Limitations to the dynamics of pharmaceutical care practice among community pharmacists in Enugu urban, southeast Nigeria

Brian O Ogbonna,1 Charles C Ezenduka,1 Jeffrey S Soni,2 Azuka C Oparah21Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Awka, Nigeria; 2Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, NigeriaBackground: The introduction of pharmaceutical care in Nigeria has been faced with many challenges in addition to limited information regarding the practice.Objective: This study aimed to determine the barriers encountered by community pharmacists in Nigeria in the provision of pharmaceutical care.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out in Enugu urban, southeast Nigeria. Data were collected using pretested and structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaires that were self-administered to the respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results: The 78 community pharmacists comprised 62 males and 16 females. Out of the 78 respondents, 69 (88.5%) had the basic Bachelor of Pharmacy degree while three (3.9%) had Fellowship, Master’s, and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees respectively. The mean number of years of practice was 8.2 (±0.6). The key limitations to the implementation of pharmaceutical care were: pharmacists’ attitude and lack of pharmaceutical care skills, as well as resource and system-related constraints. Others challenges were interprofessional and academic obstacles like lack of collaboration (66.6%) and lack of role models (42.1%). Most of the respondents (81%) were strongly willing to adopt and implement pharmaceutical care, while 19.2% were not strongly willing to practice pharmaceutical care.Conclusion: Despite limitations to practice, community pharmacists in the area are very inclined to implement pharmaceutical care in the private sector to improve patients’ quality of life.Keywords: patient medication care, practice, pharmacists, community pharmacy, Nigeri