El Hajj Maguy Saffouh, Salem Samah, Mansoor Hend
College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Patient Prefer Adherence. 2011;5:405-22. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S22117. Epub 2011 Aug 17.
To assess the public's attitudes towards the community pharmacist's role in Qatar, to investigate the public's use of community pharmacy, and to determine the public's views of and satisfaction with community pharmacy services currently provided in Qatar.
Three community pharmacies in Qatar were randomly selected as study sites. Patients 16 years of age and over who were able to communicate in English or Arabic were randomly approached and anonymously interviewed using a multipart pretested survey.
Over 5 weeks, 58 patients were interviewed (60% response rate). A total of 45% of respondents perceived community pharmacists as having a good balance between health and business matters. The physician was considered the first person to contact to answer drug- related questions by 50% of respondents. Most patients agreed that the community pharmacist should provide them with the medication directions of use (93%) and advise them about the treatment of minor ailments (79%); however, more than 70% didn't expect the community pharmacist to monitor their health progress or to perform any health screening. Half of the participants (52%) reported visiting the pharmacy at least monthly. The top factor that affected a patient's choice of any pharmacy was pharmacy location (90%). When asked about their views about community pharmacy services in Qatar, only 37% agreed that the pharmacist gave them sufficient time to discuss their problem and was knowledgeable enough to answer their questions.
This pilot study suggested that the public has a poor understanding of the community pharmacist's role in monitoring drug therapy, performing health screening, and providing drug information. Several issues of concern were raised including insufficient pharmacist- patient contact time and unsatisfactory pharmacist knowledge. To advance pharmacy practice in Qatar, efforts may be warranted to address identified issues and to promote the community pharmacist's role in drug therapy monitoring, drug information provision, and health screening.
评估卡塔尔公众对社区药剂师角色的态度，调查公众对社区药房的使用情况，并确定公众对卡塔尔目前提供的社区药房服务的看法和满意度。
随机选择卡塔尔的三家社区药房作为研究地点。对16岁及以上能用英语或阿拉伯语交流的患者进行随机接触，并使用经过预测试的多部分调查问卷进行匿名访谈。
在5周内，对58名患者进行了访谈（回复率为60%）。共有45%的受访者认为社区药剂师在健康和业务事务之间取得了良好的平衡。50%的受访者认为医生是回答药物相关问题的首要联系人。大多数患者同意社区药剂师应向他们提供药物使用说明（93%）并就轻微疾病的治疗提供建议（79%）；然而，超过70%的患者不期望社区药剂师监测他们的健康进展或进行任何健康筛查。一半的参与者（52%）报告至少每月访问一次药房。影响患者选择任何药房的首要因素是药房位置（90%）。当被问及他们对卡塔尔社区药房服务的看法时，只有37%的人同意药剂师给了他们足够的时间讨论问题，并且知识渊博足以回答他们的问题。
这项试点研究表明，公众对社区药剂师在监测药物治疗、进行健康筛查和提供药物信息方面的作用了解不足。提出了几个令人关注的问题，包括药剂师与患者的接触时间不足以及药剂师知识水平不尽人意。为了推动卡塔尔的药学实践，可能有必要努力解决已发现的问题，并促进社区药剂师在药物治疗监测、药物信息提供和健康筛查方面的作用。
