Community pharmacy services in Middle Eastern Arab countries: consumers’ perspective

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the role of pharmacists has been shifted from medicines to patients’ care. This article is a literature review of the several published works concerning consumers’ perceptions toward community pharmacy services (CPS) from different Middle Eastern Arab countries (MEACs). To identify consumers’ perspectives toward CPS in the MEACs. Standard search strategies were adopted using PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar for the published literatures (n=22) related to CPS in MEACs in the period between 2000 and 2022. All articles assessing customers’ perception towards CPS in the MEAC. Three themes were identified from the review articles: consumers’ perception toward community pharmacy practice, consumers’ perception toward the role of community pharmacists (CPs) and indicators to develop community pharmacy practice. Consumers showed varied perception toward different aspects of community pharmacy practice. The public showed good understanding toward the traditional role of CPs. Moreover, public is interested to extend the role of CPs. Several barriers were identified that limit the public from seeking medical advice from CPs.