Pharmacist's viewpoint towards their professional role in healthcare system: A survey of hospital settings of Pakistan

In recent times, the profession of pharmacy has extended progressively in terms of professional services . The profession has been widely acknowledged as a significant occupation in the multidisciplinary establishments of health care . In contrast to developed countries the situation of pharmacy profession is underutilized in developing countries. Their professional role as health care professionals is yet to be recognized by the healthcare providers and the community. Objective: This study aimed to elicit the acceptance , experiences and perceptions of pharmacists towards their role in hospital settings of Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the pharmacists practising in various hospitals across Pakistan from January to April 2018. Chi -square test was used to analyse responses of respondents regarding their role in the healthcare system of Pakistan. The associations were considered significant at p-value less than 0.05 . The study was ethically approved. Main outcome measure: Acceptance, experiences and perception of pharmacists regarding their professional in hospital settings of Pakistan Results: Out of 500 respondents 396 questionnaires were returned completed (response rate; 87.9%). Most participants (92.2 %) reported interacting with doctors at least once daily, and that was related to drug availability inquiry (72.5%). 91.4% of the participants responded that pharmacy duties are mostly clinical nature. However, only 8.6% reported the duties of pharmacists are technical. 93.4% of the respondents deduce that pharmacists serve as an authentic source of information regarding general medicines. Furthermore, 87.4% of the questioned pharmacists confess that they find their training insufficient to deal with doctors regarding issues related to clinical medicine on behalf of the patients. Conclusion: The study highlights that the pharmacists in Pakistan are willing to perform their duties and provide healthcare benefits to patients. Pharmacists seemed sceptical of advanced clinical pharmacy roles such as intervening in prescriptions and medication therapy, consultations, prescribing. The doctors do not consider the pharmacist as an integral member of healthcare team. There is a need to increase doctor’s awareness regarding the role pharmacists. Therefore, it would be helpful if training and seminars are conducted on the importance of clinical pharmacy services in order to improve the pharmacy services in Pakistan’s health care system