title: Prevalence and usage of printed and electronic drug references and patient medication records in community pharmacies in Malaysia.
abstract: This study aimed to determine the availability and usage of printed and electronic references and Patient Medication Record in community pharmacy. It was conducted for over 3 months from 15 January to 30 April 2007. Ninety-three pharmacies participated. Structured questionnaires were mailed to community pharmacies. Six weeks later a reminder was sent to all non responders, who were given another six weeks to return the completed questionnaire. Outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test of independence. Almost all the pharmacies (96.8%) have at least Monthly Index of Medical Specialties (MIMS) while 78.5% have at least MIMS ANNUAL in their stores. Only about a third (31.2%) of the pharmacies were equipped with online facilities of which the majority referred to medical websites (88.9%) with only a minority (11.1%) referring to electronic journals. More than half (59.1%) of the pharmacists kept Patient Medication Record profiles with 49.1% storing it in paper, 41.8% electronically and 9.1% in both printed and electronic versions. In general, prevalence and usage of electronic references in community pharmacies were rather low. Efforts should be increased to encourage wider usage of electronic references and Patient Medication Records in community pharmacies to facilitate pharmaceutical care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Kampus Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. ezlin365@salam.uitm.edu.my
authors.forename: Ezlina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Usir
authors.forename: Pei Lin
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Lua
authors.forename: Abu Bakar Abdul
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Majeed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations