Blebil Ali, Dujaili Juman, Elkalmi Ramadan, Tan Huei Ling Kelly, Tai Ming S, Khan Tahir Mehmood
School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of Science and Technology of Fujairah, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2020 Jan-Mar;12(1):64-71. doi: 10.4103/jpbs.JPBS_152_19. Epub 2020 Jan 29.
Pharmacists have been well recognized as an active and have a more integrated role in the preventive services within the National Health Services. This study assessed the community pharmacists' attitudes, beliefs, and practices toward oral health in the Malaysian setting.
A cross-sectional survey-based study was used to conduct this project. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was developed and distributed among community pharmacists within Kuala Lumpur and Selangor states areas, Malaysia. The data collection was carried out from the beginning of November to the end of December 2018.
Of the 255 pharmacists, 206 agreed to participate in the study, yielding a response rate of 80.8%. Overall, approximately half of the pharmacists provided two to five oral health consultations per week and two to five over the counter (OTC) oral health products recommendations per week. The main services provided by community pharmacists in were the provision of OTC treatments (93.7%), referral of consumers to dental or medical practitioners when appropriate (82.5%), and identify signs and symptoms of oral health problems in patients (77.2%). In addition, more than 80% of the pharmacists viewed positively and supported integrating oral health promotion and preventive measures into their practices. The most commonly reported barriers to extending the roles of pharmacists in oral health care include lack of knowledge or training in this field, lack of training resources, and lack of oral health educational promotion materials.
The study shows that community pharmacists had been providing a certain level of oral health services and play an important role in oral health. The findings highlighted the need of an interprofessional partnership between the pharmacy professional bodies with Malaysian dental associations to develop, and evaluate evidence-based resources, guidelines, the scope of oral health in pharmacy curricula and services to deliver improved oral health care within Malaysian communities.
药剂师在国家医疗服务体系的预防服务中一直被公认为是积极且发挥着更综合作用的角色。本研究评估了马来西亚社区药剂师对口腔健康的态度、信念和实践。
本项目采用基于横断面调查的研究方法。设计了一份匿名的自填式问卷，并在马来西亚吉隆坡和雪兰莪州地区的社区药剂师中进行分发。数据收集于2018年11月初至12月底进行。
在255名药剂师中，206名同意参与研究，回复率为80.8%。总体而言，约一半的药剂师每周提供两到五次口腔健康咨询，每周提供两到五次非处方（OTC）口腔健康产品推荐。社区药剂师提供的主要服务包括提供非处方治疗（93.7%）、在适当的时候将消费者转介给牙医或医生（82.5%）以及识别患者口腔健康问题的体征和症状（77.2%）。此外，超过80%的药剂师对将口腔健康促进和预防措施纳入其实践持积极态度并给予支持。最常报告的阻碍药剂师在口腔保健中扩大作用的障碍包括该领域缺乏知识或培训、缺乏培训资源以及缺乏口腔健康教育推广材料。
该研究表明，社区药剂师一直在提供一定水平的口腔健康服务，并在口腔健康中发挥着重要作用。研究结果强调了药学专业机构与马来西亚牙科协会之间建立跨专业伙伴关系的必要性，以开发和评估循证资源、指南、药学课程中的口腔健康范围以及服务，从而在马来西亚社区提供更好的口腔保健。
