Evaluation of Kaunas city pharmacies specialists’ consultation skills about use of antimicrobial drugs

Objective: To evaluate the peculiarities of the pharmaceutical services provided by pharmacists working in the pharmacies of Kaunas city in consulting patients who purchase antimicrobials. Methodology: The research started with the development of research plan, the review and summary of scientific publications and researches relevant to the topic of masters’ thesis. Two quantitative questionnaire surveys were prepared for the investigation, one designed for pharmacy clients and the other for pharmacy specialists. 471 questionnaires were received from pharmacy clients and 96 questionnaires were received from pharmacy specialists. Results: Pharmacists are convinced that patients are poorly informed about antimicrobials and more often believed that the use of irrational antimicrobials is increasing (89.0%) and antimicrobials should be less used (78.0%). Pharmacists usually write down the use of the medicine on a box / leaflet (89.6%) and most frequently (75.0%) offer to print a leaflet when giving medicine without packaging. Pharmacists faced with a potentially irrational use of antimicrobials usually inform patients that antimicrobials can only be prescribed by a doctor (57.3%). The main interferences providing consultation at community pharmacies are the patients disinterested in the information provided to them (63.5%) and the lack of time (32.3%). All respondents who trust the pharmacist's competence and positively evaluate (4.4±0.6) the quality of the consultation, believe that the counselling will have positive influence to the outcome of their treatment. Conclusion: 1. Most of pharmacists believe that antimicrobial resistance is a major public health problem. 2. Pharmacists usually write down the information of how to use the medicine on the carton / leaflet, and the most common offer is to print a leaflet when providing medicine without packaging. 3. Pharmacists serving more patients during the time of their shift are more likely to inform patients about the risk of antimicrobial resistance, then those who have less workload. 4. The main interferences providing consultation at a community pharmacies are the lack of time and patients disinterested in the information provided to. 5. Female patients gave better evaluation of pharmacists` consultations on antimicrobials than male patients