Attitude of Pharmacists to the Pharmaceutical care concept in rivers and bayelsa states of Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Pharmaceutical care education was introduced into the country about a decade ago. There is a need to assess the impact of the education and information on the attitude of practicing pharmacists from time to time. Hence, an original research work was undertaken to evaluate the current attitudes towards Pharmaceutical Care (PC) concept and it’s implementation that are prevalent amongst practicing pharmacists and also to examine the impact of demographic factors. A descriptive study was carried out with a questionnaire between the months of January and March, 2013 among 205 out of estimated 400 pharmacists practicing in Rivers and Bayelsa States of Nigeria. Data collected was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS version 15. Over 82% strongly agreed that pharmaceutical care was relevant to their practice while 62% are willing to incorporate Pharmaceutical care in their current practice. Most young pharmacists as well as pharmacists in hospital and community practice strongly agreed on the relevance of Pharmaceutical care and indicated willingness to implement the practice.The attitude of Pharmacist in these two states towards the Pharmaceutical Care concept and it’s implementation is good. However, there are challenges that need to be overcome to facilitate proper implementation of the concept. KEY WORDSCurrent Attitude, Pharmaceutical Care Concept, Willing to Incorporate.