title: Community pharmacy in the United Arab Emirates: characteristics and workforce issues.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the characteristics and workforce issues of community pharmacy practice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data collection was by anonymous cross-sectional survey. Questionnaires were distributed by hand to 700 community pharmacies to collect information about the participating pharmacists, pharmacy characteristics, the types of products and professional pharmacy services available to patients, and the barriers to offering professional services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 344 pharmacists (49%) responded. Most were male (64%), had been in practice for less than 10 years (mean = 9.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.4-10.0) and were trained in India (35%) or Egypt (15%). The pharmacies were open for business 7 days/week (mean = 6.8, 95% CI = 6.7-8.8) with an average working day of 13 h (mean = 12.9, 95% CI = 12.7-13.2) and were mostly owned by independent non-pharmacists (70%). The pharmacies employed on average 2.6 full-time-equivalent (FTE) pharmacists (95% CI = 2.3-2.8) with 74% employing 1.8 FTE pharmacy assistants (95% CI = 1.7-2.0) and 47% employing trainee pharmacists (mean = 1.8 FTE, 95% CI = 1.6-2.0). Around three-quarters of the pharmacies dispensed fewer than 100 prescriptions (75%) and responded to fewer than 100 requests for over-the-counter medicines (69%) per day. Most pharmacists encountered limited immediate access to up-to-date resources.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to explore the characteristics of community pharmacy practice in the UAE. The study provides baseline data which are critical to inform the development of strategies to improve the quality of community pharmacy services in the UAE.
authors: College of Pharmacy, Sharjah University, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
authors: Sanah
authors: S
authors: Hasan
authors: Hana
authors: H
authors: Sulieman
authors: Colin
authors: C
authors: Chapman
authors: Kay
authors: K
authors: Stewart
authors: David C M
authors: DC
authors: Kong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010067:Ownership; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014479:United Arab Emirates; D000078329:Workforce; D055815:Young Adult