A Survey of Pharmacists' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Diabetes in Three Tertiary Hospitals in Eastern Nigeria

A good knowledge of disease management is necessary in promoting care and enhancing good therapeutic outcomes. The present study analyzed the knowledge, attitude and practice of hospital pharmacists in three referral hospitals to assess their preparedness in rendering pharmaceutical care to type 2 diabetic outpatients according to current pharmacy practices. The study was a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected hospital pharmacists at three teaching hospitals in eastern Nigeria. Retrospective data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed based on descriptive statistics. A total of 130 hospital pharmacists comprising of 81 (62.3%) males and 49 (37.7%) females participated in the study. The mean duration of number of years of practice for the respondents was 23.3, 16.7 and 5.1 for University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital and Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, respectively. The survey revealed that the pharmacists had good knowledge of the diabetes disease and its management. While 83% believed that diabetes is dangerous, 17% felt that it should not be considered as a dangerous disease. Some of the pharmacists (25%) were of the view that patients' education is not the most important management tool in diabetic care while 10.8% felt that diabetic patients do not need special attention.Key words: Diabetes, knowledge, attitude, practice, pharmacists, tertiary hospita

Limitations to the dynamics of pharmaceutical care practice among community pharmacists in Enugu urban, southeast Nigeria

Brian O Ogbonna,1 Charles C Ezenduka,1 Jeffrey S Soni,2 Azuka C Oparah21Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Awka, Nigeria; 2Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, NigeriaBackground: The introduction of pharmaceutical care in Nigeria has been faced with many challenges in addition to limited information regarding the practice.Objective: This study aimed to determine the barriers encountered by community pharmacists in Nigeria in the provision of pharmaceutical care.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out in Enugu urban, southeast Nigeria. Data were collected using pretested and structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaires that were self-administered to the respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results: The 78 community pharmacists comprised 62 males and 16 females. Out of the 78 respondents, 69 (88.5%) had the basic Bachelor of Pharmacy degree while three (3.9%) had Fellowship, Master’s, and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees respectively. The mean number of years of practice was 8.2 (±0.6). The key limitations to the implementation of pharmaceutical care were: pharmacists’ attitude and lack of pharmaceutical care skills, as well as resource and system-related constraints. Others challenges were interprofessional and academic obstacles like lack of collaboration (66.6%) and lack of role models (42.1%). Most of the respondents (81%) were strongly willing to adopt and implement pharmaceutical care, while 19.2% were not strongly willing to practice pharmaceutical care.Conclusion: Despite limitations to practice, community pharmacists in the area are very inclined to implement pharmaceutical care in the private sector to improve patients’ quality of life.Keywords: patient medication care, practice, pharmacists, community pharmacy, Nigeri

Serum Utea and Creatinine Levels in Pregnant Women Attending Vom Christian Hospital, Vom, Nigeria

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Global perspectives on service

This chapter discusses global perspectives on service