Assistant Professor Gulf Medical University Ajman, United Arab Emirates
Background: Hypertension is a major public health problem and a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Its prevalence is gradually increasing, but awareness, treatment, and control rates are still very poor. Pharmaceutical care led by community pharmacists could play a crucial role in managing chronic diseases such as hypertension through effective counseling, motivating patients to learn about their treatment plans and improving their adherence.
Objectives: To determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of community pharmacists toward providing counseling on hypertension
Methods: A prospective and observational questionnaire-based survey was conducted from October 2021 to July 2022. Using a specially developed and validated questionnaire, data were collected via face-to-face and online structured interviews from community pharmacists in the 6 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.
Results: This survey included 120 community pharmacists, of which six were excluded due to errors in completing the survey, and a total of 114 were considered for final evaluation. The participants' average knowledge score was 16.62 ± 1.76, with 95.61% reporting good knowledge. Poor knowledge was observed in responses to questions relating to the treatment of hypertension. Regarding attitude, only 35.08% of participants had a good attitude, with an average score of 29.26 ± 3.67. The majority (71.04%) of the community pharmacists felt that although patient counseling is their responsibility, it cannot be practiced feasibly. Only 85.95% of the respondents were confident with counseling hypertensive patients regarding their disease and medications. Despite good knowledge, only 33.33% of the community pharmacists demonstrated good counseling practices. The average practice score was 27.42 ± 5.85, with 29.82% of the pharmacists regularly counseling all patients who came to fill up their prescriptions. Most (46.49%) of the pharmacists conveyed that their counseling practice was always influenced by the personality and behavior of the patient. The logistic regression model showed predictable associations between the attitude of community pharmacists and their age. Referring to practice, statistically, significant associations were observed with gender and type of employment. Furthermore, the correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (r= 0.426, p < 0.01), knowledge and practice (r= 0.472, p < 0.01), and attitude and practice (r= 0.412, p < 0.01).
Conclusions: Community pharmacists showed considerably good knowledge pertaining to counseling hypertensive patients on their disease and medication management; however, there is an urgent need to improve their attitude and practice towards counseling.
