Community pharmacy practice in Pakistan

Objectives: This study was planned to determine the extent to which the role of a pharmacists is established in community pharmacies in Pakistan and to determine the need of qualified and experienced pharmacists in provision of healthcare at these medical stores or so called community pharmacies. Materials and Methods: A structured questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 175 attendants at various medical stores located in different areas of Karachi with a response rate of 90.28%. Questionnaire consisted of 24 closed ended questions whose consistency and reliability were determined by Cronbach′s alpha. Statistical analysis were done using SPSS (v.16.0) Results: The result shows that the average age of pharmacy attendant lies between 21 and 30 years. Only 9.49% of attendants have professional pharmacy education. It was noted that only 22.6% check prescriber signature before dispensing prescription, which is quite a low as compared with standard practice. Interestingly 57.6% attendants think that presence of qualified pharmacy at medical stores does not make any difference in the efficacy and the business of medical stores. Conclusion: This study concludes that the current status of community pharmacy practice is below par. There is a need to involve more pharmacists at community level and develop awareness programs to counter patients′ routine drug issues and reducing the burden of disease from society.