Assessment of Pharmacists’ Knowledge, Attitudes, Barriers and Readiness in implementing Pharmaceutical Care in Lagos state, Nigeria

Background: Pharmaceutical care is an innovative practice philosophy that pharmacists in many countries have been employing to improve the health outcomes of patients. However, pharmacists employing pharmaceutical care services have their limitations and barriers. Other researchers have conducted many studies on knowledge, attitudes, and barriers in other states but little or no work has been done on the readiness of pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical care. More research needs to be done in this area by researchers in Lagos state, Nigeria. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, barriers, and readiness of pharmacists practicing in Lagos state, Nigeria, to employ pharmaceutical care in their practice and also to determine the possible association between the socio-demographic characteristics with knowledge, attitudes, barriers, and readiness of pharmacists in providing pharmaceutical care. Methods: A cross-sectional online structured questionnaire-based survey of 377 consenting community and hospital pharmacists in Lagos, Nigeria, between August and September 2023 was used for this study after meeting the inclusion criteria. Descriptive (frequencies, mean, and percentages) and inferential statistics (Chi-square) were done with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), with the level of significance set at <0.05. The mean score was used to categorize the knowledge of respondents (a score of the mean value and above was considered good knowledge and vice-versa), and a mean score was also used to categorize attitude with similar consideration. Results: The pharmacists showed good knowledge at a mean score ≥ 0.87 and favourable attitude at a mean value ≥ 3.76 towards pharmaceutical care. The unavailability of established communication channels with physicians was the most significant barrier agreed by the respondents, with 333 (88.3%) of the respondents identifying that. Pharmacists in Lagos state, Nigeria, demonstrated readiness to provide pharmaceutical care services, with 353 of the respondents (93.6%) adequately prepared and ready to provide pharmaceutical care. There was a significant relationship between the respondents' qualification level and their attitude towards pharmaceutical care and between practice setting and barriers to providing pharmaceutical care with the level of significance set at <0.05 Conclusion: The respondents generally showed good knowledge and favourable attitude towards pharmaceutical care in Lagos state, Nigeria. They also demonstrated readiness to provide pharmaceutical care. Still, for some barriers limiting them, the unavailability of established communication channels between physicians and pharmacists was the most limiting barrier. An improved working relationship and collaboration between members of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria will greatly reduce this significant barrier.