Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the performance of community pharmacist towards antidiabetic and antiasthma prescriptions, and also to assess the lack of information provided by community pharmacists regarding patient counseling and missing data, using a simulated patient technique.
Methods: A prescription including antidiabetic and antiasthma drugs was used by simulated patient to assess community pharmacist's performance in 194 pharmacies. A performance assessment sheet was used to measure the patient counseling process. A quantitative descriptive and comparative analysis was done for the collected data. Pearson chi-square test (crosstabs) was used with a level of significance 95%).
Results: The analysis of the 194 pharmacies visited revealed that most of the pharmacists were male (61%), Arabs (35%) and Indians (55%) with some other nationalities. The dispensing time in the pharmacy ranged between 2 to 10 minutes. Spending time with patients was not affected by gender (p-value 0.087), slightly affected by nationality (p-value 0.04), and highly affected by age (p-value 0.002) leaning towards older pharmacists who spent more time with patients than younger pharmacists. Most pharmacists (90%) started preparing the prescription once they received the prescription with no actual prescription screening. fifty five percent of the pharmacists asked about the duration of the treatment after preparing the prescription. ninety six percent did not counsel patients about diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. Less than 40% asked if the prescription was intended to be used for the same patient.
Conclusion: This study recommends that health authorities consider follow up plans in order to ensure the best pharmaceutical care is provided by community pharmacies.
Keywords: Community Pharmacy Services; Medication Errors; Professional Practice; United Arab Emirates.