Attitudes of Community Pharmacists towards Expanding their Prescribing Role: A Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: There is a growing international development in community pharmacists’ and authority prescribing role. Objective: The study assess the attitudes of community pharmacists toward expanding their prescribing role and to identify any contributing factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Jordan. A validated self-administered questionnaire addressing participants’ attitudes toward expanding the prescribing role of community pharmacists, the preferred model, barriers and training need was used. Results: In general, 62.3% of community pharmacists exhibited neutral attitudes toward expanding their prescribing role, and 79.4% favored the supplementary prescribing model. The key drivers for expanding prescribing were a better use of community pharmacists’ skills (88.7%) and drug knowledge (79.4%). However, the most perceived barriers were inadequate training in patient assessment and monitoring (75%) and diagnosis of disease (73%). Female respondents had higher mean attitude scores (65.5± 6.79) than males (63.1± 7.89),(p= 0.021, t=2.321). Respondents with a Pharm .D degree had higher mean attitude scores (68.0 ±9.19) than those with a postgraduate degree (66.3±7.59) or those with bachelor of pharmacy (63.6±6.88, p= 0.010, F=4.709). Conclusion: Although overall attitudes of community pharmacists toward prescribing role were neutral, there were some gaps in their knowledge and skills. Community pharmacists, therefore, require further and urgent training in certain areas together with addressing the identified barriers.