ISSN:
1573-739X
Keywords:
Pharmaceutical care
;
Modified behavioural pharmaceutical care scale
;
Community pharmacy
;
Patient care
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Abstract The results from a study to assess the importance Maltese pharmacists placed on various aspects of pharmaceutical care and their willingness to provide such care are reported. A modified version of the Behavioural Pharmaceutical Care Scale (BPCS) questionnaire (consisting of three dimensions and 14 domains( was mailed to the 198 privately owned community pharmacies in Malta. A total of 99 questionnaires were returned following two reminder telephone calls. Pharmacists were asked to score the importance of each pharmaceutical care activity contained in the modified BPCS on a 6 point Likert scale ranging from 0 to 5. The overall score for the questionnaire, which illustrated the importance pharmacists attributed to various aspects of pharmaceutical care, ranged from 90 to 170 with a mean score of 134.8. There was little difference recorded between the scores for the three dimensions. The Referral and Consultation domain recorded a slightly higher score than the other two domains. Younger pharmacists obtained significantly higher scores (p〉0.05; Kruskal‐Wallis test) in the Verification of Patient Understanding domain. Approximately 72% of respondents indicated that they were willing to provide pharmaceutical care, but remarked that a number of issues e.g. reimbursement, qualified support staff, GP‐pharmacist co‐operation, had to be addressed. A series of strategic steps are needed to help pharmacists resolve these issues before pharmaceutical care programmes could be offered by Maltese community pharmacists.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1008658726755
