervention group. A significant difference (p < 0.001) was observed between the post-intervention PharmD knowledge of the control group and the intervention group. Conclusion: Baseline below average PharmD knowledge of study participants improved significantly in the intervention group post-intervention. Generally, the participants had a good attitude and perception towards the PharmD program. Keywords: PharmD, Pre-post intervention, Undergraduate pharmacy students, Knowledge, Attitude, Perception, University of Ibada

Socio-psychological effects of acne among undergraduates of the University of Ibadan

Background: Acne is a skin disorder that is common among adolescents. The  various degrees of distortion of facial appearance could have some socio-psychological effects on sufferers.Objectives:The objectives of this research, within the study population  (undergraduates of the University of Ibadan), were: To determine the gender  prevalence of acne, to evaluate the socio- psychological effect of acne and to  evaluate socio-psychological effects of acne in relation to the severity of the  condition.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study with pre-tested questionnaires administered to 100 undergraduate students of the University of Ibadan.  Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data and categorical variables were compared with Chi-square at a level of significance of p < 0.05.Results: The response rate was 100%. Gender prevalence showed that 70% of the students with acne are females with 30% being males. Twenty-seven (27%) of the respondents indicated high social effects, 8 (8%) indicated average score while 65 (65%) showed a high social effects. Fourteen (14%) of the respondent had low  emotional effects, 1 (1%) had average score while 85 (85%) had a high emotional effects. Twenty respondents (20%) had low psychological effects, 6 (6%) had an average response and 74 (74%) had high psychological effects.Conclusions: Acne is more prevalent in females than in males among undergraduate students of the University of Ibadan. The socio-psychological effect of acne was  found to be more in students with milder form of acne.Keywords: Socio-psychological, acne, Ibadan, undergraduat