Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Viet Nam; School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Australia.
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Viet Nam.
Respir Med. 2018 Nov;144:50-60. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2018.10.003. Epub 2018 Oct 9.
Community pharmacists can make significant contributions and be an indispensable member in the asthma therapy chain. The present study aimed to investigate the current knowledge level of Vietnamese community pharmacists in asthma counselling and the impact of a short training program on asthma knowledge and practice.
300 community pharmacists participated in the study. A knowledge questionnaire about asthma medications and a standardized inhaler checklist were designed to evaluate their knowledge before and after a 4-h training program. Six to eight weeks later, 10 simulated patients were sent to the community pharmacies to evaluate the pharmacists' knowledge and practice.
The training program significantly improved the asthma knowledge score of pharmacists from 5.3 to 17.2 out of a maximum score of 20 (p < 0.001). After the training, the percentage of pharmacists performing correctly inhaler devices increased significantly (0% vs.∼50%, p < 0.001). In the simulated patient study, pharmacists who attended the training demonstrated better asthma knowledge with higher scores (5.4 vs 1.7 out of a maximum score of 7.0, p < 0.001), as well as much better inhaler technique scores (6.1 vs 4.3, out of a maximum score of 8, p < 0.001). These pharmacists achieved higher scores in all aspects encompassing distinguishing controllers and relievers, counselling correctly about adherence, and common side effects.
Our results revealed significant knowledge deficiency about asthma among Vietnamese community pharmacists. However, a short training program was effective in upskilling the pharmacists to effectively counsel asthmatic patients about the management of their condition and medications.
社区药剂师可以在哮喘治疗链中做出重大贡献并成为不可或缺的成员。本研究旨在调查越南社区药剂师在哮喘咨询方面的现有知识水平，以及短期培训计划对哮喘知识和实践的影响。
300 名社区药剂师参加了这项研究。设计了一份关于哮喘药物的知识问卷和一份标准化的吸入器检查表，以评估他们在 4 小时培训计划前后的知识。6 到 8 周后，将 10 名模拟患者送到社区药房，以评估药剂师的知识和实践。
培训计划显著提高了药剂师的哮喘知识得分，从 20 分中的 5.3 分提高到 17.2 分（p<0.001）。培训后，正确使用吸入器设备的药剂师比例显著增加（0%对∼50%，p<0.001）。在模拟患者研究中，参加培训的药剂师表现出更好的哮喘知识，得分更高（7.0 分中的 5.4 分对 1.7 分，p<0.001），以及更好的吸入器技术得分（8 分中的 6.1 分对 4.3 分，p<0.001）。这些药剂师在区分控制器和缓解剂、正确咨询药物依从性和常见副作用等方面的各个方面都取得了更高的分数。
我们的结果显示，越南社区药剂师对哮喘的知识明显不足。然而，短期培训计划有效地提高了药剂师的技能，使他们能够有效地为哮喘患者提供有关其病情和药物管理的咨询。
