Song Menghuan, Ung Carolina Oi Lam, Lee Vivian Wing-Yan, Hu Yuanjia, Zhao Jing, Li Peng, Hu Hao
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Jan 5;17(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s12906-016-1532-z.
This study aims to investigate community pharmacist's perception on the provision of over-the-counter (OTC) traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmaceutical services; focusing on the areas of their attitude, general practice, perceived barriers and suggested improvements.
Questionnaire survey targeting community pharmacists in Harbin of China was applied in this study. Questionnaires were distributed and collected at community pharmacies. Data was analyzed by combining descriptive analysis and Chi-test.
280 valid questionnaires were collected, giving a response rate of 78%. Respondents generally showed positive attitude towards OTC TCM pharmaceutical services. However, they were uncertain about whether such pharmaceutical services should be considered as their primary responsibility. Respondents indicated that they acted proactively to find out all the medicines taken by their patients and to remind consumers of possible OTC TCM adverse reactions. However, they were less keen on recommending or re-directing consumers to suitable OTC TCM. The three main barriers hindering the provision of OTC TCM pharmaceutical service identified in this study were "insufficient professional knowledge" (54.6%), "ambiguity of the professional role of pharmacists" (54.6%) and "lack of scientific evidence of OTC TCM" (45.4%). The three main actions considered most relevant to improving pharmaceutical service of OTC TCM were "formulating or refining legislation to clarify the legal and professional role of pharmacists with respect to TCM" (60.7%), "strengthening training of pharmacists with respect to TCM" (57.9%), and "promoting public awareness of the pharmacist's role" (53.6%). According to the results of Chi-test, respondents' perceptions about the attitude, practice, perceived barriers, and improvement suggestions were significantly different depending on the education levels, certificate types and workloads of western medicine.
The community pharmacists in Harbin, China were positive about the provision of OTC TCM pharmaceutical services. However, they were less certain about taking this duty as their primary responsibility. Insufficient knowledge and lack of role definition in the area of OTC TCM were found to be the major factors discouraging the provision of pharmaceutical service on OTC TCM by community pharmacists.
本研究旨在调查社区药剂师对提供非处方（OTC）中药药学服务的看法；重点关注他们的态度、一般做法、感知到的障碍以及建议的改进措施。
本研究采用针对中国哈尔滨社区药剂师的问卷调查。问卷在社区药房发放和收集。数据通过描述性分析和卡方检验相结合的方式进行分析。
共收集到280份有效问卷，回复率为78%。受访者总体上对OTC中药药学服务持积极态度。然而，他们不确定此类药学服务是否应被视为其主要职责。受访者表示，他们会主动了解患者所服用的所有药物，并提醒消费者可能的OTC中药不良反应。然而，他们不太热衷于推荐或引导消费者选择合适的OTC中药。本研究确定的阻碍提供OTC中药药学服务的三大主要障碍是“专业知识不足”（54.6%）、“药剂师专业角色不明确”（54.6%）和“OTC中药缺乏科学证据”（45.4%）。被认为与改善OTC中药药学服务最相关的三大主要行动是“制定或完善立法以明确药剂师在中药方面的法律和专业角色”（60.7%）、“加强药剂师在中药方面的培训”（57.9%）以及“提高公众对药剂师角色的认识”（53.6%）。根据卡方检验结果，受访者对态度、做法、感知到的障碍和改进建议的看法因西药教育水平、证书类型和工作量的不同而存在显著差异。
中国哈尔滨的社区药剂师对提供OTC中药药学服务持积极态度。然而，他们不太确定将此职责作为其主要责任。发现OTC中药领域知识不足和角色定义缺失是阻碍社区药剂师提供OTC中药药学服务 的主要因素。
