Assessing Counseling Practices of Community Pharmacists in Nigeria

Abstract

Inadequate counseling by pharmacists on medication–related issues could cause
therapeutic failure. This study examined extent of counseling by community
pharmacists; appraised their actual counseling activities; and identified barriers to
counseling. The study utilized two approaches: (i) an observational cross-sectional
survey of 198 randomly selected community pharmacists and (ii) stimulated-patient
(SPs) method to appraise counseling practices in 106 pharmacies. Data were
summarized with appropriate statistics at p<0.05. Extent of counseling was moderate
(60%) and gaps exist between SPs and community pharmacists’ assessments of
counseling practices. Significant associations exist between years in practice as
community pharmacists (χ2=31.81, p=0.021), their ages, (χ2=55.48, p=0.043, academic
qualifications (χ2=26.79, p=0.001) with extent of counseling. Barriers to counseling
include absence of patient medication history (84.6%), insufficient space in pharmacies
(79.6%), and training of pharmacists (78.2%). Level of counseling was suboptimal but
could be improved if community pharmacists embark on continuous training to
acquire more counseling skills.