Perceptions of Community Pharmacists towards Continuing Pharmacy Education Conducted in South India: A Survey

Abstract

Continuing pharmacy education (CPE) is a structured educational activity intended to support the continuing development of pharmacists to maintain and enhance their competence in profession. The concept of continuing pharmacy education was conceived by the Department of Pharmacy Practice. It was planned as a prospective survey based study with self designed and developed questionnaires. The study was divided into three consecutive periods to collect the data from the respective community pharmacists in two locations of northern Karnataka region – Belgaum and Nipani. The aim of the study was to upgrade the knowledge and skills of community pharmacists thus making them aware of pharmaceutical services like patient education /counseling, various health screening services (BP, Weight, Blood sugar level), new drug administration devices /techniques, biotech products and business management, which enable them to grow and develop their business with ultimate benefit to the community. Further to the consultation of community pharmacists, 9 topics were finalized. The questionnaire comprised of 7 multiple type questions including demographic details of the community pharmacists and their convenient time to attend the CPE program. This survey suggested that the concept of CPE was appreciated by the community pharmacists. They encouraged conducting such programs that would keep them abreast of the latest upcoming trends in pharmacy profession. They also emphasized that such programs would encourage the role of community pharmacist and their responsibilities towards patient care development and improve the knowledge, skills and attitudes to ensure competence as a health care professional in order to maintain high professional standards related to his/ her sphere of activity.

Keywords: Community; Pharmacist; Education; Attitude