Assessing the Indicators of Good Pharmacy Practice in Community Pharmacies: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

To evaluate the extent to which pharmacies in Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City, Nepal adhere to the recommended practices outlined in the good pharmacy practice guidelines formulated by International Pharmaceutical Federation and draft developed by Nepal Pharmacy Council. Good Pharmacy Practice evaluates the safety, effectiveness, availability, and accessibility of medicines, ensuring their correct usage which is essential component of community pharmacies. Data was collected by visiting community pharmacies throughout Hetauda sub-metropolitan city. The questionnaire includes 38 questions under 9 sections: premises, personnel, quality policy, services, documentation, procurement, storage, prescription handling, and dispensing. Frequencies and percentages were used to represent all categorical variables, while mean ± standard deviation (SD) was used to represent continuous variables. To determine relationships between categorical data, the Pearson Chi-square test (χ²) was utilized with a significance level set at P < .05. Using SPSS Version 23, the quantitative data were analyzed. The findings indicated an overall compliance rate of 56.21% with the GPP indicators. The lowest adherence was observed in relation to the quality policy (11.02%), whereas the highest was obtained on the procurement process (86.6%). With regard to the qualifications of the pharmacy in charge, only 16.3% of the pharmacies had a pharmacist holding a bachelor's degree, while 32.6% employed an assistant pharmacist with a diploma degree. A significant association was found between the qualification of pharmacy in charge with availability of computer (P = .010), safe and effective procurement (P = .036), keeping narcotics drugs in lock and key system (P = .002) and maintaining records of narcotics (P = .020). Our findings reveal that community pharmacists in Hetauda Sub-metropolitan city, Nepal do not meet the standards set by International Pharmaceutical Federation and the Good Pharmacy Practice guidelines formulated by the Nepal Pharmacy Council.